Makayla took the teacup from between her fingers and put her legs up on the bed, pulling the covers over her. It was one of those evenings, a better-than-good, almost perfect evening; and, later, Makayla would think that even if she had known then that it would be the last one, she would not have changed a single thing.
_______________
Just after nine p.m. and most of the guests were there.
But not Makayla.
Jamal looked at his watch a few times, wondering for the hundredth time whether he should have just gone to get her himself instead of sending a car. But Robyn wanted him there, so he could stand with Chris and welcome folks from as early as seven o’clock, so he figured it would be better to give her more time than that, especially since she was leaving work. And maybe what was making him anxious was the fact that he hadn’t spoken to her since the evening before. After a week of twice daily phone calls, hearing her voice had become one of the most welcome parts of his day.
So that’s all this was—he was jonesing.
But he also just wanted her here to see this, to share in the accomplishment and to get accustomed to being part of it. Just as he was about to pull out his phone and call her, Jamal saw a familiar face coming toward him through the sea of people—familiar, but out of context. It was Devin, and he had his gaze trained in Jamal’s direction with laser-like focus, his expression somber.
Unable to wait until Devin got to him, Jamal shoved his way past a few of his guests, until they were face to face.
“What happened? Where’s Kayla?”
The nickname had come out of nowhere over the past week and Jamal decided to let it stick when she told him that as obvious as the shortening of her name was, no one else called her that. That was all he needed to know.
“She’s home. She’s okay,” Devin said reassuringly. “It’s Grandma, though. She passed this morning.”
“Oh shit. But she didn’t call me all day. She’s been alone all this time?”
“Not alone,” Devin said, sounding for a moment like his old, territorial self. “I’ve been with her. She had to call the coroner … there was a lot to do. When people die at home there’s a lot of stuff you have to deal with.”
“And she didn’t call me, though.”
“She didn’t want to mess up your party. That’s why she sent me. Just so you’d know she was okay, and that she’s home.”
“How’d you get here?”
“Took the car you sent for her.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Jamal said.
“Wait. She specifically told me to tell you not to come. That she’s okay, and that you should finish your party, and then …”
Jamal looked at him. “Are you fuckin’ kidding me? Let’s go!”
Devin shrugged. “Okay, let’s go.”
On the way out to the front, Jamal found Robyn and let her know what was going on and she confirmed his instinct that of course he needed to go and take care of Makayla. Instead of driving, Devin and Jamal rode in the car that he’d hired to bring Makayla to the party, both of them sitting silently in the backseat for the first twenty minutes of the ride.
Finally, it was Devin who broke the silence.
“She’s doing okay,” he said. “You wouldn’t think it to look at her, but she’s really a strong girl.”
“I do think that when I look at her,” Jamal said. “And I know she’s strong.”
He was having a hard time moving completely past his feelings for Devin. Not that he wished the brother ill or anything, but at least for now, he was still a reminder of only unpleasant things—the loss of huge potential earnings for SE, the loss of actual cash that they’d put out there to develop him … and the loss of Makayla, even though temporarily.
“Who’s there with her now?” Jamal asked.
“Candace. And her mother’s on the way, I think. There’s not a whole lot of family. But I guess they’re trying to round everybody up anyway.”
“That’s good. Does she need anything? Like … anything she might not want to ask me for?”
“Like funeral expenses and stuff?” Devin asked.
“Yeah. Like anything, Devin.”
“Maybe. Yeah. I know social security pays part of the funeral stuff but that takes a while, and it’s not much, so …”
“Okay, anything else?”
Devin shrugged. “She probably just needs you to be there, bruh.”
When they got to the apartment building, Devin had all the keys to get them in. Upstairs, there were a few people in the small living room, only one of whom Jamal recognized—Makayla’s cousin Candace. He nodded at her and she offered him a small smile, indicating Makayla’s bedroom door to let him know she was in there. Taking a deep breath, steeling himself to cope with his woman’s grief, Jamal pushed open the door and went into the room, closing it behind him.
Makayla was lying on her side with her back to him and turned at the sound of someone entering the room. Seeing that it was he, she smiled and sat up. Her eyes were red-rimmed but she wasn’t crying, though she looked very, very tired.
“Baby,” she said.
She’d never called him that before.
“Hey.”
She stood and Jamal wrapped his arms around her, holding tight until she lessened her own grip.
“She’s gone,” Makayla said pulling back and looking at him. Tears filled her eyes. “She’s really gone.”
“I know. I’m sorry …”
“In her sleep, though. That’s good, right?”
“Yeah. That’s good.”
“And we had a really good night the night before.” Makayla’s eyes were heavy. She was finally allowing herself to sleep. Jamal wondered whether she had in her own way been waiting for him to come. Just as he’d been waiting for her. In more ways than one.
“We talked about you,” she said.
“About me?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell you about it sometime. You’re never going to believe it.”
“How ‘bout we lie down for a little bit?” he suggested.
“Both of us?”
“Yeah. Both of us. On your midget bed.”
Makayla gave a wan smile. “If I fall asleep, you won’t leave me will you?”
“No. I won’t leave you.”
Jamal sat on the edge of the bed and removed his shoes. Then he pulled the blinds so they wouldn’t be disturbed by streetlights, and turned off the bedside lamp. Groping through the dark, he felt around until he figured out Makayla’s position, arranging his body against hers.
“How was your party?”
“I’m sure it’s going great,” Jamal said. He inhaled the scent of her hair, and felt its coarseness against his cheek.
“You’re missing it,” she said, her voice sleepy.
“Nah, baby,” Jamal pulled her even closer. “I’m not missing a thing.”
Epilogue
“Kayla, let’s go!”
“I need another minute. I’m fixing my hair!”
“You have locs. My mother’s Jamaican, so she’s going to love your hair no matter what you do with it.”
Makayla rolled her eyes and continued arranging her locs into coils on the crown of her head. She wanted it to look spectacular. Jamal taking her to meet his mother was a huge deal. Almost as huge a deal as moving in with him had been.
After Nana passed, he’d taken a week off—an entire week, even in the middle of his transition to CEO—just to help her with funeral arrangements, and getting the apartment cleaned and straightened out. Makayla lost count of the amount of times Jamal whipped out his credit card to pay for incidentals, like the cleaning company, movers to take out some of the furniture in her grandmother’s room, and a truck to haul away old clothes and tchotchkes. After she lost count of the cost—somewhere after the first three occasions when he paid for things—Makayla stopped pretending to herself she could ever pay him back. He never mentioned money to her, and when she did, he changed the subject.
Once th
e apartment was clean, he suggested that she get out for a while and come stay with him, just for a week or two for a change of scenery. Two weeks had turned to three, and Makayla started coming back to his place after work to find more of her things out in the bathroom, in the closets and dresser drawers. And though she didn’t have everything with her, more and more she found that the items she left behind were things she didn’t miss and wouldn’t need. By then, Candace was staying in the apartment and sounding as though she might want to live there for good.
One morning, Makayla had awoken to find herself alone in Jamal’s apartment. She walked through the rooms in much the same way she had on the very first night she visited him there. It was the beginning of fall and the view across the Hudson River was different, softer and more muted, but no less beautiful than it had been in the summer.
She was sitting there on the balcony, when Jamal returned home, wearing sweats and a white t-shirt, impossibly beautiful. In both arms, he carried duffle bags, which she recognized as her own, from the apartment.
This is stupid, he said. Let’s just stop acting like you don’t live here.
Unable to mask her feelings—because with him she never could—Makayla had flung her arms around his neck and kissed him.
Okay, she said. Yes.
And when Jamal smiled, she could see the relief in his eyes, as though he’d only been pretending to be confident, and had actually been secretly harboring some doubt that she might want to live with him. That day, when they agreed she was living there, was also the very first day that Makayla began to consider that maybe she wasn’t the only one who was in love. That was six months ago now.
Now, the apartment, their apartment was a source of pride for Makayla. She liked walking in and taking off her shoes at the door, leaving visible markers of her residency there, just because she could. At first, Jamal had some challenges with that, because he was neat and meticulous; but now he was used to having her bras hanging on things like doorknobs and the showerheads. And had stopped moving her cardigans and flip flops, scarves and ponytail holders out of view and into their bedroom.
And it wasn’t only in their apartment; he made a point of making her as visible as possible in the rest of his life as well, taking her to every party, every dinner and on more than a few of his business trips. At work, they went to lunch together when he had time, and he visited her in her office. They rode in together in the mornings and left together at night if he didn’t work too late.
For the first time in her life, Makayla felt like she was—and had—a partner.
“Hey. C’mon, you look beautiful.” Jamal came into the bedroom now, walking up behind her, and looking at her in the mirror. “We don’t want to be late.”
“Is she wondering why she never met me before? I’ve been living with you for awhile.”
“No, I’m wondering why you never met her before.”
“Then why didn’t I?”
Jamal shrugged. “We had a lot going on. But now …”
“And now?”
“Now I think it’s time.” He wrapped his arms around her from behind, kissed the space between her shoulder and neck. “My mother should know the woman who’s going to be my wife. And have my babies.”
Makayla froze for a moment, her heart thundering in her chest because until he said it, she didn’t know how much she’d wanted to hear it.
“Is … is that what you want?”
Jamal nodded. “That’s what I want.” In the mirror, his eyes met hers and held steady.
“Are you sure?” she asked, sounding incredulous even to her own ears. Because there were still some days when this man, and this life seemed too incredible to be hers.
“D’you believe I love you?” he asked.
Makayla nodded. “Yeah.”
“And you love me, right?”
She nodded again, then leaned her head against his.
Jamal shrugged. “So this is how we do … marriage, babies …”
“You forgot a step.”
“What’d I forget?”
“First it’s ring, then marriage, then babies.”
Jamal nodded as though he hadn’t contemplated that before. “A’ight. Ring first. Don’t worry, baby, I got you.”
Makayla rolled her eyes. “You always say that. Remember that first party that you took me to at Chris and Robyn’s house? The one where you promised you wouldn’t leave me, and then …”
And then as though out of nowhere, Jamal pulled out a robin’s egg blue box and held it directly in front of her face. Makayla opened her mouth, intending to scream but all she could manage was a tiny, surprised squeak.
“What’d I say?” Jamal said, one of his cocky smiles crossing his lips. “I got you.”
Also By Nia Forrester
The Commitment Series
Commitment (Book One) On Kindle & Nook
Unsuitable Men (Book Two) On Kindle & Nook
Maybe Never (Book Three) On Kindle & Nook
* * * * * *
The Afterwards Series (based on the Commitment Series)
Afterwards (Book One) On Kindle & Nook
Afterburn (Book Two) On Kindle & Nook
* * * * * *
The Mistress Trilogy (based on the Commitment Series)
Mistress (Book One) On Kindle & Nook
Wife (Book Two) On Kindle & Nook
Mother (Book Three)
* * * * * *
The Secret Series
Secret (Book One) On Kindle & Nook
The Art of Endings (Book Two) On Kindle & Nook
Lifted (Book Three) On Kindle & Nook
* * * * * *
The Acostas Series
The Seduction of Dylan Acosta (Book One) On Kindle & Nook
The Education of Miri Acosta (Book Two—coming 2015)
And visit with the author at NiaForrester.com
The Come Up Page 29
