Page 50 of Made to Love Ya

“Yeah. You always got that, sweetheart,” I replied and clasped hands with her.

We bowed our heads, and she prayed.

“Holy Father, we come to You in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Your son is at a crossroads in his life, and he needs Your guidance. There is none greater than You, oh Holy One, who counsels us and leads us in righteous paths. You see Zae’s heart, and you know his future. You have thoughts of peace and not of evil and to give him an expected end.

“Help Zae to find his peace, trusting his relationship and his life in Your holy hands as he follows You, Father. Guide him in righteous paths and grant him wisdom and great counsel to make the right decisions for his life as he trusts in the power of Your Holy Spirit. We praise You in advance for leading him and giving him the answers that he needs. We pray this prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

“Amen,” I agreed.

“I say that you should trust Almighty God and tell her what you need to tell her. Don’t keep it from her, because if she finds out some other way, that will be more devastating, Zae.”

“I know you’re right.”

“I hope you really know it. You’re going to be angry with yourself for ignoring the truth that was right in front of you if you lose that girl. Not to mention that if you hurt her, you’ve got to deal with Tahj even more than you already have to do.”

“I ain’t worried about T’s ass. But I don’t want to hurt or lose my girl.”

“Then make it right, Zae. Holding things in isn’t like you.”

“I will, and I know. Thanks, Cee-Cee, for everything.”

“Anytime.”

I signaled for the waiter and paid the bill. When we got up to leave, I walked her to her car and hugged her.

“Tell ole boy he’s a lucky ass nigga. Tell him don’t fuck up like I did.”

“Oh, he knows how lucky he is. He’s got himself a good thing,” she replied with a bright smile.

She leaned up and kissed me on the cheek before she climbed into her car. I waved goodbye to her, and then I climbed into my car.

As I drove back to the office, my mind raced with ways to ease the news to Talia with minimal damage.

TALIA

“Oh,how sweet. I miss my baby,” I stated as I watched the couple hug.

I pulled my eyes away from them as she tipped up on her toes to kiss him. But just as I pulled my eyes away, something about them caught my eye. They looked too familiar.

My heart dropped when they stepped apart. My first thought was,not again.This could not be happening. It had been almost eight months since I had my heart broken the first time. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I believed in Izael in a way that I had never believed in a man before. I was sure that he wouldn’t hurt me, and yet, here I was again. I sat at the corner of 4thand River Street, waiting for the light to change.

I hated traffic lights! They were becoming a harbinger of doom in my life. He stood in the parking lot of The Culinary Canvas watching his supposed ex-girlfriend Cee-Cee as she drove off. Someone behind me honked their horn, and I looked up to see that the light had changed and the other cars in front of me had pulled off.

I angrily honked my horn back and sped off. My fingers pressed the button to summon Siri.

“Call Eve,” I commanded.

My bottom lip and chin quivered as the phone rang.

“Hey, boo. What’s going on?” Eve greeted a few seconds later.

“I cannot do this again, Eve. I swear that I can’t keep going through this.” I sobbed into the phone as I drove past Tri-County Mall in the River Oaks community.

My heart was done. I had already been disappointed about not getting my dream job at theBold Beautiful Black Girlmagazine, where I would have been given free rein to create the foodie section of the magazine. I had a great vision of what it would look like. In my heart, I consoled myself with the fact that at least I had a good man who loved me, and I would find something better. Now, I didn’t even have that.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” Eve asked.

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