Page 1 of Passion

“I have a meeting I have to go to later, so can you pick the kids up from day care for me?” I asked my mother.

“Yeah, of course, G. Do you know how long you will be? I may take them out to eat pizza.”

“Oh Lord. Kizzie will have a fit. You know that’s her jam. She loves pizza. I should only be an hour or so, but if y’all are still out, I can wait.”

“Okay. You know I know what my babies like. I might go pick up Jream too. She would be upset if I didn’t pick her up for pizza.”

I chuckled. Jream was my niece. My brother Daniel had a six-year-old daughter who was his pride and joy. That little girl meant the world to him, as she should. She was his and Jorielle’s only child. They got married nearly eight years ago. I wasn’t married but had two kids with one of my best friends. Clayton and I both wanted kids. I wanted them badly but knew a relationship between the two of us would never work.

We met one another in elementary school—in third grade, to be exact—when he and his family moved to Tallahassee from Baltimore. When I was twenty, I started getting the fever. Besides my career as a dental hygienist, there were two things I wanted. The first thing was kids. If I couldn’t find the man I wanted to settle down with, I didn’t want to be left alone. Kids were something I wanted more than anything else, especially after my car accident. I wanted to be married one day, but I refused to settle for just anybody.

My mama always told me I was way too picky and that I needed to go lie on her couch and talk about what was really the issue. She was a psychiatrist and had overcome quite a past. Her past from Houston with a drug dealer had recently come to Florida to meet us. I had a brother she’d never told us about. So instead of having one big brother, I now had two. I wasn’t mad about that since Joel was so cool.

He and I had gotten somewhat close over the past couple of months. We talked at least twice a week, and I made promises of visiting him in Houston. However, unlike him, I’d had a normal childhood, and there was nothing I could think of that had caused me to be the way I was. I was just fearful of meeting who I thought was the right man, only to discover he was all wrong.

I wanted kids before I turned thirty, so Clayton and I decided that we would be amazing co-parents since we were best friends. We made two beautiful children together, Kizzie and Dakota, and I didn’t regret it. Here I was, thirty-one years old and still single. Today was the day I would do something about it, though.

The meeting I had didn’t pertain to my job as I’d had my mother to believe. I was actually going to a company called Arranged Hearts for an interview. I was sick of the dating scene and needed someone to weed out the undesirables. When I heard that Nathan and Savannah Bryant had opened a location here in Tallahassee, the wheels in my head started turning in excitement.

As soon as I knew they were up and running, I wanted to make an appointment. I let fear hold me back though. Plus, I knew my family would think I had lost my damn mind, including Clayton. I also knew the part that would give them pause was the fact I would have to marry whoever they matched me with before meeting him. That was why I didn’t tell Solé King what I was doing. My mama could have me questioning my own identity. She had the gift of gab and could make a lion question whether he was king of the jungle.

I wanted to do this for me. Putting my wants and desires on the back burner for my children and everyone else had drained me. I rarely spent time away from my babies. Either I was at work or I was with them. I only got time to myself when I was driving to work after dropping them off or when I was leaving work to pick them up. Most times, when they were with Clayton, I was either working or doing housework.

I didn’t really have friends, other than my new boss. After meeting my brother, he introduced me to his girlfriend, Keondra. Her sister was a dentist and was needing hygienists. I applied with her and was hired on the spot. Yunique and I had become friends, but she was the only one I had. Besides, most times I was around her, our conversations were mostly about work.

I talked to my mother a little longer, then I ended the call because it was time for me to head to my appointment. I was so damn nervous, and I didn’t know why. It wasn’t like I would be meeting the person today. I only had to answer their questions honestly so I could meet the man of my dreams that would one day have my heart. It would be an arrangement, but my goal was for this to work as if I’d picked him out myself.

When I got to the address I’d programmed in my GPS, I stared at the building. There were palm trees outside and a beautiful cobblestone walkway to the entrance. After taking a deep breath, I mumbled, “Here goes nothing.”

I opened the door and straightened my shirt, being sure my dress pants were smoothed out as well. My heels clicked along the walkway, taking my nerves to higher heights the closer I got to the building. My ass felt extremely heavy. It already had its own zip code, but now it felt like that shit was its own country. My back was throbbing from it along with the anxiety I was feeling.

I opened the door and walked to the desk, feeling like I was about to start sweating. The lady seated there smiled big. “Hello! How can I help you?”

“Hi. My name is Giselle King, and I have an appointment with Kerri.”

“Oh, yes! Do you have the questionnaire filled out?”

“Yes, ma’am. I emailed it to her already.”

“Awesome. I’ll lead you to her office since she’s ready for you.”

I nodded, hoping I would have had time to sit and gather my feelings and nerves. Not so. Kerri was already waiting for me. I followed the young lady to her office. She knocked on the doorframe, since her door was open, and the beautiful, curvaceous woman turned to us and stood. Her eyebrows went up slightly as did mine. We resembled somewhat. “Wow. Hello, Giselle. I’m Kerri. Come on in and have a seat.”

“Wow is right,” I said as she chuckled.

After closing the door, she sat across from me, and we stared at one another for a moment. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we were related,” she said, breaking our silent stare down.

I chuckled. “Me either.”

“Well, I have your responses to our questions pulled up on my computer, so let’s get to it, shall we?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay. I’m just going to read these verbatim, and if I need you to elaborate a bit, we can get into that.” She took a deep breath and began. “What are the most important values you look for in a partner? For example, honesty, loyalty, kindness, etcetera. You responded, I look for kindness, honesty, loyalty, and all that, but I also like him to be somewhat rough around the edges. I need to know that he can protect me if need be. That I will feel safe with him.”

She glanced up at me with a slight smile. “Did you want to add anything to that?”

“Umm, I think I said everything. Oh, I definitely want him to be considerate. Selfish men irritate me.”

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