Page 49 of Beautiful Beginning

Her smile returned, and her hand flung over my shoulder. “Thanks, I appreciate that. You’re a decent guy, Chaz. If you weren’t already taken I’d try to introduce you to one of my roommates.”

“Chaz?”

With only sips of lemonade most of the day, without the Hennessey from the bartender yet, I couldn’t have been drunk. But what other reason would I have for tripping? That voice…

“Chaz?”

I turned around and Taylor’s hand fell from my shoulder.

She leaned in closer and asked, “Is that someone you know?”

Okay, so Taylor wasn’t the brightest crayon in her very colorful box. “Yes, that’s Journey.”

Journey stepped in closer and asked, “What’s going on?” She looked between me and Taylor. “Here I was thinking it’d be a good idea to surprise you, and here I am surprised my damn self.” Her head shook side to side. “This was a mistake. I tried to tell Monroe I shouldn’t surprise you. I should have told you when I booked the ticket.” She rambled on. “When you said you’d be here at this restaurant tonight with your mom. I didn’t expect you’d also have a woman with you. I shouldn’t have popped up.”

Taylor stared at her and thought it was the perfect time to say, “I love your name.”

Me and Journey both blurted, “What?” at the same time.

“Sorry,” Taylor winced. “Bad timing.” She cozied up beside Journey and said, “This might look bad.” The worst way to ever convince someone whatever they saw was in fact not what they were seeing. “But we weren’t doing anything.” Second worst way. “We were grabbing a drink.” Not getting any better.

“Journey, this is Taylor. Mybrother’sgirlfriend.” I pointed across the restaurant. “My family is over there.” As confident as I was in telling her what was going on, I couldn’t help but stare at her. She was there in my city. Standing across from me.

“Oh.” Journey bit the side of her lip. “Nice to meet you, Taylor.” She shook Taylor’s hand before eyeing me. “Sorry this is a lot. I rolled into your city guns blazing. My bad.”

“Girl,” Taylor chuckled, “These Brown men sure know how to drive a woman crazy. It’s fine. I would have been all, ‘get off my man you skank hoe too.’”

I was speechless.

Journey tried to laugh but it wasn’t her full belly laugh. More like a nervous chuckle. “Okay.” She blinked.

“Here,” Taylor wrapped her hand around Journey’s arm, “let’s introduce you to everyone.” She looked my way and said, “Are you okay grabbing the drinks?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. I watched Taylor escort Journey to the table. But turned before the introductions kicked off. I needed something more than the Hennessey I planned to sip. I needed a shot. “Can I get a beer, two of your specials, and a shot of Tequila?”

The bartender joked, “Not all for you, I hope.”

“It could be.”

He nodded. “Holidays can be like that sometimes.”

“You have no idea.” I threw the shot back, then told him, “Thanks.” I wrangled the drinks and walked to the table.

Mama was already engaged in conversation with Journey. Taylor across the table looked like she ate up every word that spilled from her mouth.

I sat beside Journey and passed her a drink.

“Isn’t this such a pleasant surprise, Chaz?” Mama looked at me and had this angelic glow to her face. “She flew all the way out here to see little old you.”

Carter sucked his beer down, and my dad held no eye contact.

“Yeah, amazing surprise.” I placed my hand on Journey’s thigh.

“And you didn’t tell me the amazing woman who helped campaign for your role was your girlfriend.” Mama leaned into the table.

“Guess I left that out.” I looked over to Journey who still had a smile on her face. “If it weren’t for all the people she knows it would have been highly unlikely for me pull out a win.”

“Oh, honey. I’m sure they would have loved you. But I’m thankful you had her.” Mama said, “And now with this role, the sky is the limit. My son could become governor, a congressman, even president.” Mama’s eyes glistened.

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