Page 1 of The Dating Prohibition
Chapter 1
Snort!Kendra jolted awake, her face pressed against the cool window shade. She forced a cough to clear her throat, her cheeks coloringas she realized she’d been snoring. Her eyes darted around to see if anyone in the neighboring seats had heard, and she rushedto wipe the side of her mouth, checking for drool. No one in the row in front of her seemed to have noticed anything, andshe was thankful that most of the first-class passengers were wearing noise-canceling headphones and watching in-flight movies.
Pull yourself together, girl.Taking a deep breath, she covered her face with the palms of her hands, willing herself awake.
The sweet woman next to her patted her arm with a chuckle. “You must have been tired, dear. You missed the meal and everything!”
Thank god I didn’t have to pay for this upgrade.Kendra yawned and nodded in agreement. “I’ve traveled quite a bit in the past two weeks. I’m looking forward to a good night’ssleep.”I could honestly go back to sleep right now.
“Are you heading home?”
Home.
She smiled tightly. “Yeah, something like that.” Truth was, she’d been a tumbleweed for the past two years. Home was wherevershe decided to rest her head, though she’d been craving a place to plant her roots—something she hadn’t been sure she’d everdo when she left. And she never fathomed that she’d have a desire to return to the US to do so.
A chime sounded before a flight attendant spoke over the loudspeaker. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have begun our descent intoReagan Washington National Airport. As we prepare for landing, please make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in theirfull upright and locked position. Your laptops should be put away and...”
Kendra offered a small smile to her neighbor. “Are you returning home?”
The woman shook her head, the scent of her gourmand perfume wafting over Kendra in waves of vanilla and toffee. “My daughter’s.She’s going to be induced next week. My fourth grandbaby!” She grinned with pride and rummaged through her purse, which shecradled in her lap protectively.
“Aw, congratulations! That’s so exciting.” A cell phone was shoved in her face, showing three smiling kids, two missing theirfront teeth. “They’re very cute.”
Once they landed and arrived at the gate, Kendra helped her row mate with her bag and headed toward baggage claim as her phonepinged with a text message.
Lani:Is you here yet?? Inquiring minds (aka your nosy brother and your parents) want to know...
Kendra:The eagle has landed.
Lani:Tuh! I know you haven’t returned fromGulliver’s travels with a big ass head SMH. Make sure you look like somethin before you waltz your ass up in here . . .
She rolled her eyes and sent her cousin a middle finger emoji before tucking her phone into her pocket. Returning home hitdifferent now that Kendra was deemed a failure—it felt like tucking tail and admitting defeat after desperately trying tocarve an uncharted path with nothing but hope and a blunt instrument. Whether anyone would admit it, the hushed tones of thefamily whisper network turned up the volume on every inadequacy and failed attempt, and once again the grumblings shone aspotlight directly onto Kendra.Always the fucking black sheep.
Kendra sighed, muttering to herself as she approached her fifth red light in a row. “Now they’ll get to harp on the fact thatI’m late.” She glanced at the clock on her dashboard and shook her head with annoyance.
Having run home just long enough to drop off her suitcase and pick up her car, she’d rushed back out before her family startedblowing up her phone. DC traffic was only predictable in that it was inevitable, and finding parking was next to impossible.Sometimes, the search for parking took as long as the commute. That never stopped Kendra from wanting to drive—yes, one couldtake the Metro or rideshare to a destination, but that meant having to depend on too many outside variables when she was readyto leave—she was too much of a control freak to depend on the timeliness of others, and when she wanted to go, she wantedtogo. Waiting on others to do what she was more than capable of doing herself drove her up the wall. Being the baby in the familydidn’t mean that she was any less capable than Big Bro.
Being away from home for two years left her second-guessing directions and she cursed under her breath as she missed her exit from the same traffic circle twice. At some point, people enjoying the park would begin to think she was casing the neighborhood. Kendra bit her lip, her eyes widening as a car sped into the lane to her right as she attempted to maneuver over to catch the exit on her third try. She slid into the lane behind the Prius that had come out of nowhere and finally made the right turn out of the roundabout from hell.
Kendra zipped through the congestion on Rhode Island Avenue, having dropped all of her belongings off at the English basementapartment below her brother’s row house.The family golden boy.Logan had stopped offering the basement as a vacation rental when Kendra announced her return to town, and she’d eagerly agreedto help launch his new business for a month or two of free rent. Her best friend and cousin’s name appeared on the centerconsole screen of Kendra’s Audi Q3, and she pressed a button on her steering wheel to answer her phone via the car’s Bluetoothsystem as she stopped at a traffic light. “Hey, girl, hey!”
“You’re late, you know,” Lani quipped in a hushed tone, evoking an immediate eye roll out of Kendra. “Everyone’s waiting foryou to make an appearance! Logan said he hasn’t even seen you yet.”
“Yeah, that’s the beauty of smart locks—there’s no longer a need for me to knock on Logan’s front door and ask for a key to his basement. It’s bad enough that the prodigal child has to return and immediately ask her big brother for help for the umpteenth time.” Kendra chewed on her bottom lip, willing her face to express less of her reluctance to come back to the DMV area. It wasn’t that she didn’t love DC—she did—it was just that she was always hidden by Logan’s shadow. It wasn’t hisfault, and Kendra looked up to Big Bro for everything he was able to accomplish, but sometimes his success sucked up all of the oxygen in the room.
“Now, don’t be dramatic, Keke,” Lani chided in her singsongy voice.
Kendra bristled at her childhood nickname. “And remind me again why you couldn’t just let me come and stay at your place?You know that I’m not above bumming it on a couch.”
Lani tsked nonchalantly. “Come on, girl, no one should be subjected to that much sex. Can’t have you telling my aunt and uncleabout my sexcapades. Your mom already thinks I’m too fast anyway.”
Kendra smirked.You are.“She alreadyknowsyou’re fast, heffa.”
“You told her?!” Lani’s hushed growl made Kendra cackle.
“You really don’t remember trying to sneak a boy into our house when you were staying with us for spring break?” She’d beengrounded for the rest of high school and subjected to regular lectures about the birds and the bees. Auntie Mack refused tobe a grandmother early, so she made herself an impactful prophylactic. Logan and all the boy cousins were tasked with lookingout for Lani and Kendra, as if the lot weren’t all pussy-whipped themselves.
“Uh, that was a teenage mistake. Does Auntie Al think I’m fast too? You haven’t told her anything recent, right?” Lani’s whisperingwas more of an exasperated shout with the volume turned down. “If she thinks I’m up to anything, she’ll tell my mom, and thenI’ll never hear the end of it.”
