by Laila Kelly
“No, I haven’t told Mom about it yet, and of course I don’t want to tell her. You know that she can get a little overbearing and I really don’t need her million questions to bog my mind down before I go on my date.” Sophia laughed, knowing exactly what he meant. “She can be pretty intense when it comes to our love lives. I’ll never forget when I finally told her that Collin and I were serious, she started asking did I think that he would make a good father and if he had a great credit score. I was like, ‘Mom, we’re in college. None of us have great credit, all we have is student loans.’.” Graham remembered when Collin and Sophia started dating, and the questions that his mother asked him the first time that he came over to meet her were ridiculous.
“I definitely remember that, and I don’t even want to know the types of questions that she would ask the woman in my life. Whoever she’ll be I hope that she has thick skin,” Graham sighed, but he looked back at the picture on his phone and he knew that it would be her that he brought home to his mother. He looked at his watch and saw that he had ten minutes before his meeting. A car pulled up beside him and got out. Graham saw the woman pull out her phone and he looked down at his phone and saw a text.
Jennifer: Mr. Brentwood, I’m at the location. Are you here?
It was from Jennifer, the realtor that he would be working with while he was in Georgia. She was tall and blonde. There was no doubt that there were a lot of people that would think that she was beautiful and would want to be with her, but he wasn’t one them. She wasn’t his type, and that’s exactly what he liked. To work with beautiful and smart women without being attracted to them. At the end of the day, he was a man nonetheless and it didn’t hurt to have something decent to look at.
He text back.
Jamie: Yes, I’m here. I’m getting out of the truck now.
“Hey Sophia, the realtor is here. I’ll talk to you later.” He opened the door and got out of the car. “Alright, but please call me tonight after your date and tell me how it goes!” He knew it would go well, he just didn’t know what all tonight would hold, and he still had a few hours to figure it out. “Will do,” and he hung up. Jennifer looked up and smiled, “Mr. Brentwood?” She walked over to him, “Yes, ma’am,” he held out his hand to her and shook it. Her handshake was firm and he was impressed. “Are you ready to look at the first property?” She turned to the construction site and they began walking towards it.
It didn’t take long for them to look at the two properties that they had on the list, and he left with two good prospects to think about while he was in Texas. When he left the second property of the day, he drove to the ice cream shop that Joleigh told him that she wanted to go to tonight. She knew that he wasn’t from Georgia, but he didn’t want to seem like he was completely clueless to Atlanta. He looked down at the address that she wrote on the paper and made sure that he was at the right place. A quick Google search told him that the ice cream shop owner was a WNBA star. The menu that he saw looked appetizing and he was more than confident that Joleigh had good taste in ice cream with how beautiful she was.
He looked at the clock on the dashboard and saw that it was only one o’clock. He had five more hours to kill before he would get the chance to see Joleigh, and he didn’t know what he would do with it. Hopefully, it would pass quickly. Graham merged onto the interstate and headed back to the hotel, deciding to get a few hours of work in and a nap before his date with Joleigh. On the way back to the hotel his phone rang. “Hello,” he answered the phone, not recognizing the phone number. “Hey man, it’s me, Jamie.” Graham wondered if it was wise enough for him to continue to even save Jamie’s numbers anymore because he changed them so frequently. “And what is the reason for this last change in your phone numbers?” he looked down, not even familiar with the area code.
“You know, I have to change my work number every few months. Only family and contacts get to get my personal number,” Jamie laughed, and Graham pulled into the valet section of the hotel. “Anyways, I called because I got some information on the Joleigh woman that you asked me to get,” Graham stepped out of the car and handed the keys to the valet. “Welcome back, Mr. Brentwood,” and handed him a ticket. He nodded towards him and walked through the revolving door. When he saw the receptionist from last night, he quickly made a beeline to the elevator, but not quickly enough for her to not see him first. “Mr. Brentwood!” she yelled and ran over to him. “How has your stay been? Is there anything wrong with the room that I should be aware of, or anything that I can get for you?” he shook his head and hoped that she would quickly get the message that he wasn’t the least bit interested in her.
“Oh, well please let me know,” she turned around and winked as she walked over to her desk. “What did you find out?” Graham returned to his conversation. He looked out the side of his eye and could see her staring at him. He tapped his foot on the floor and willed the elevator to arrive faster than it was going. When the doors finally opened, he ran onto the elevator and pressed the button to the twelfth floor. Button and watched the doors close. “Well, I found out a lot, but nothing that has raised any alarms in my head. She is pretty open on her social media about her life and her internet presence is spotless.” Graham ran his hands through his hair and put his phone on speakerphone and looked at the picture of Joleigh. She was breathtakingly beautiful, and it didn’t surprise him that she was spotless. “The flower shop that she owns was once owned by her mother and father. Her mother passed away three years ago while she was in college, and her father is dealing with early-onset Alzheimer’s. She went to college briefly at the University of Georgia before she came home to work at the shop fulltime, and she’s been there ever since. I’ll send you the link to her Facebook account for you to take a look at.”
The elevator doors opened, and he walked quickly to his room. “Yeah send me that and I’ll take a look at it tonight,” he opened the door to his room and shut it quickly behind him. “So, when did you ask her out?” Jamie asked. Graham stopped and looked at his phone, “What do you mean by ask her out?” Jamie laughed over the phone and Graham sat down at the desk. “Come on man, Joleigh has nothing to do with you finding your birth mother. She’s just the owner of the flower shop that your mom placed the order from. She’s young and beautiful, and whether or not you want to admit it, she’s definitely your type.”
Graham looked at all of the papers that he had strewn around his desk and sighed. “Listen, regardless of what you are ready to admit, I can tell that you’re attracted to her or you wouldn’t have asked me to find out more information on her. On top of that, I’ve known you all my life. I know when you’re into a girl. You get that hungry look in your eye and you can’t hear anything unless it has to do with her. Did you even go to the two meetings that you had scheduled for today?” Graham laughed. A piece of him knew that Jamie was right, but he would never admit it. When he set his eyes on anything, especially a woman, he got tunnel vision and he couldn’t rest until he got her. His father always said that he was more like a lion than a man at times.
“Yes. I always get my business done before anything else, but I did already ask her out and were going out tonight.” Graham said matter of factly. He was pleased with himself that she actually said yes, and he looked at the clock again to see how much time he had to wait before he could see her beautiful face again. It was finally 2 o’clock, and he had less than four hours until he would finally get to see Joleigh again. “Well I’m glad to hear that you at least got your business done for today. Where are you two going out to eat tonight?” Graham stood up and walked back over to the mini bar in the corner to grab another bottle of water. He made a mental note to stop by the grocery store and buy a case of water, he didn’t want to spend all of his fortune on hotel water.
“We’re going out to eat ice cream tonight. I tried to get her to go to dinner, but she only wanted to go out for ice cream. I’m guessing it’s because she’s had a long to and honestly, I did ask her very short notice. You know
in order for women to go to dinner it takes at least 48 hours in order to get ready.” He thought back to all of the nights that he would listen to Sophia complain about all of the things that she had to do in order to get ready to go on dates with Collin, but Joleigh didn’t have to do that with him. She was absolutely beautiful the way that she was. “ I can understand how women are, but where are you two going out for ice cream?” Jamie chuckled. Graham pulled out the piece of paper that Joleigh had written the name of the ice cream parlor. “Someplace called McCoughtry’s Ice Cream.” He cracked open the bottle of water and gulped it down. “Mmhmm,” Jamie said, and Graham heard typing in the background. A few seconds later, “You know that that ice cream place is owned by Angel McCoughtry, right?” Graham wrinkled his face, “Yes, I looked it up and saw that she is a basketball star, but you know I really don’t know too much about basketball. I’m more of a football kind of man,” Jamie sighed loudly. Jamie loved basketball and talked about it all the time when they were growing up. “Sorry to disappoint man, but I have to get to some work before I go out tonight. I’ll talk to you later,” Graham shuffled the papers around on his desk and pulled out his laptop. “Alright man, I hope that everything works out tonight, let me know how it goes, oh by the way I have a couple things that I’m going to send over in a few minutes,” and hung up the phone. Graham put down his phone and pulled out his laptop.
Working would be the easiest way to pass the time, and Graham was growing impatient. Time wasn’t going by fast enough, and all of the things that he had to do today were already done. Now it was time for him to see Joleigh, and it was killing him to see how many hours were left between now and then. ‘I just need to work for the next two hours on this write-up and by the time that gets done I’ll be closer to going to see her,’ he said to himself. He looked around to make sure that no one could hear him. Getting caught talking to himself was one of his worst fears.
Graham woke up thirty minutes after he finished his write-up and looked at the clock. Five thirty. He smiled and jumped up like a kid on the morning of his favorite field trip and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. He grabbed his comb and ran it through his hair to make it look somewhat decent. Graham reached into his bag and grabbed a little mousse and ran it through his hair to give it a little more oomph. Giving himself another once over, then sprayed himself lightly with some cologne and turned off the light. Grabbing his jacket, wallet, and phone he ran out the door. He waited patiently at the elevator and felt like he was a kid on Christmas Day and Joleigh was the present that he had been waiting for all year.
The doors opened and he dashed on and pressed the ground floor button five times, trying to get the doors to close faster. A small voice came down the hallway, “Hold the doors please!” and he almost didn’t hear it. He pressed the hold button and stuck his head out to see a small older woman shuffling down the hallway. Despite wanting to get downstairs as quickly as possible, Graham wouldn’t become a monster in the process, plus he loved little old ladies. They were so spunky and full of life.
A few seconds later she came onto the elevator and leaned against the rail. She let out a deep breath and pressed the button for the doors to close. “Thank you for holding the doors for little old me. I saw that you were rushing onto the elevator, so I wouldn’t have blamed you if you jetted off,” Graham looked down at her and wondered how something so small could function on its own. “No problem, I am in kind of a rush, but I certainly wouldn’t have let the doors closed when you asked me not to. That would’ve been rude,” he gave her a smile and she reached up and patted his shoulder. “Thank you. You’re such a nice young man and ooh you sure do have some muscles on you,” she marveled. He blushed and nervously ran his fingers through his hair. “Thank you, ma’am,” he wasn’t used to getting verbal compliments on his physique. He usually just got looks when he left the gym or getting stares when he wore short-sleeved shirts like today.
“And you smell so nice,” she stepped closer to him and took a deep breath in of his cologne. At least this lady liked the way that he smelled, he just hoped that Joleigh would. The elevator stopped on the third floor and nobody was standing there. “Hmm, guess they took the stairs,” the old lady looked out and pressed the close door button. “Are you headed out on a date tonight?” She looked him up and down. He looked down and smiled sheepishly, “Yes ma’am I do.” She clapped her hands, “Well I can assure you that she’s a lucky lady, and I hope that you two have a magical evening,” she smiled, and the elevator doors opened to the first floor. “Thank you, I hope we have a good time too,” he waited for her to step off the elevator and then he followed. He made a beeline to the front doors and practically ran through the revolving doors so fast that if anyone wanted to hop on behind him, they’d better be moving through with a quickness.
“Mr. Brentwood,” the valet walked over to him and grabbed his ticket. “I’ll be right back,” Graham smiled and stood off to the side. He would have to thank Stephanie for booking him such a nice hotel while he was visiting. He looked down at his watched and pulled out his phone to look at the directions back to the flower shop. ‘The directions say that it should only take about thirty minutes to get there, but I bet I could do it in fifteen,’ he said to himself. He looked around to make sure that there was no one around to witness him talking to himself. Just as he put his phone back in his pocket, the valet pulled up with his car. “Here you go, sir,” he jumped out and held the door open for him.
“Thanks, man, I really appreciate that,” Graham said as he closed the door and shot out onto the street. “No problem, Mr. Brentwood. It was my pleasure,” he yelled after him. He pulled out his phone to look at the directions and made it to Flowery Branch in no time. The palms of his hands were beginning to sweat, and he wiped them on his pants. He turned the air on and began to take deep breaths. ‘I’ve got to calm down before I sweat myself out of this shirt, and there’s nothing more embarrassing than that,’ he said to himself. He pulled into the plaza that Joleigh’s flower ship was in and he could hear his heart beating. He parked in front of the flower shop and turned off the car. From where he was parked, he could see her inside the shop talking to her customers. She was so breathtakingly beautiful that he found himself smiling and he quickly stopped and looked around to make sure that no one could see him smiling.
Graham looked at his watch and saw that she would be closing in the next few minutes, and his heartbeat began thumping faster and faster to where he could hear it in his ears. He pulled out his phone and looked at the local newspaper to calm himself down. He couldn’t overthink this and run the risk of her not wanting to go on another date with him. It was his plan for tonight for her to get to know him better and then afterward, he would suggest that they go on another date tomorrow or the next day. Hopefully she would say yes immediately, or he would have to spring into step two of his master plan: woo her with his Texas charm. Graham had always been quite the charmer, but he only reserved those powers for when it was absolutely necessary, and if there had ever been a time that it was necessary, now was it.
He looked back up at her as she smiled while the couple she was assisting walked out of her shop. She tucked a piece of her brown, curly hair behind her ear and walked to the back of the shop. Her smile made his heartache, and he knew it would probably burst if he ever got the opportunity to put a smile on her face. Graham longed to have Joleigh be his, and he hoped that he didn’t come off too strong. He looked down at his watch and saw that she had fifteen more minutes before she closed. He pulled up the directions and made sure that he could find the ice cream shop that they would be going to. ‘It’s only about twenty minutes from here,’ he said to himself. He hoped that she would show him around the area, making him more and more thankful that he wasn’t from Georgia. It would be the perfect opportunity to see the things that she liked and didn’t like.
He peered at his watch again and decided that time wouldn’t go by any faster if he kept staring at it. ‘Let’s
see what Jamie was talking about on her Facebook,’ and began typing away. He found her page rather quickly and clicked on the first picture of her. She had her pictures arranged in order of what she was doing, the same way that Sophia did hers. She had an album of her and her friends at the beach and one of her in Mexico with her parents. The comments under a picture with her and a woman that looked like the older version of her made Graham sigh. I wish I would’ve known that this would be the last time that my parents and I would be going on a vacation before she passed, she wrote. Sadly, Graham knew the feeling all too well of wishing that he knew when his father would pass away. It would’ve made a lot of things a little easier, and he would’ve made sure to ask all of the questions that he wanted to know beforehand. Sudden death was the worst kind of death to deal with, and he felt a sadness creep over him. He tried to push it away and focus on the excitement of going out on his first date with Joleigh. He quickly scrolled back to some other pictures of her splashing in the waves, her long curls cascading over her shoulders and clinging to her face. He felt his face getting hot and he wondered if he would be able to control himself while they were out tonight.
His phone starting vibrating and he could see that it was his mother. She knew him much too well and he forwarded her call to voicemail. He didn’t need her knowing that he was going to be out on a date. It was already too much that Sophia knew. He looked up and saw a scrawny looking kid walking up to his car. Graham let down the window as he stood there peering at him. He looked like a kid who had skipped the last period of high school and was killing time in the shopping center. “Your name’s Graham Brentwood, right?” He rolled down the window completely and got out of his seat belt. “Yes I am, and who are you?” he kid looked around and placed his hand on the door.
