Page 45 of For the Love of City
“Nah but like…the emotions she drew out of me immediately was crazy.”
“Yeah, hearing you talk like this is pique crazy. But it always works out the way it’s meant to. That’s why I do my best not to stress out Porsha. I know that’s me, her ass can act slow all shewants to but she ain’t going nowhere and neither am I. I done already started scouting for a house for us.”
“A house?” He looked surprised and I swore if my oldest friend ain’t believe how serious I was it was no wonder that Porsha’s ass was still walking on eggshells with me.
“Ain’t nobody playing with Porsha. She can be in denial all she wants but she’ll be there by herself. I know her. She gone wake up one day and realize what’s up. I’m not a nigga to make her sweat because I want her. We staring down forty soon. Ain’t got time to play no lil ass boy games with love.”
“Damn. Is this what age did to us?” Travis looked stressed as he ran his hand down his waves with a stunned look on his face.
“It feels weird as hell just finding my person this late in life but I’m not mad at it. You had to grow up when you had your kid but that didn’t translate to women because of how he got here. I had to do that bid to get my mind right. My focus was always on Lyric and making sure she was good. No other woman would’ve been able to compete and I realize that now. My going away helped the both of us grow and it showed me I didn’t need to hold on to her so tight. She learned she could survive on her own two feet without the two of us running to her aid. She had a shitty situation and took control. I ain’t ever been more proud of her ass than I was when she got her lyrical lick back. ”
“You were always the strict parent but I understand why you moved the way you did. She was dealing with a lot and you were doing the best you could.”
I shrugged cause he wasn’t going to leave himself out of this success story. “Wedid the best we could and look how she turned out.”
His brows rose and he looked like I was missing the obvious. “A baby faced killer?”
“An internationally known superstar, married and rich on the way to wealthy. If that ain’t a success story, what is.” I was laying down facts but Trav’s ass wasn’t going to let it rest.
“We just gone skip over the menace to society part of her biography? Bet.”
“Shut up. While you pining away for her sister-in-law, what we got next as far as talent?”
“I’m going to work on this kid from Vine. See if I can get his ass out of Atlanta and down to Texas. Maybe a change in his environment will have him seeing shit different.”
“Good shit.” I dapped him up hoping he believed the next thing I was gonna say. I had never seen my boy this shaken up and it was getting to me.
“Miracles happen every day. Keep being what she needs without expectations and your blessing could come fall into your lap.”
CHAPTER SIX
Power Couple
PORSHA
CITY’S EXTENDED STAYING Atlanta meant that I was having to switch up how I greeted him when he got home. I had a meeting that was the first step of solving the problems that were running through my head. All the questions that I’d had over the last few months led back to one thing: I needed to slow down.
And not slow down on making money because I would never do that. But I needed to slow down on the flights I was catching in and out of the city to do people’s hair and style them for shows and interviews. Getting flown out had once been glamours but now people had worked my nerves. I felt like the last issue that really stuck with me was when I was in LA. Dealing with a major brand that hired influencers instead of professionals for their red carpet was the first red flag. Their diva behavior that was being fed by their online followers had them being mean to every part of the staff. And the actual famous people weren’t any better. I still wanted to deal in hair, which is why I was going to an exclusive model with my personal services. My old clients would be grandfathered in, but anyone new had to pay the price. I’d become well known enough to be a name in my own right and I wanted to turn that into something that could make me money without me killing myself.
Which is why I was at this dinner.
This was the first step in the stemming of my denial of what I wanted out of life and out of life with Corey. Because that was the direction I needed to go in. Hanging with the girls and hearing how they’ll had to work through something, be it physical ormental or social, that they had to endure to get their man lit a fire under me. I was not about to be the one to miss out just because I was afraid to change.
“You look beautiful tonight, Porsha.”
I nodded at the compliment as I held up my menu. I didn’t feel like being here and was truly in a bad mood because I was missing Corey. But I wasn’t going to let it impede this meeting.
“Thank you. I liked the designs that you sent over for the custom packaging.” I didn’t feel like making small talk but I got to the point of us being here.
“I mean the concept you have is smart. Selling directly to salons instead of trying to go direct to consumer means you have fewer people to convince.”
I looked at my dinner companion from across the table and smiled. “It’s far easier for people who recognize quality to appreciate it for their customers. I don’t have the desire to be the next social media hair vendor. My standards are too high for that and I want to ensure that my name isn’t attached to anything foolish.”
He smiled and it was easy to see why his family’s company sent him out to woo clients. Jax was attractive in a very clean cut, corporate type of way. The restaurant we were in was nice, some type of French and Asian fusion restaurant. I hadn’t picked the place but I was always open to try new things. I was already thinking about how I could get Corey here if the food was good.
I shivered slightly and then glanced around the restaurant. I didn’t understand what made me feel that way as I looked at the other diners. The room was brightly lit with the typical booths and white tablecloths. It had the floral wall with the name of the restaurant mounted within it in fluorescent lights. It was trendy and depending on how this food tasted would determine if it had the ability to survive. The city was good for making this type of place hot but then moving on to the next thing. I brushed thecurtain bangs of the wig I’d put on for tonight out of my face even though they weren’t distorting my view. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary so I turned my attention back to Jax.
He nodded and ran his hand through his light brown hair. “The individual packages are a much nicer touch. The research I did with other vendors shows they ship things in cellophane and plastic, which doesn’t make it feel as though their product is something they put much effort into. And other vendors just get the wrapped hair and then repackage it. I know your service doesn’t work that way.”
