by Aisha Brooks
Table Of Contents
Chapter 1: The Life of A Billionaire
Chapter 2: Tami
Chapter 3: Life Changing Decisions
Chapter 4: A Mix Up
Chapter 5: The Truth
Chapter 6: A Meeting
Chapter 7: Positivity
Chapter 8: A Proposal
Chapter 1: The Life of A Billionaire
Albert P. Johnson III, known to his friends as ‘Albie’ was more than a player, he was the ultimate player. Of course, with more than a billion dollars in his bank account he didn’t have to try all that hard to get girls to notice him. Working hard was in Albie’s DNA, as the CEO of TechNo Enterprises there was no doubt about that, but working hard to get girls wasn’t.
It didn’t matter where Albie went, it was inevitable that he wouldn’t go home alone, in fact on most occasions he went home with a selection of girls. The limousine would be crammed full of twenty somethings, each hoping that they would be the one to break the handsome Albert P. Johnson III of his playboy ways, yet none of them ever were.
Albie enjoyed his freedom, he enjoyed having money and, most of all, he enjoyed sowing his wild oats.
“Sir.” Holmes nodded at his master as he opened the bedroom curtains to let some light in. “I dislike waking you, but you have a meeting with the board at three o’clock and it is already one forty five.” Albie groaned, pulling the covers up over his head, an action that was greeted with giggling by a blonde twenty something.
“I doubt the committee would be thrilled about waiting, sir.” Holmes had no fear of being fired from Albie’s service, after all he had been in the family for decades and it was Albie’s father who paid his salary. All he had to do was attempt to keep Albie on the straight and narrow, or at least out of the tabloids – something which was much easier said than done.
“Miss, I am afraid that you will need to…” He searched for a politer word, but coming up with nothing he finished his sentence, “leave.” The girl in Albie’s bed pouted her plump lips and Albie shrugged.
“Sorry babe, there’s business to tend to.” The girl sighed loudly and without a thought for Holmes’s presence in the room she climbed out of the bed completely naked.
“Perhaps, Miss, you are in need of this?” Holes reached down and picked up a wrinkled mesh shirt from the floor. The girl took it with another annoying giggle and continued picking up the rest of her clothes from wherever they had landed the night before. “I suggest you utilize the bathroom to change and when you are ready I will see you out.”
Albie tugged at his tie and jerked his thick neck to the left with a resounding crack. He felt every set of eyes in the coffee shop staring at him, but that was nothing out of the ordinary. The six foot four billionaire had played football in college and through the rigors of regular gym time he had managed to maintain the body of an eighteen year old.
“Quad espresso, please.” Albie detested the ins and outs of everyday life, but the coffee shop was the one place that he refused to allow Holmes to tackle for him, after all, he never got it right.
“Sure, darlin’. Can I get you a cookie to go with that? Or how about one of our chocolate muffins?” The young black woman appeared to be attempting a double entendre, but Albie didn’t have time to notice.
“No, thank you. Just the coffee.” She lingered in his blue-eyed gaze momentarily.
“That’ll be $5.69 please.” Pulling a small stack of bills out of his pocket, Albie fumbled momentarily before handing her a $10 bill.
“Keep the change.” Albie didn’t bother with change, something that had always annoyed his father. ‘You don’t get to be a billionaire by letting people keep the change,’ he always said. Albie viewed it differently, you didn’t get to be the billionaire by waiting around for change. Time was money.
“Look at you, Mr. Big Spender!” The girl beamed as she slid her tongue over her plump lower lip. Albie paused and then smiled.
“You get what you pay for.” He said as he slid down to the waiting area of the coffee bar.
“Well honey, I would pay a million bucks for you!” She giggled mischievously as she called after Albie. He couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head.
Albie didn’t meet women like that often, the strong, secure type. Rather, he tended to attract the insecure ones, the ones with daddy issues and the ones hoping against all hope that they could spend just a fraction of his money. As he waited for his coffee he watched her chatting away with each customer and when she cracked another flirtatious joke with one of the men in line he felt a twinge of jealousy deep in his gut.
“Quad espresso!” The server called as she pushed his drink towards him. Albie gave the girl behind the till one last look as he grabbed his drink and turned to leave.
As he slipped in to the back of his car, Albie found himself wondering about the possibilities of life with a girl like the barista. A girl who had, in respects to him, nothing and yet seemed to take life as it came with a smile. She was so unlike anything he had ever known that he felt almost as if he had witnessed a foreign creature in an alien zoo.
“Everything alright, Sir?” Holmes questioned from behind the steering wheel. Albie nodded, deep in thought.
“Drive on, Holmes.”
Chapter 2: Tami
Tami Jones had grown up as one of nine children, the only girl. She had been raised to be a strong willed woman and that was precisely what she was. Despite being blessed with a beautiful head of black curls and flawless mocha colored skin, the brown-eyed beauty had never had any luck when it came to dating.
Tami guessed that it came down to her unwillingness to take anything less than she deserved, that and her attraction to the bad boys. Her friends called this group of characteristics “picky,” Tami called it “being selective.”
Tami was run off her feet. The morning hours before the nine to fivers got off to work were always the busiest in the coffee shop. She thrived on the challenge of remembering all of her regulars’ favorite drinks and she loved every second of the conversation. Tami had always been a people person for as long as she could remember. Sure, she hadn’t imagined that at twenty-six she would still be working as a barista, but it wasn’t a job that she could complain about.
When so many of her friends had no jobs, she felt lucky to have one that afforded her flexibility in schedule and a good paycheck.
“Hey girl! I saw you flirtin’ with Mr. Tall, dark and handsome this morning!” Tami laughed.
“There is nothing dark about that man, he is my tall glass of whipped cream!” Her coworker shook her head.
“You got a thing for those white guys, huh?” Tami shrugged.
“I like what I like!” Katie leaned on the counter as the midmorning lull took over.
“Why don’t you just give him your number? Never hurts to try, right?” Tami laughed.
“Honey, there is nothing about this gorgeous black body that he wouldn’t want, but I have a feeling I’d be a little out of my league financially.” Katie sighed.
“Like I said, never hurts to try?” Tami turned to face her.
“You know what? I just might. I can’t do any worse than any of the other losers I’ve dated and Lord knows I’m getting too old to keep playing around on those dating sites.” Katie’s eyes suddenly widened.
“Oh! You never told me how that last guy turned out!” Tami shook her head with a chuckle.
“Girl, you do not want to know. First off, the guy says he’s six foot tall, he shows up and he’s all of an inch taller than me. Honey, I’m five five. I was like, I know you did not just tell me you’re six foot tall!” Katie snickered. “Then, his picture on his profile turns out to be from like high school. He shows up and he’s about a hundred pounds heavier. Now you know me, I don’t mind a little extra man to love, but you can’t prepare me for a burger and show up with a Big Mac! I gotta have an appetite for that, you know what I’m saying?” Katie nodded as she laughed. Tami could always tell a story.
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“Anyway, so I go through with the date, ‘cause I’m not about to hurt his feelings just because he’s a little bit insecure but honey, when he tried to take food off my plate…that’s when I lost it. You don’t take food off your girl’s plate! You want something, you order it!” Katie was clutching her stomach by now and Tami shook her head. “It’s so hard to find a good man out there and this clock is tickin’!”
“Don’t be in such a rush, I have three kids at home and I love them to pieces but God they’re hard work.” Katie bit at her fingernails.
“Maybe, but I come from a big family and I need to have a big family but the way I’m going I’ll never find a man sane enough to have one with!” Katie shrugged.
“So, go to the sperm bank? At least that way you get to pick out the dad and you don’t have to deal with any of their shit.” Tami laughed.
“You might have a good idea there. I wonder how those things work anyway.” Katie shrugged.
“You walk in, ask for sperm and pick the one you want out of a book?” Tami shook her head.
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works.” The two burst in to a fit of giggles that only worsened when Katie nodded towards a customer approaching the till.
Tami had no doubt that she could thrive as a single mother. She had spent much of her life raising her brothers alone while her mother worked to support them. It wasn’t that she didn’t think she could ‘do’ the single parent thing, it was more than she didn’t really want to.
Katie had got her to thinking though, what if the right man never did come along? What if he did come along but he came too late? She made a mental memo to look for the local sperm bank and to at least find out what the process took.
Chapter 3: Life Changing Decisions
“We should know relatively soon if you’re pregnant.” Tami’s OBGYN gave her a sympathetic smile.
“Like how soon?” Her doctor chuckled.
“I’d say two weeks is a good time frame.” Tami nodded.
“Not soon enough but I’ll take it!” It had been months since Tami and Katie had talked about the possibility of her using a sperm donor to get pregnant, but the idea had stuck and as she always did, Tami fast tracked it.
She had spent weeks pawing over the candidates, but one in particular had stood out. He was athletic, tall, slender, white and educated – all of the things that were truly important to Tami. She had intended on waiting before going through with the insemination process, but the more she thought about the possibility of getting pregnant, the faster she wanted to complete the process.
“Okay, I suggest that you take it easy for the rest of the day and try not to overdo it at all for the next few weeks. Recent research shows that the amount of rest you get is directly proportional to the success of pregnancy with artificial insemination.” Tami nodded. She had no intention of taking it anything but easy, not after the amount of money she had spent to go through the process. “So I want to see you back here in two weeks, okay?” Tami nodded.
“And if I’m not pregnant?” Her doctor shook her head.
“Then we will cross that bridge when we get there. For now, go home, relax and take it easy.” Tami laughed.
“Easy for you to say doc!” Her doctor smiled.
“Well, try to take it easy. We will know the results in no time.” Tami nodded.
“Okay, I’ll leave your chart here. When you’re dressed and ready to go, just pick it up and give it to the ladies at the front and they’ll take care of you.” Tami inched toward the end of the table, her petite frame lifted high off the ground.
“Okay, thank you Doc.” They exchanged a smile and Tami’s doctor left the room.
Tami sat for a moment on the end of the examination table. She let her legs dangle freely and stared at the floral print wallpaper. She couldn’t help but wonder if she had made the right decision.
Ever since Albie had felt that uncomfortable feeling of jealousy towards the coffeehouse barista’s advances on another customer, he had been drinking more coffee than usual. In fact, every morning he made sure to visit the local coffee house even if he had no intentions of going in to the office.
Over the months, he had begun to work out Tami’s schedule and the more he saw of her, the less he wanted the company of his usual twentysomethings. As he watched her at work he wondered if perhaps, Albert P. Johnson III could live the life of a married man rather than that of a playboy.
“Can I take your order?” Katie leaned over the counter and Albie looked at her, confused.
“Is…Tami not here today?” He asked, trying not to sound overly interested. Katie shook her head.
“Sorry, she’s off today.” Albie felt his heart sink.
“Oh…” He paused.
“She will be back in a few days. What can I get for you?” Albie contemplated not ordering anything at all, but then opted to save face and ordered his usual instead.
“Quad espresso, please.” Katie punched the order in to the till.
“You’re Albie, right?” Albie nodded as he reached in to his pocket and pulled out a crisp ten dollar bill. “I thought so. Tami always talks about you.” Katie took the money and slid it in the till. “I don’t mean that to sound weird or anything, just that she always talks about what a good customer you are.” She went to hand Albie back his change and he shook his hand.
“Keep the change.” He said as he moved along to wait for his drink.
“She had a doctor’s appointment, but she’ll be back in a few days.” Katie tried her best to be discrete as she divulged Tami’s whereabouts.
“Oh, I do hope everything is okay.” Katie nodded.
“I’m sure it will be,” she said as she turned to the next customer.
Albie went straight to his office from the coffeehouse. Instead of focusing on the spreadsheets like he should have been doing, however, he focused on trying to track down Tami’s last name so that he could send her some flowers. He wondered perhaps, if it wasn’t a little stalker-esque, but when his receptionist offered that she thought it was a lovely idea, he went with it. It took a good part of three hours to track down both Tami’s last name and where she lived, but with the resources at his fingertips he managed it.
Unsure of which flowers to choose, he picked a few different bouquets and had them all sent to Tami’s apartment for same day delivery.
There was something about Tami and Albie couldn’t quite put his finger on it. She was certainly miles apart from any girl that he had ever dated. She was, in fact, the anti-Albie type of girl – someone who could stand on her own two feet, someone who knew her own worth and someone who didn’t seem fazed by his net worth.
Of course, he couldn’t guarantee that she knew anything about his net worth but then again there weren’t many people in Littleford that didn’t know about the city’s most eligible bachelor.
As he sat at his desk and stared out of his panoramic window on to the city below, Albie found himself wondering about his future. About the possibility of his having a future with someone a little more like Tami and a little less like…well, everyone else. The more he thought about it, the more he pondered the things that Tami could give him that his life had –up until now – been without.
There was the certain possibility of a child, something his father had been nagging him about for the past decade. ‘A Johnson man needs an heir to pass his fortune to,’ his dad would say. So important was an heir to Mr. Johnson II that before he agreed to finance his son’s business he required him to make a deposit at the local sperm bank.
‘No business funded by my money is going to fall in to any hands other than the Johnson’s’ he had said. And Albie, as much as he had needed his father’s funding, had agreed to the rather bizarre request.
But with Tami in the picture, or at least on the horizon, Albie could see a real possibility for a future Albert P. Johnson IV.
Chapter 4: A Mix Up
Tami sat amid six bouquets of beautiful flowers, c
ompletely flabbergasted. She had absolutely no idea who they were from as none of the bouquets had included cards, but she could only imagine that they were from her friends at work. The perfume from the flowers was incredible and the variety of colors simply amazing. She liked the daisies the most, she had always been a fan of the daisy – a simple but beautiful flower.
“Katie?” There was a pause on the end of the phone while Katie finished up with a customer.