Читать книгу Love Is Blind - Rodney Suggs - Страница 12

Chapter 8

It was 4:00 a.m. when my alarm clock blared its familiar tune. Instead of going to my gym run, I dressed in comfortable travel clothes for my flight to New York. Before leaving the bedroom, I walked to the other side of the bed, sat on the edge, and leaned over to kiss Janet on the cheek as she drifted in and out of sleep.

“I’ll see you in a few days, love. Hope the visit with David goes well and everybody gets closure,” I whispered. Janet sat up on the bed wrapping her arms around me. I could feel the warmth of her naked body pressing against my back as she laid her head on the back of my neck.

“Okay, baby,” she replied in an extremely groggy voice.

I made my way into Iliana’s room to deliver a kiss on her forehead before plugging in her favorite Kermit the Frog childhood nightlight. Iliana would deliberately unplug the light so that I could plug it in whenever I would go out of town. It let her know that I was in her room and kissed her goodbye before I left. I thought she had grown out of it until the day I was running late for my flight and bypassed her room. She immediately called me, crying uncontrollably because I did not come in. I had the worst trip because I knew I had really hurt her feelings, and because of that, I never skipped stopping by her room when I was on my way out.

Waiting in the den for my limo, I heard a knock on the door. It was Féch.

“Want some company?” she asked with a big smile on her face.

“Absolutely.”

She walked into the room carrying two fresh cups of coffee.

“Thank you, Féch. You didn’t have to do that. How are you this morning?” I asked as I stood up to help her to an empty chair to sit down.

“You’re welcome, Kahlil. I’m doing well, no complaints this way. I figured you could use a warm cup of coffee at this hour, so I took a gamble. I’ve also noticed that you’re either stressed or you’ve had some things weighing on your mind these past few days. So I believe the question should be directed more your way versus you asking me.”

Laughing out loud, I replied, “Damn, it’s that obvious, huh?”

A worried expression suddenly appeared on Féch’s face. “Oh, I didn’t mean to pry, Kahlil. We have known each other for some time now, so I just caught the vibe that you haven’t been yourself lately.” Féch attempted to leave the room when I placed my hand on her right thigh halting her escape from the chair.

“I’m sorry if I came off pissy, Féch. You’re spot on with your observation. I haven’t been myself these past few days. Don’t leave. Stay. I need your company.”

She glanced at my hand that rested comfortably on her upper thigh for a moment and then looked up at me with an even bigger smile. “Okay. I was worried I had offended you,” she said.

“Come on now. We’ve known each other far too long for that. So where do I begin? I have two huge business deals that are coming up back-to-back. One of them I had to put on the back burner because the other one was dominating the majority of my time. When you are dealing with CEOs, you can’t say that you need to focus your time on another project other than theirs if you plan on doing future business or even keeping the account you’re working on. I balance my time well to make accommodations for everyone, but it has been draining since I cannot afford to lose either account. Home life has been a tad crazy, so my mind tends to drift elsewhere from time to time.”

As I sat there drinking my coffee and chatting with Féch, she got out of her chair and sat next to me on the couch placing her extremely soft, warm hand on top of mine.

“You know God will never give you more than you can handle. Everything that’s on your plate, you have handled before, so I have all the confidence in you that you can handle it again,” she replied.

“It feels like whenever we get the opportunity to talk, you lift the burdens of life that rest on my shoulders with your positive energy, and I thank you so much for that.” Just then, a glimpse of headlights beamed through the curtains of the den.

“Have a safe trip, Mr. Smooth,” Féch said with a smile.

“Thank you for sitting with me and sharing a cup of coffee, Féch,” I replied with a wink.

“Oh, the pleasure was all mine.”

“I’ll see you in a few days when I get back from New York,” I told her, grabbing the front door to walk out.

“I’ll make sure the ladies are well nourished in your absence.”