Page 32 of Legend's Legacy
“That’s cool. Does she crochet a lot?”
“Yeah, she’s got an entire room for that purpose alone. She says it helps her to relax.”
“What’s one thing that I do that makes you feel like I genuinely adore you?”
My heart wanted to melt right there. His question was thoughtful and caring. I didn’t want to rush my answer, so I pulled my knees up to my chest, embraced them, and replied, “Give me a sec to think about it.”
“Bet.” Legend dug into his tacos again.
After a couple of minutes, I replied. “There are a few things that I could have said, but the one that’s nearest to my heart is that you don’t judge me or consider my anxieties ridiculous. You stood right in that elevator that day and put your fear aside to see about me. And every day since then, if you’re with me, you won’t even suggest the elevator. You automatically take the stairs, even if it’s inconvenient for you.”
His eyelids lowered, and I admired the long, thick lashes that covered his eyes. Legend reached across the table and cupped my chin. His lips were a subtle caress against mine before he pulled back.
“That’s because I never want to see the fear in your eyes again that I saw the day that we were stuck on that elevator.”
“I don’t think I could ever explain what that moment meant to me, Legend, and what you gave me.”
“I would give it to you a thousand times over just to see you happy and feeling safe.”
“What is the one thing I do that lets you know that I care about you?” He smirked, and I slapped his chest. “Get that out of your head.”
“Just teasing you, beautiful. Seriously, there are two things. No matter how busy your day is, you always stop to check on mine. And when we’re not just texting, but actually talking, you listen to me. I see it in your eyes that what I care about matters to you.”
“Well, it does. You matter to me, Legend. You’ve been nothing but a gentleman since I met you. You protected me from the start. When I was ready to throw my virtue away to prove a point, you didn’t let me.”
“That’s because I could see it in your eyes, and I vibed with your spirit. That wasn’t you. You’re a good girl, and good girls like to try to fit in with the bad ones or want that title wiped away from them sometimes. But at your heart and your core, you’re a good girl, and you cannot wash that away. I wouldn’t want you to if you could.”
His thumb caressed my chin.
“What’s the second thing?”
His eyes lit up as he replied, “Oh yeah. Kayson. The way you are with my li’l shorty, and how he responds to you, is genuine. It does a nigga’s heart good to see that your interactions with him and affection for him are real, and ain’t about trying to get close to his pops.”
“Has that been a problem in the past?”
“There have been a few occasions. While I was married and after, women would try to focus their attention on him in hopes of getting with me, but I could see right through them. You had the opportunity to get with me, but ya ass wasn’t thinking about me until li’l guy came around.”
“That Mack hand of his is something fierce.”
We both laughed. We finished off our tacos and headed to the dining room. Our at-home date night tonight was all about us focusing on learning more about each other without sex. Weknew that our chemistry was fire, but we wanted our connection to be organic.
“So, what we’re doing here is building a mood board. Something that we can do on the computer together, which is why I told you to download the pictures that made you think of me and us.”
“What’ll we do with it when it’s complete?”
“It doesn’t have to be anything specific. You can just come on this app and check it out, or save it in your phone, or whatever you’d like. I’m using it as my computer’s background screen.”
“A’ight. Let’s see what we create, and I can figure out what I want to do from there.”
I pulled up the app and created a blank whiteboard canvas. I opened the folder of items that were a collection of his pictures and mine.
“First one that we both had in common was the zoo,” I explained as I grabbed his picture and then mine and put them on the board in different positions.
“That’s cause it was my li’l G that brought us together. Gotta give props where props are due,” Legend conceded.
“I totally agree. That’s why my next picture is one of Kayson,” I explained and pulled up a picture of Kayson that I had taken of him that day at the zoo. He was so happy, and his sticky face was smeared with blue and green streaks from cotton candy.
“He was in his zone that day.”
