On top of the fifteen minutes, I allowed an extra three to go by before I called him. I chose to put a facetime call in to him. He answered the facetime call on the very last ring, and when he did, I could tell that he was outside, sitting in his backyard. He was under a tree. My dad was a very beautiful man. The kind of beauty where it made all the sense in the world why my mom had been stuck on him for years the way she was. For a man that was in his fifties, he looked good for his age. My dad liked to work out, and he loved running, so he was in perfect shape. He had the same caramel skin tone as me, and Shai. His face was nice, and clear, as if he had the best skin care routine in the world. He wouldn’t allow his facial hair to grow out, just keeping a little bit of chin hair. He had beautiful, fine curly hair, that he’d passed down to my sister, and I. He smiled at me, but even through that smile, I could tell that he was in pain.
“Hi papi,” I cooed, smiling back at him.
“Mi princesa. ¿Qué estás haciendo?” he asked me. (My princess, what are you doing?).
He was playing it off as best as he could, but I could hear the pain in his voice. I could hear the deep breaths that he took after each word that he said to me. It broke my heart to see him like this, and to also know that he was so stubborn that he wouldn’t go to the hospital to let them help him. Not only did he not trust hospitals, but I knew that he feared them. My dad was the kind of person that wouldn’t speak on his fears because just like Law, he felt like he always had to show his strengths, but I knew that hospitals were a fear of his.
“Estoy descansando. Esperando a que esté lista mi comida. Papi, ¿qué pasa?” I asked. (I’m taking a break. Waiting for my food to be ready. Papi, what’s wrong?)
So far, I was doing a good job at pretending that I didn’t know what was going on with him. The second that I asked him what was wrong, he started coughing up a storm, and he was wheezing, as if he was struggling to catch his breath. I was yelling for him, trying to see what was going on because, amid that, the phone dropped.
Seconds later, I now heard Kenia’s voice, and she was screaming at him, telling him that she was going to call an ambulance for him, and even during that, his ass had the nerve to be yelling back at her, telling her that he was okay. I was right there, yelling back, telling Kenia to call an ambulance for him. She picked the phone up, so that she could look at me, and she assured me that she would call an ambulance for him.
About two minutes went by, and you couldn’t hear him coughing anymore, but she kept the camera on him, and he was stable. She was using her own cell phone to call the ambulance. The entire time that she was doing that, he was snapping on her, telling her how he didn’t need to go to the hospital.
“Papi, mejor vete. No querrás que Shai y yo vayamos volando porque sabes que te obligaremos a ir,” I spat. (Papi, you might as well just go. You don’t want me and Shai to come down there because you know we’ll make you go.)
He was pissed at me too, sitting there looking like a grouch. I laughed, not giving a damn about him being upset. Kenia came back to the phone, and she let me know that they were on the way. I told her to keep me updated with everything that was going on, and she assured me that she would. I had her give the phone to my dad, and I was trying to pry information out of him, and see if he would tell me what happened, but of course his ass didn’t.
We hung up, but I threatened him that I would call back later, and he better tell me what was going on. By the time I finished with them, my phone alerted me with a text message from the restaurant, letting me know that the food was ready. I quickly went inside, so that I could pick up the food, and I brought it back to the car. The bakery that I needed to go to, it wasn’t that far, so I was able to run in, get the pastries that I knew Law liked to eat, and once I was back in the car, I immediately called my sister, so that I could tell her the mess that just went on with our dad. Shai was a daddy’s girl just as I was, so the second I told her what was going on, she was ready to hop on a flight to go and see about him. I told her about the things that I had lined up for work for the rest of the day, and how I had to come into the office tomorrow morning on a weekend, having so many meetings with clients, but I told her that we could fly out Sunday to see him, and she was fine with that. I needed to see his ass in person, just to make sure that he was okay.
I knew it wasn’t anything too serious. If it was, I would have already been headed to the airport right now to check on him.
By this time, it’s been over an hour, and I was parked in the parking lot of Sevyn’s firm. I could see his truck parked right up front in his designated parking spot. This morning, when I woke up, and got dressed, I already knew that I was going to find a way to come down here to surprise Sevyn with lunch, and that explained this dress that I was rocking.Tom Fordwas one of my favorite brands to wear to work, and so was Law’s.
This afternoon, I was wearing an asymmetric cutout dress by the brand, and it fit my body tight, showing of the super tiny waist that I had, and I swear the little bit of ass that I did have was poking. Even though there was a cut out at the top, it was still work- appropriate. I was simple with my handbag that I wore today. It was a blackTom Fordpurse that I pulled out, and placed it over my shoulder, so that I could hold the food, and the items that were in the other bag from the bakery.
I locked the doors, and I walked through the parking lot, going for the glass doors that I pulled open once I reached, and the second I walked in, that familiar scent that I hadn’t smelled in a while evaded my nostrils. Law loved the mahogany teakwood scent. It would make sense why that would have been the scent that he liked because it was bold, and super masculine, just like he was. There were diffusers that would be kept in the office, so that’s the reason the smell hit you right in the face the moment you walked in.
I knew my way around this place like the back of my hand, so I walked through, and once I turned the corner, the conference room, that was made of glass doors, was right there. I would have to pass the conference room to get to Law’s office. I stopped in my tracks because as I was passing it, I could see that Law, and just about every one of the attorneys here that worked for him were all out of their seats, and they were talking amongst each other, making it clear that the meeting was over.
When it came to me, it was like I was magnetic to him because he immediately could sense my presence. He had been talking with another one of the attorneys, but he stopped, looked over at me, boldly looked me up and down, smirked, and he picked his hand up, ushering for me to come inside. I pointed in the direction of his office, telling him that I would just wait for him there, but his cocky ass still motioned for me to come inside, so I sighed, and I went for the double doors, pulling one back, and I walked in.
I swear, the second I walked in, all eyes were on me. Everyone was smiling, happy to see me. There were a couple of new faces because like I said, I hadn’t been to his workplace in a while.
“Sorayaaaaa. Oh my God! We missed you over here,” that was Camille. She’s been working for the company for about three years. I liked Camille. She was super sweet. Her and I hit it off a few years back at one of the attorney balls that Law and I attended. I had her on social media, and she was married, and had three beautiful children. You could tell that her excitement that she had right now when she saw me was genuine. She rushed to get to me, having me sit the food down on the table, and she wrapped her arms around me, hugging me, and I did the same.
“You’re making me feel bad about not seeing you guys in a long time,” I voiced, once we pulled away from each other. She laughed and waved her hand at me.
She went on, and on, telling me how good I looked, and I tossed the compliment right back to her because Camille really did look good. Hell, damn near every woman in this conference room was beautiful. Again, back when I was married to Law, I was never insecure or anything when it came to him working alongside other women. Insecurity is not a trait that I ever possessed, and Law used to make me feel like I was the prettiestwoman in the world, so I could never exude that feeling. I didn’t grow insecurities until we reached that low point in our marriage, and his ass went on a spree of fuckin hoes, and I would get around those hoes, and all of a sudden, they would start laughing.
All the women went around the room, damn near attacking me with hugs. I knew the men as well, and had healthy relationships with them, so they came over too, offering me one arm hugs that lasted no longer than a second, being respectful of Law.
“You just went around the room, and let damn near fifty people hug you, and I gotta get the last one,” Law said the second I made it to him. I laughed at his words.
He couldn’t even hide his excitement that I was here. It was pure. Those dimples were showing, and everything. Like he owned me, he put his arm around me, and everyone in the conference room was looking, and they all held that same desperate look in their eyes for us to get our shit together and get it right.
“You know I had to save the best for last,” I let him know.
“Smooth, baby. That’s real fuckin smooth,” he replied, and he kissed my forehead, and let me go.
Everyone started spilling out of the conference room, and I walked over to where the food was, tried to grab it, but he took it, letting me know that he had it, and he walked over to the double doors, opened it for me, so that I could walk out first, and I led the way to his office. It was down the hall, and I had to hit another corner. You could gain access to his office either by putting a fingerprint, or a code. To make it easier, he just put his index finger on the scan, and the door unlocked.
He opened it for me, I stepped inside, and that same mahogany teakwood smell was breezing through his office. I looked around, taking in the fact that everything still looked thesame. From where I stood, I could see his big office desk, and I expected to walk in, and see that our wedding day pictures would have been removed, probably tossed in the trash a long time ago, but he still had it sitting there. That’s when I felt bad because months ago, I got in my feelings, and I put our wedding photos up in one of the drawers in my office, taking it off the desk.
“You have a certain maturity about you that I’ve never had. I took our wedding pictures off my desk a long time ago,” I turned around to share with him, and he shook his head.
“I expect that kind of behavior from you. You weird,” he said, and I laughed.
