I chuckled. “Get as deep as you need, sweetheart.”
She chuckled nervously as well. “Well, let's go back to the surface. What made you open a restaurant?”
“I’ve always wanted to cook. I found it extremely peaceful. I didn’t want to own my own restaurant per se, but I knew I never wanted to work for anyone. I knew for me to have my own freedom in that realm; I had to own the place.” I moved myself, my phone, and the harvest basket to the overgrown zucchini plant.
She nodded. “I like that. And I’m assuming on the nights you cook, you curate your own menu as well.”
“Yeah. Comes off what’s fresh in the garden and my idea box at that time.”
She smiled. “Your idea box?”
“Yeah.” I had to laugh. “My daughter taught me that shit, stuck with me ever since.”
She laughed so hard I couldn’t help but look at her. Jade was a calm soul, so caught up in everything she needed to do for others that she often forgot about herself. Not only that but she was also a workaholic. I could tell all of that from just looking at her.
“How old is your daughter?”
“Ten.”
“You don’t look old enough to have a ten-year-old. How old are you?”
“Thirty-two,” I responded, watching her nod. Though I was supposed to be out here paying attention to the garden, I couldn’t help but pause every so often to look at her expression every time I answered one of her questions.
“Makes sense. You’re not that old.” She sipped from the glass of wine in her hands.
“Damn not that old, huh? I didn’t hear you offer me your age.” I knew not to ask a woman her age, but I still wanted to know. I felt like I needed to know any and everything Jade was willing to share.
She laughed. “Because I didn’t.”
“Damn, that’s fuc?—”
“Twenty-eight,” she responded before I could finish speaking.
I laughed. “See, that wasn’t hard at all.” Jade and I talked for hours longer before I had to call her back because my daughter was calling. Aja’s nosy ass would sit on the phone with me for hours, talking about absolutely nothing. Per my new sister, she just wanted to hear my voice, which I understood. My baby knew she could live with me any time, but she belonged with my brother in the two-parent household I had robbed her of. Guilt always settled into my being, making it harder for me to be there as much as I should’ve. She never lacked though, because even when I wasn’t there, Kinga’s ol’ grumpy ass showed up, and for that I was eternally grateful.
Chapter 3
Jade
Days Later
One day it was just me and Dimitri, now it was four of us, possibly five. The possibility of five parts bothered me as I realized there would always be an excuse as to why no one told him. Dimitri said he’d tell him, but he had yet to do so. He’d been around for countless family events yet the subject never came up. I halfway understood, but I strongly felt like he needed to know. However, I understood the apprehension. First, we were waiting until after his last match, then right after that his father died. Nobody wanted to touch that, especially since the father who died had actually been a father to him.
“The fuck you look like you’re constipated for?” Reminisce’s voice broke my thoughts. It was then I mentally found myself back in the present, in the restaurant with his rude ass. Of all my brothers, in my opinion, he was the rudest and most unruly. Rem had this way of not giving a fuck that made you feel like you were the problem. Not only that, but he was the true definition of someone who said whatever was on his mind. He didn’t care for pleasantries or any of that. Funny enough when it came to us though, he was up for all the mess. It was like he was themost heartless with the biggest heart. The man was a walking conundrum, but I loved him like I’d known him my whole life. He was my brother either way.
“I’m not. I’m just thinking.”
“About what? The fact that had I not shown up here you would’ve been sitting here alone looking crazy?”
I laughed. “I wouldn’t have looked crazy because I had my laptop in my bag. My intention was to get some work done, but your presence is better.” I smiled sarcastically.
He waved me off. “Yeah, you come up in here four times a week and buy expensive ass coffee all damn day while staring at that laptop. Yo, you need to get your eyes checked. You be looking at it too long.”
“Probably. But my eyes are already shitty. I wear contacts, Reminisce.” I didn’t even bother asking how he knew where I was four times out of the week. At this point I think I was used to him being a sibling stalker. Rem was the only one of us who would literally just walk up to you in the store. There were plenty of times he had me wondering how the hell he got to my location because he almost always ended up having me drive him back to his bike or car. At one point I could never locate the nigga, now he was always around.
“Damn you do?” He pulled a piece of bread from the center basket.
“Yes. Remember you talked about my glasses?”
