Page 50 of Pieces of Us

Nehemiah sat at a desk in the corner, seemingly wrapping up a phone call. Once he hung up, he stood wearing a cream Burberry button-down rolled up to his elbows, showcasing the tattooed sleeve on both arms, and brown slacks. He approached us as he smiled at Megan.

“Thank you for coming.”

“No problem.” She smiled.

“Not sure if you’re comfortable, but would it be too much to ask for a hug?”

Megan shook her head and fell into his arms. He held her tight and closed his eyes. I could see several emotions cross his face as his eyes opened and landed on me. I smiled softly and looked away.

He released her and ran his hand down her head. “I’m glad you agreed to meet with me, Megan. I know this is new for us both, but I’m hoping you’ll give me a chance to get to know you, and for you to know me.”

“Of course. Mom gave me a little history about you guys…I feel like I know you a little bit.”

He chuckled. “Good. I hope you all are hungry. I made my famous dish.”

“Southwest chicken chili?” I queried.

He licked those kissable lips and smirked. “You know it.”

“You never did give me that recipe.”

“Yeah… I wasn’t able to give you a lot of things, but at least I was able to give you something.” He smiled down at Megan who was looking between the two of us. “Let’s eat because I’m starving.”

A twinge of sadness came over me, but I sucked it up as we all took a seat. After we said grace, it was as if I didn’teven exist anymore. Megan and Nehemiah vibed and talked about everything from music to art. I could tell Nehemiah was impressed by how articulate Megan was. I could see the admiration and appreciation in both of their eyes. They had so much in common considering their birthdays were only a day apart, so they kind of liked the same things.

When Megan told him she played the cello, Nehemiah was impressed. She asked me to pull up the video of her showcase so he could see, and they watched it together. I just sat and watched him with that beautiful smile on his face and wanted to cry. The emotions coursing through me were so overwhelming I had to excuse myself to go to the bathroom. While inside, I splashed some water on my face and looked at myself in the mirror.

On the outside, I looked okay, but on the inside, I was breaking. I couldn’t help that I still felt something for Justin. He was who I spent almost fourteen years of my life with and vowed my life to in front of my family and the members of my father’s church. However, he hurt me to my core when I witnessed his infidelity. I was naïve and vulnerable when we got together and allowed my father to finesse me into marrying him. Now that I was an adult, I looked back on all the years I spent with him and felt nothing but stupidity and betrayal.

Then there was Nehemiah, the love of my life, the man I was promised to the moment we locked eyes on that football field. We may have been young, but our love was potent, pure, and beautiful. We never had the chance to experience what our love could have been because it was stolen from us.

He and Megan were bonding so well, and even that was stolen from them. Now, I felt wrong for wanting him when I allowed my father to take us away from him.

Tears slid down my cheeks as I placed my hand over my mouth to conceal my inner turmoil. I hated what had become of my life and what I had to take away from my children becausetheir father wanted to be a friendly dick nigga and not think about the consequences of his actions or what it would do to me or his children.

The tapping on the door caused me to straighten up and toss more water on my face.

“I’ll be right out,” I said, trying to sound normal.

“Mo, open the door.”

“I’m okay. I promise.”

“Don’t make me bust this door down, Boogie. Open up for me.”

I sighed deeply and opened the door. Nehemiah walked inside, closing the door behind him. His eyes bore into mine as he took his thumbs and cleared the new tears that were falling.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to keep apologizing, Mo. I’m starting to believe that it was meant to happen this way. Our love for one another was too passionate, and we were still under our peoples’ thumbs. They would have eventually tore us apart because of how adamant your pops was to break us up. Stop beating yourself up about what we can’t change. Let’s look forward to what we can control now. A’ight?”

“Okay.”

“Come on.” He pecked my lips then took me by the hand, leading me out of the bathroom. “My shorty is dope, man. You did really good with her. I kind of figured she wouldn’t be ill-mannered.”

I smiled. “Where is she?”

“Leann is showing her my art room.”

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