Love- a Forgotten Art

by Ivy Symone

  “Thanks Dasani,” she says graciously before entering the stall.

  I exit the restroom and instead of heading for my office, I make a beeline to Natalia’s office.

  “What’s up?” she asks absently while stuffing her mouth with popcorn. Her eyes are glued to her computer monitor.

  I close her office door and walk upon her desk. I lean in and whisper, “I gotta tell you something.”

  “Okay, but before you tell me, I wanna know when you getting them hoes out of the warehouse?” she says. She leans back in her chair. “They getting on my nerves and they in the way. And Ms. Ronnie thinks she finna have an office up here. That bitch finna get that ugly ass blonde wig snatched off her head. Who told her to call herself Queen anyway looking like she belong on the set of Player’s Club.”

  “I think Queen is her birth given name,” I chuckle. “But I’m working on that. As a matter of fact, I need to give Walt a call.”

  “If you don’t handle it, I got a friend I can ask to handle it,” she says.

  I eye her suspiciously, “Would this be the same friend you were in Gardenia with?”

  She purses her lips in a tight grin and looks away. “Maybe.”

  “So, no more Box?”

  She cuts her eyes at me playfully. “First of all, me and Box been over with. We were over with when I accepted the fact I was having his son.”

  “Well, why is he always around?”

  “Because I’m nice,” she shrugs incredulously.

  “Natalia Scott, nice? Since when?” I joke.

  “I can be nice. And I’ve been nice to Box, but like I said, I got a friend and I’m trying to see where things are going.”

  “Hmm,” I muse.

  “But tell me what you were about to say,” she presses.

  I open my mouth to begin but that’s just it; I don’t know where to begin. While trying to find the right way to confess, my phone starts ringing.

  “Hold on,” I finally say and retrieve my phone from my other pocket. I smile at the name displayed on the screen. I hurry to accept the call. “Hey!”

  “Hey, my sweet,” Prime says lovingly. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m fine. How’s your day been going?”

  “It’s been okay; I’m just missing you. Will you be coming over tonight?”

  “I intend to.” I remove the pregnancy test wand from my pocket and place it on Natalia’s desk and begin to walk away.

  Prime asks, “How are you feeling?”

  “I feel a lot better. I guess it was just nerves the other night,” I tell him as I exit Natalia’s office.

  “Well, I hate to do this to you, but my father is back in town, and I’d like you to meet him as well,” he says.

  “Are you serious?” I ask.

  I can’t hear his response because Natalia has come running out of her office.

  “Nuh uh, bitch! You come back here and explain this!” She’s laughing excitedly and holding her cellphone up to her ear.

  I turn around and hold my finger up to my lips to quiet her.

  “Nope, I will not be quiet! Come here!” Natalia orders. “Mama Pearl, you ain’t gon believe this shit!”

  Did she really just call our grandmother?

  I say into the phone, “Are you on your way for our lunch date?”

  “Yes, I’m like five minutes away. I’ll call you once we pull up outside. It sounds like you’re needed anyway,” he chuckles.

  “I know, right,” I say. “Just text and I’ll be right out.”

  My other line is already beeping before I can terminate Prime’s call. I answer giving Natalia the eye, “Yes Mama?”

  “What’s this Nat’s talking about?”

  I enter my office with Natalia following close by. She shuts the door and wait eagerly for me to explain.

  “I’m pregnant,” I finally say.

  Natalia shrieks and guffaws with excitement. “I can’t believe this shit!”

  “I knew it!” Mother Pearl exclaims. “I knew somebody else was pregnant. Never thought it was yo’ ass though. Since when you started getting dicked down?”

  “Seriously Mama?”

  Mother Pearl chuckle. “Honey, we all grown. That’s what you doing, ain’t it? Or did you go get that artificial shit?”

  “No, it’s authentic dick,” I laugh along with Natalia.

  “Who is it?” Natalia asks.

  “I’ll tell when you tell,” I say. I gather my belongings and shut my computer down. Into the phone, I say, “Mama, can I call you later tonight. I promise I won’t leave you hanging.”

  “You bet not,” she warns playfully. “Bye girl. Love ya.”

  “Love you, too.” I end the call and see that Prime has sent me a text telling me to come out.

  I look at Natalia with a goofy smile on my face. “I might be back today, or I might not, but I’ll call you.”

  “No Deuce!” she whines. “You gotta tell me what’s going on. I’m supposed to be your best friend and favorite cousin; I’m supposed to know these things.”

  “But I don’t know who you’re seeing,” I say. I sigh and decide to compromise, “How about this? Let’s do breakfast in the morning, and we’ll both spill the beans.”

  “Breakfast? The morning? That’s too long of a wait!”

  I laugh. “Yeah, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be occupied the rest of the day.”

  “Deuce!”

  “Just be ready in the morning. Besides, I need you to give me dick sucking lessons,” I laugh as I open the door and exit my office.

  I can hear Natalia echoing, “Dick sucking!”

  I laugh all the way down the hallway until it spills out into the lobby. I wave at Jerrica and head out to the front parking lot where the Escalade is waiting.

  Prime’s new driver hops out and opens the back door for me to get in. As soon as I slide in, Prime is pulling me next to him to give me an affectionate kiss.

  “We’ve got so much to discuss,” he says.

  “Such as?” I inquire as I place my head against his shoulder.

  “Like when do you plan to move in? Do you want a big wedding, or would you prefer something small and intimate? When will I meet your family? Would your stepdaughter like a princess themed room or something crazy like Beanie’s? When can we start working on adding to our family? And when—”

  I interrupt him, “Can I get comfortable with the relationship and saying I love you first?”

  “Of course, you—Wait.” He raises up causing me to slide down the seat. He stares at me in astonishment. “You love me?”

  I sit up and smile. “Yes, I do.”

  “When? I mean…Have you always?”

  “There’s always been infatuation present, and…I don’t know…It just seems like it’s natural. I love the way you make me feel. And I love the way I feel about myself being with you. Before you, I just wasn’t sure of who I was or who I was supposed to be…But being with you…It just feels right,” I confess.

  “I love you,” he says outright. He grabs my hand and brings it to his lips. “I’m so in love with you. Thank you.”

  “For what?” I snicker.

  “For allowing me into your heart.” He kisses my hand again.

  I lean over and kiss his lips and whisper, “And thank you for reminding me what love is about.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~~

  I didn’t return to work just as I thought I wouldn’t. When I get around Prime, I just don’t want to do anything. I love the way he spoils and caters to me. Once upon a time, I could say I never knew what it felt like to be on the receiving end of such treatment. Now that I’m experiencing it, I don’t want to ever give it up. Besides, who’d want to leave his paradise of a home. The shit is amazing! It’s like a fairytale.

  “Here you go,” Beanie says as she places a plate before me.

  I look down at the monster slice of pepperoni pizza. “Wow! This looks good and greasy.”

  Beanie giggles as she takes a bite of her own
slice. “Yeah, don’t tell Dad. He’ll have a fit if he knew we were eating this.”

  “Who you telling,” I joke. “I already know. He tries to get me on this healthy kick but I ain’t going for it. I was raised with a good ol country southern grandma and having chit’lins every other Sunday was normal.”

  “Chit’lins? You eat those?” Beanie asks. She isn’t as grossed out as she is intrigued.

  “Yup. I take it you ain’t never had any?”

  She shakes her head. “Is it true that they smell like number two?”

  “They definitely stink at first, but if they’re cleaned and cooked properly…Whew! Girl, I tell ya! As a matter of fact, if you wanna try them, I’ll ask my grandmama if she has any or plan to cook any soon.”

  “What about pig’s feet?”

  I laugh. “You wanna try it all, huh?”

  Beanie nods eagerly.

  I eye her suspiciously. “You must be a lil on the woke side and wanna get in touch with your African American hood side.”

  She snickers and takes a sip of her soda. “Well, it’s obvious I’m different from the rest of my family. I don’t look like them and despite my upbringing, there’s always that part of me that’s kind of curious and feel a little different.”

  I take a second and admire the flawlessness of Beanie’s mocha caramel complexion, her dark upturned slanted eyes, her orange rubber-banded braces over seemingly perfect teeth, and her slender features. Her jet-black hair is silk-pressed and hang over her shoulders and down her back. She’s gorgeous. Honestly, the moment I laid eyes on her I was pleasantly surprised. I expected Prime’s fair-skin and European features. Beanie doesn’t look like Prime nor does she resemble Korrine. The person she closest resembles is Yahara and that’s only because of the darker complexions.

  I ask, “What do you mean by that?”

  “Like I know I was adopted and all, but—”

  I’m flabbergasted. “Wait, you’re adopted?”

  Beanie smiles. “Yeah. I’ve always known. My parents told me as soon as I could understand what they were saying. I think they told me because they figured I would question looking different.”

  “But you look like your grandma. I wouldn’t have thought any different.”

  “Yeah, I get that,” she says. “A lot of people say that when they first learn that Perseus ‘Prime’ Mancuso is not my real father.”

  Dasani Mancuso? That sounds kind of good.

  “Would you ever seek out your real parents?” I ask out of curiosity. It makes me think of my own situation.

  She shrugs. “It would just depend on how they felt about being sought. I understand that when people have to give their children up for adoption, they sometimes want to cut all ties and leave that part of their lives behind.”

  I smile appreciating her maturity. “You’re such a cool kid.”

  She blushes. “Yeah, you’re cool too. I’m glad Dad met you. Of all people…Like, I thought you were awesome the day you came to our school.”

  My phone alerts with an incoming message. I scoop up my phone and see it’s a message from Natalia: Can you talk?

  I shake my head. This girl can’t wait until the morning!

  I text her back: In the morning cuzzin

  Natalia: It can’t wait

  I chuckle and don’t bother with responding to her. I then go to Camryn’s message thread. She has sent me a few messages but the one that sticks out the most is the one where she’s asking me to meet her at the condo. There are some items that she left behind that she needs.

  I wonder is this her way of trying to talk me out of this break up. I know how Camryn is. She’ll whine and cry and beg. In the past, I would soften up and give us another chance. But I can’t this time; my heart belongs to Prime.

  I look at Beanie and give her a devilish grin. “You wanna ride somewhere with me?”

  Beanie nods excitedly. She looks around and lowers her voice, “But we can’t go anywhere without security. Dad will have a stroke if we don’t.”

  I twist my lips up dubiously. “This is a city I’m known in and grew up in; no one bothers me. I’ve been driving around solo dolo for years before I met your daddy. Besides, no one knows about my involvement with him.”

  “Where’re we going?” she asks.

  “I gotta meet my roommate at the condo we share. She’s moving out and left something behind,” I explain. It isn’t a total lie, but I don’t need to be telling this little girl that Cam is my ex and we broke up. Shit, I haven’t even told Prime.

  I’m glad I convinced Prime to take me back to the warehouse so that I could pick up my wagon. He almost didn’t want to because he felt like I wasn’t going to follow him back to his place.

  Beanie surveys around us once again to see who all is paying attention. When Prime said he’s fully staffing his property, he isn’t lying. There’re people all through this castle whether it’s the maids, cooks, security, or one of Beanie’s nannies. And that’s not including the cameras everywhere.

  Beanie says, “Let’s go before Dad makes it back.”

  I snatch up my purse, keys, and phone. She grabs her phone. We leave our half-finished pizza slices right there at the bar in the gathering room. Beanie then pretends to want to show me some project she’s working on outside. We’re laughing and acting silly, so no one is paying us any mind.

  Once outside, she and I both make a run for my wagon parked in the front courtyard. I’m in the driver’s seat and she climbs in the passenger seat. She then points out of my window.

  “We still have to get past that,” she mentions.

  I turn to look at what she’s referring to. Oh yeah, the big ass security-coded iron gate just to get out of the courtyard. Then there’s another one to access the road.

  “You have the code, right?” she asks.

  I shake my head. Prime hasn’t gotten to that yet.

  “C’mon, I think I know them,” she says as she buckles herself in.

  Approaching the first gate, one of the guys on the security team has caught up with us by foot. He motions to me to roll my window down.

  “What are you doing?” he asks.

  “Nothing,” I say. I look over at Beanie and explain, “She just wanted to ride in the wagon. We’re not going beyond the first gate. I’m just driving down and letting her drive back up.”

  He buys my lie and even enters the code in the gate himself. We wait until we clear the gate before we both burst into a fit of giggles.

  We get to the first gate and Beanie hops out to try to enter the code. She has to visualize how she sees Bea entering the code. She enters the incorrect code twice.

  “Don’t enter it again in case he has some type of lockdown if entered wrong too many times,” I say. I motion for her to get back in the truck. “I’ma call him real quick.”

  I wait until she’s back inside before I place the call.

  “Yes, my sweet,” he answers.

  “Hey, I need to leave for a second and I was wondering if—”

  “Leave?” he questions. “Dasani, no. You can’t leave.”

  “Prime,” I say in a chiding voice. “Are you trying to hold me hostage?”

  “Maybe,” he says playfully.

  “You do realize I still have a company to run, right?”

  “You can do it from home,” he counters.

  “Baby, I know, and trust me, there will be plenty of days I work from home just to be up under you,” I coddle. “And even now, I’m coming right back. I just need to go to The Peridots where my condo is. It’ll take me thirty minutes at the most.”

  “Dasani, please do not mess with me. I’m looking forward to coming home and holding you.”

  Beanie teases me in silence, and I have to refrain from laughing.

  “Aw, baby, you’re so sweet to me. I’m not messing with you. I’ll be right back. I promise. Besides, there’s something I need to tell you face to face.”

  “What is it?”

  “Prime, did
n’t I just say I need to tell you face to face?”

  He laughs. “Okay. I’ll see you soon. And please be careful. I’m sending one of my men to tail you.”

  “I’ll be okay, Perseus. I just need the code to the gates. Can you send them to me?”

  “So, you’re starting that now too?”

  I laugh innocently. “What? Calling you Perseus?”

  “Don’t start that, Dasani. Please don’t. But I will send you the codes now. If you don’t call me within thirty minutes to let me know you’re back, I will be sending my men for you.”

  For some reason, I believe him. “Okay baby. Love you.”

  “I love you too. And Dasani?”

  “Yes?”

  “Make sure you come back to me.”

  ~~~~~~~~~~

  Natalia keeps trying to call me, but because I know what she wants, I ignore her. I sent her a text as soon as I parked in my building’s garage: I’ll call you back in about an hour

  “You live here?” Beanie is amazed.

  “Yeah, on the top floor,” I tell her as I lead her to the resident’s elevators.

  “Do you own it?”

  I nod. We step onto the elevators.

  Beanie is cheesing. “Why do I feel like I’m doing something bad?”

  I laugh at her. “That’s because technically we are. And your daddy is going to kill me when he finds out.”

  She remains quiet the rest of the way. Her big upturn eyes just look around in wonderment. Though she’s accustomed to a privileged lavish life, I think Beanie finds excitement in adulthood and being without restrictions. The gleam in her eyes tell a story of a teenager who can’t wait to be running her own show.

  It seems as if the gleam grows brighter once we’re inside the condo. She doesn’t wait for me to give her a tour or even ask for one; she takes off going from room to room.

  I catch up with her by the floor to ceiling windows that face the downtown skyline. Night is approaching fast, and as the darkness fall, lights illuminate the beauty of the city.

  “This view is magnificent.” Beanie seems to be mesmerized. “Like, you and Dad can stay in the castle and I can stay here…I just gotta convince him first.”

  “That part,” I chuckle.