To Build a Vow

by Chencia C. Higgins

  “Well, as long as you agree to never bring her on another of our trips, we can let this go and move on.”

  “I can do that.”

  “Then we’re good.”

  She giggled and opened the container that had been sitting on her desk when I walked in. The smell of meatloaf filled the room.

  “Oh my word, that smells so good, Candy.”

  Covering her mouth as she chewed, she smiled with her eyes. “Thanks, I made this last night. Do you want to try it?”

  I cocked my neck back in disbelief. “Last night? We landed at seven. How did you have the time—or energy—to cook anything?”

  She waved me off. “Girl, meatloaf is easy. Mixing the ingredients takes five minutes, and then it goes in the oven. I was able to take a bath and unpack my suitcase all before it was finished.”

  Eyes on my food, I shrugged. That was entirely too productive for me, but Candice lived alone and enjoyed staying busy. That reminded me…

  “Hey, you never told me you were in the market looking for love.”

  One of her perfectly arched eyebrows rose delicately at my change of subject.

  “That’s because I’m not.”

  “Then what was your reading about then? Two opportunities for love…”

  The corner of her mouth lifted, but the smile felt patronizing or even amusing. I pursed my lips as my hackles raised.

  “I’ve never gone ‘looking for love’, Lisa, because I know that when it’s my time, it will find me. Mama Sari said the opportunities would present themselves. That means they will appear without me needing to search for them.”

  I sat back in my seat, unsure how to feel about the condescending tone she had just used on me. The reading had been for her, not for me, so there was no need for me to do an in-depth analysis of it.

  “It was a simple question, Candice. No need to speak to me like I’m a child.”

  How she managed to look genuinely confused, baffled and impressed me. “That wasn’t my intention at all, and I apologize if that’s what you took from me answering the question that you asked.”

  I shook my head.

  “Candice—”

  “Lisa, please” She reached a hand across her desk and grabbed my wrist. “Let’s not argue. Is that okay?”

  I sighed. Maybe I was tripping. I hadn’t been thinking straight sense we left out of the candy shop, and with last night’s revelation about Jeremiah, I was feeling more than a little on edge. It was perfectly reasonable that I was seeing something that wasn’t there. In three years, Candice had never been anything but kind and understanding; if there even one sinister or malicious bone existed in her body, I would have picked up on it by now.

  “You’re right. It’s fine.” I shoved a piece of salami into my mouth to keep from saying anything more.

  Her bright smile of relief further drove home the notion that I had been imagining her attitude.

  “Well, now I can tell you that I have a date tonight.”

  Surprised, I inhaled sharply and the sliver of salami that I had yet to swallow lodged in my throat. I started coughing, and Candice ran around the desk and placed her linked hands under my diaphragm in preparation to begin the Heimlich.

  One good cough and I spit the meat into my hand.

  “I’m fine, I’m fine!”

  She peered down at me with worried eyes. “Are you sure?”

  I nodded emphatically and wiped the chewed food onto a napkin. Candice pulled a bottle of water from the case she kept under her desk and unscrewed the cap before placing it in my hand. Gratefully, I downed half the bottle before coming up for air.

  “Gah-lee, Candice, I wasn’t expecting that at all!”

  “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t trying to shock you; I just wanted to share the news.”

  I nodded and finished the bottle of water before packing it and the remaining salami into the plastic sack I’d brought for my trash.

  “I know, I know. I just…wasn’t expecting that.” I repeated lamely. I honestly hadn’t been expecting to hear that, but the idea of Candice going on a date, for the first time in at least three years, wasn’t so jarring that I would choke from hearing about it. I was happy for my friend. Genuinely.

  On the other hand, Candice having a date—out of the blue like this—immediately brought those moments in that room with Mama Sari to the forefront of my mind. If Candice had a date, then her reading was coming true. And if her reading was coming true…that meant mine was more likely to come true as well. Which meant Jeremiah was honest-to-God in danger of dying if I didn’t leave him.

  And that was jarring enough to cause me to choke.

  And cry.

  And kick something.

  Clearing my throat, I shifted in my seat. “Candice, do you think this has anything to do with the palm reading?”

  I expected her to laugh, but the joke was on me when she nodded emphatically. “Oh, absolutely.”

  My eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”

  “Of course.”

  “You sound so sure. So, you honestly believe in that stuff?”

  I was watching her intently and saw the moment she hesitated before speaking. Ah ha! She probably didn’t really believe in it but was going along with it for the sake of her cousin and her desire for love. A desire that I had no idea existed until now, but still.

  Finally, she sighed and placed her palms flat on her desk. “Yes, Lisa, I honestly believe in that stuff. The parish in Louisiana that I’m from believes in it. My family believes in it. It’s nothing new or uncommon to me.”

  Instead of reassuring me, her firm insistence increased the level of dread I felt. Apparently, I was the only one who was holding on to the hope that the palm reading had been a silly hoax. Ever observant, Candice’s amber eyes studied me.

  “You’re worried about your reading.”

  It wasn’t a question, but I nodded anyway.

  She tilted her head. “She told you something you didn’t want to hear.”

  Once again, she didn’t ask me, and at her astuteness, I dropped my eyes to my lunch on her desk. Her hand came across the desk and covered mine.

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Did I? I chewed on my lip as I thought about that. Did I want to sit here and lament how the love of my life would die if I didn’t break things off with him? Not if I wanted to be able to finish out the school day. I shook my head.

  Candice nodded her acceptance of my answer and squeezed my hand before leaning back against her seat. We sat in silence for a moment while my thoughts raced through my mind. Even if Trisha, Fallon, Candice, and Candice’s whole hometown believed in palm reading, I was finding it hard to wrap my brain around it. One part, in particular, kept coming up and just didn’t make sense to me. I lifted my head and was startled to see Candice’s intent gaze already on me. The therapist in her was hard at work even though we were two friends enjoying lunch together.

  I gave voice to the question that plagued me. “How is it possible to tell us our future? That’s crazy!”

  To Candice’s credit, she didn’t even hesitate to answer me. “It wasn’t so much a telling of our future as it was informing us of the possibilities that were ahead of us. There is no true way to know the future because every day, we make choices that change the courses of our lives. All Mama Sari did was inform us of what to expect. If we choose to listen to her—to believe her—we can alter the course and, in turn, change the outcome.”

  I nodded, trying to grasp an understanding. “And if we don’t listen to her?”

  Candice shrugged. “Then we don’t really have any control over what may happen next. Take my date, for example. If I hadn’t had that palm reading, then I probably would have turned this guy down, but because I did, I realized that his offer might have been one of my two opportunities, so I said yes.”

  What she said made sense, to a point. “Oh, okay. Well, tell me about your date. How did that happen? When did that happen?”

&nb
sp; “Well,” Candice was giddy, and internally, I screamed at the unfairness of it all. Outwardly, I mirrored her expression. “Fallon’s blow-up on the airplane yesterday lasted so long that the flight attendants were due to exit the plane so that it could be cleaned. I was extremely embarrassed by her behavior and ended up walking out with them and constantly apologizing to everyone. Apparently, the pilot had been listening to the whole exchange and by the time we reached the shuttle station, he came to me and said that I could make it up to everyone by joining them for dinner. Then, I said that unless I was paying for everyone, I didn’t see how my presence would equate as a make-up. That’s when he responded that getting to see my beautiful face for an extended period of time could cure any ill feelings.”

  I swooned, despite the ill feeling settling in the pit of my stomach. “Aww, Candice that is so sweet.” And a little corny, but I was the last person to talk down on corny after Jeremiah’s first words to me were capital “C” corny with extra cheese. Only one thing gave me pause, and I couldn’t hold my concerns in. “But you know what they say about those pilots and flight attendants.”

  She gave me a curious look and shook her head.

  I leaned forward, cupping a hand around my mouth to project my whisper. “Hoes in different area codes.”

  She let out a peel of laughter. “That’s funny! Yes, I understand quite well the stigma of loose men using their nomadic careers as excuses to be unfaithful. I haven’t had an opportunity to find out if Henry is one of those men. I’d need more than a five-minute conversation.”

  “Hmm. Well, five minutes was enough to decide to go to dinner with him.”

  “That’s true; however, I didn’t see the harm in joining a group dinner. All of the attendants will be there, as well as the co-pilot.”

  “A group dinner? That’s good. Just be careful.”

  Candice giggled. “Yes, Mommy.”

  I laughed at that. “You sound like Ja’mya.”

  “I bet I feel like her right now, too.”

  “Ha! I’m just looking out for you.”

  She smiled. “And I appreciate your concern. Truly. It is a wonderful feeling to know that someone cares about your safety and whereabouts.”

  Shrugging, I zipped up my now empty lunch bag and tied the plastic sack of trash. “What can I say? I’m a nurturer.”

  “That you are, friend. It’s one of the things that attracts people to you. Your loving nature. Like I said, it’s appreciated.” She came around the desk and pulled me into a hug. “Thank you.”

  I returned her hug and stepped back. “Just send the location of your dinner in our group text and let me know when you get there and when you leave, whether you’re going home or back to his hotel.”

  She laughed again and walked with me to the hallway of the front office. “Are you sure you don’t want me to just turn on my GPS tracking?”

  I smirked. “You’re laughing as if that’s not a good idea.”

  With a playful shove to my shoulder, she continued laughing. “Bye, Lisa.”

  “Bye, heffa!” I smiled the entire trip to the cafeteria to collect my students and lead them back to my classroom. I was glad to have met Candice. Her bright and honest personality was so soothing and refreshing. Without even knowing what I was going through, she managed to help me clear my head of dread and simultaneously give me an idea of how to execute my unfortunate plan.

  Let the lying commence.

  ♥♥♥♥

  When I got off of work, I drove Ja’mya right over to Jeremiah’s parent’s house. They didn’t live far from us, and Ja’mya spent so much time at the home that Jeremiah had grown up in that I didn’t even have to stop at home first. Everything she needed was already there. Spare toothbrush, change of clothes, extra school uniform, and shoes. Besides, I didn’t want to stop at home first and have her start to settle in and get comfortable. Then I would have to fight just to get her back into some clothes so I could drop her off, and I already had too much on my mind to have to worry about that as well.

  The sight of Jeremiah’s shiny, red truck parked under the shed filled me with dread. I drove up the driveway and passed the vehicle slowly to park my sedan in the garage. Inside the house, the scent of spices hit my nostrils, and I felt like an even bigger pile of crap. Jeremiah was cooking dinner. I’d been so preoccupied that I had failed to plan anything and being the fantastic man that he was, Jeremiah had apparently taken the matter into his own hands and pulled a meal together for our family. My sigh threatened to become a sob, and I had to choke it back.

  Instead of going into the kitchen to greet him as I usually would, I took the stairs up to our bedroom. I took an unnecessarily long shower, using the time to give myself a pep talk, and slathered lotion on my skin, one inch at a time, in an attempt to delay the inevitable. By the time I emerged from the bathroom, the steam had dissipated and nearly two hours had passed. I froze in the doorway at the image of Jeremiah reclining on the bed with his attention on his cell phone. He looked up at the sound of the door opening, and my breath caught in my chest as our eyes met. Neither of us spoke for a good ten seconds, and I watched as he ran his gaze from my face, down my body until he reached my plain, white-painted toes. The corner of his mouth lifted, and I recognized the desire in his eyes as clearly as I recognized my own face in the mirror. I had to put some distance in between us. If we made love right now, it would be that much harder for me to be able to go through with my plan.

  “Is dinner ready?”

  He nodded then licked his lips, and I felt my nipples bead underneath my thin t-shirt in anticipation of what would surely come if I let it.

  Needing more effort than I expected, I tore my eyes from his enticing form lying in the middle of our bed and walked over to the night stand on my side to put my phone on the charger. Without looking at him, I spoke.

  “What’s on the menu?”

  I felt his eyes on me, or more specifically, my butt, but he didn’t answer my question. After a full minute of pretending to be engrossed in something on my phone, I turned around with my hand on my hip.

  “J!”

  That caught his attention. He dragged his gaze up to mine and gave me an unapologetic grin.

  “Are you ready to eat, baby?”

  I rolled my eyes in false annoyance. “I just asked you what you cooked, Jeremiah.”

  He slid to the end of the bed and placed his feet on the floor, grabbing my hips and pulling me to stand in between his knees.

  “My bad, baby. You know I can’t think straight when you put that thing on display for me.” I was unable to hold back a giggle as his fingers trailed up the back of my thighs to grip my cheeks. In hindsight, I should have put more thought into my attire, because the cotton shorts I wore did nothing to cover me up and he was taking full advantage of it. I allowed myself thirty seconds to indulge in his attention before I stepped back out of his grasp and headed toward the door.

  Eyes on the door, I called over my shoulder, “Since you can’t be bothered to focus, I’ll just go see for myself what you cooked.”

  I could hear his laughter as he hopped off of the bed and followed me downstairs. When I got to the kitchen, I was startled to find the stove and counters clear. The smell of food was still in the air, but the evidence of its preparation was nowhere to be found. Jeremiah stepped up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist. He pressed a soft kiss to my exposed neck and reflexively, I leaned my head to the side to give him easier access.

  “We’re eating in the dining room tonight.”

  I tried to head in that direction but he held me firm against him as he licked a trail along the column of my neck. I shuddered and my arousal instantly soaked the crotch of my shorts. Nudging firmly, he walked me over to the island in the center of the kitchen. I already knew what he had in mind.

  “J,” I whined, unable to formulate an argument against what was likely to happen next. And if I were being honest, I didn’t want to.

  His hands
roamed up and down my body before slipping underneath my t-shirt to cup my unrestrained breasts. When he circled my nipples with his thumbs, I moaned and bucked against him. That was all of the encouragement he needed. He pulled his hands from under my shirt and grabbed my own to place them on the island in front of me, before pushing me in the middle of my back until I was bent forward, all in the span of five seconds.

  As I faced the tiled floor, I tried—halfheartedly—to put a stop to this. “What about dinner? I’m starving, J.”

  Contrary to my words, I was vibrating with need as he tugged my shorts down to rest right under my knees.

  “You were in the bathroom for two hours, Lee; you can give me fifteen minutes.” He tapped on my thigh until I widened my stance. The elastic of the hem of the shorts stretched when my feet were about two feet apart and Jeremiah rewarded my acquiescence with a kiss on the small of my back where his name was inked just above the curve of my cheeks.

  I looked over my shoulder just in time to see him pull his t-shirt over his head, revealing a deliciously muscular chest that was wrapped in flawless mahogany skin. He stepped out of his lounge shorts and my mouth watered at the sight of his engorged erection. When he caught my stare, he smirked and reached around me to place his t-shirt on the edge of the counter in between my hands. My breath halted in my chest as I watched him kneel onto his shorts and grip my thighs.

  At the first swipe of his tongue at my seam, I whipped my head forward and jerked in his grasp.

  “Baby…”

  In response, he buried his face in my pussy and slurped his life away.

  “Ahh!” I twitched and shuddered in his hold as he dragged his tongue from the bottom of my slit to the top, where he suckled none too gently on my clit. I rotated my hips wantonly against his face as he slurped noisily behind me. His fingers dug into my flesh as he pistoned his tongue and wrenched a strangled cry from my throat.

  I felt rather than heard him chuckle before he released me. Sucking in gulps of air, I tried to calm my breathing so I could ask him why he stopped when I felt two of his slender digits press into my opening. I moaned at the intrusion and tilted my pelvis forward, raising my hips slightly. At that, he added his other hand between my legs, using his fingers to swipe back and forth against my throbbing clit with precision. When his tongue rejoined the party, lapping at me with quick, determined strokes, my eyes nearly rolled to the back of my head.