Page 27 of Isn't She Lucky
I grin, remembering the days we spent playing hide-and-seek and laser tag around this place.
“I suppose you can show me where I will be sleeping.”
“Sure.”
He grabs my heavy bag like it weighs nothing and begins up the spiral staircase. I follow him and when he’s almost at the end of the hallway where I know the master suite is located, he says, “Here you are.”
“Here?” I ask.
“Yes. Here.”
“All the bedrooms in this house, and you put me in the one closest to yours?”
“Yes. It’s a huge, lonely house. It’ll feel good to have some life in here.”
“I see.” I sigh heavily and look around the room. It’s a beautiful space like all the other rooms in this place. It looks like where a princess would sleep. The pink and white pillows on the bed and the drapes at the windows – this place is immaculate.
He says, “Take your time and get settled. Have you eaten?”
“Yeah. I’m good.”
“Okay. If you need anything, just holla.”
“Thanks.”
He leaves, closes the door, and I literally fall face down across the bed. I’m tired, confused and wondering how my life has changed so drastically seemingly overnight. This morning I woke up in my apartment. Tonight, I’m going to sleep in this man’s house.
And I’m a millionaire – can’t leave that part out.
Stuff like this doesn’t happen to ordinary people like me. And then add the fact that it’s him to the mix. Kasim.
My Kasim, with the ‘G’ on his chest.
7.
MONday morning, Iget up early and reacquaint myself with the home I used to play around in as a child. Most of it has been upgraded to look more modern. I’m sure he did those. His parents were not the modern kind of people. His mom loved vintage, and his dad loved everything his mom loved. I remembered how his father used to worship the ground Mrs. Noble walked on. They spent more time together than with Kasim.
I remember how it made him feel. It’s sad we had to talk about stuff like that as children, but that’s what it was. I told him how I used to hear my mother cry herself to sleep because she was so stressed trying to raise me alone. I told him I never knew my father. He bounced the minute my mom told him she was pregnant. She said he went off to college and lived his life. Meanwhile, college for her wouldn’t happen because she had me.
“Oh my.”
The woman’s voice catches me off guard as I step into the kitchen. I see her coming from the pantry. She’s an older blacklady – in her late fifties or early sixties, I would guess – and is wearing a white apron.
She says, “You’re as pretty as he described you.”
“Hunh?”
“Kasim. He told me you would be here.”
“Oh. I’m—”
“Giada Gardner,” she says. “I know who you are. I’ve only listened to stories about you for the last two years. I knowexactlywho you are, suga.”
I scratch my head. Has Kasim been discussing me with his housekeeper?
Smiling uncomfortably, I say, “I’m sure he hasn’t been talking about me. We just reacquainted like two weeks ago.”
“I know. He told me that, too.”
