Hooky
1426 Words
We just sat there for twenty minutes, staring at each other.
I clear my throat, trying to figure out what to say to cut the awkward silence and staring match. I
“Ismael saw us last night” I just blurt out. Jonah just sits there staring at me with his beautiful mouth opened. Jonah recovers and looks down at his coffee, seeming to think of what to say and finally speaks “so what do you want to do?”
I thought for a minute, “Do you have anything you can’t move going on today?”
“No” he replies.
“Alright… so can we just talk for a little bit?”
“Sure, what’s your favorite color?” Jonah just blurted out with a kid like smile.
“What are we? Twelve?... but if you must know is red”
And just like that he broke the thin layer of ice that had formed a few minutes ago.
“So you know I obviously have three kids, do you have any kids?”
“I might have one…” he let his words trail off.
“What do you mean? You either have kids or don’t”
“Is a long story” Jonah peeks up at me from his coffee.
“We got time” is all I say taking a sip of my hot chocolate.
“Well…I was engaged before moving here, but that obviously ended” Jonah stares at me, as if to gauge my reaction.
“Why did it end?” I asked, and for some reason I felt jealous of this unknown female.
“Because I found out that after the eight years of us being together, she was cheating on me during the whole relationship…but what makes it worst is that she had a baby four months ago, and two months ago I found out that he was not my son…” he let his words trail off and look up at me making eye contact.
“Henry had been born with some issues and the doctors thought he might need a blood transfusion, I got blood drawn and that’s when they told me that he isn’t biologically mine. She got to the hospital about twenty minutes later, and after I asked her that’s when she confessed. I ended our engagement on the spot and kicked her out of my son’s hospital room.” He finished, now fully staring at me.
“Wow” is all I could get out.
We sat in silence for a few more minutes, while thinking what should I say or if I should say anything.
“Okay, your turn…” Jonah sits a little straighter.
“My turn for what?”
“Where is your kids’ father?” he asks.
“He umm…I don’t know”
“What do you mean?” he pushes.
I take a deep breath and place my cup on the table. “Well one day he just picked up and left, I was…yeah seven months pregnant with Mariel. He said he did not love me anymore, and just packed his bags and left while the boys slept leaving me to explain to them why their father wasn’t there anymore.”
Looking up at Jonah I saw his mouth was just open.
“So now you know why my boys are so protective of me. Jordan didn’t quite understand or doesn’t really remember but Ismael tells them. I think Ismael feels guilty.”
“Why would he feel guilty?”
“Well after he left, Ismael blamed himself. That his father left because of something he must’ve done, but then my son blamed me and was constantly misbehaving and causing trouble. As he got older he realized that it wasn’t my fault, either. So I think he feels guilty because of how hard he made it for me back then.” I finished.
“I understand now…” he said thoughtfully.
“So what is going to happen with your son?” I asked.
“He’s with my mother right now, she visits him but she can’t or won’t, I don’t know which really, take care of him. I wanted to be settled here first before going to get him and bring him back with me.”
“That’s great” I say with a smile.
*Ding*
I get a message on my phone, ‘Mami can I go to Beth’s house today after school?’
The text is from Mariel. ‘Sure’ I respond.
When I look up from my phone Jonah is looking at me. I took advantage and texted Jenkins that I will not be making it in today. He immediately responded asking if everything was alright, and to not worry about the meeting. I assured him everything was fine, just needing a mental health day and added that Bonnie knows my presentation and he should let her do it in my stead.
‘Thank you will do’ came his response.
I texted Bonnie ‘be ready’ not adding any additional explanation.
Looking back up, I see Jonah just staring at me.
“Sorry” I sigh, feeling my cheeks heat.
“You’re good, so…?” said Jonah.
“so…?” I say.
“Well is only 8:45am, want to go for walk?”
“Sure”
We get up and as I’m about to pull my wallet out, Jonah placed his hand on mine to stop me. Jonah paid the bill, grabs my hands and leads us out of the café.
We walked for a few streets, just talking and laughing.
By the time we decided turn back to get our cars from the café’s parking lot; it was almost 11:30am and 12pm by the time we got to the cars.
“Come on, we’ll get your car later” Jonah says nudging my elbow.
I get into his car and as we drive, I see that we’re headed into the city and after just 20 minutes we pull into a grocery store parking lot.
12:25pm “Why are we here?”
“I want to make you lunch” Jonah says with a smile.
I could feel my cheeks heating up, so I looked away.
“Are you allergic to anything?” Jonah asked.
“No”
“What don’t you like?” he asked
“I’m iffy about vegetables” I respond feeling a bit embarrassed. Like what grown woman doesn’t eat her greens.
“Alright, let’s go”
I just stared at him, while he made his way to the passenger side to open the door for me. As I get out of the car, he grabs my hand and once again I’m blushing like a pre-puberty teen. In just one day I managed to play hooky and spend the day blushing with a man I just met and I feel sort of at peace.
Jonah grabs a cart and places my hands on the handle while he stood behind me and said “you push and I pick”.
I swear if it wasn’t for my hands on the handle and his hands over mine I would’ve melted to the floor.
‘What the f**k is wrong with me? I need to snap out of it he’s just a man…A sexy ass man… I wonder what he taste like’
“Charlotte” Jonah calls me from behind me and at the point I noticed that I was leaning on him.
“Oh sorry”
“You’re good” he says coming out from behind me and winks at me.
We walk around the store for 20 minutes and honestly I was in my own little world, with my mind reeling about scenarios that seemed to have come from Bonnie’s head instead of mine.
After Jonah got everything he thought he needed to make us lunch, he drove us to his place, which I was not expecting to be this huge house about 15 minutes away from my neighborhood. I was so stunned by the outside of the house that I almost fell on my face as we walked in through the door and the house was even more stunning in the inside.
“Oh my GOD” is all that I could gasp out.
Jonah stopped and looked back to make sure I was alright. After seeing my face, he kept walking and said “if you want I can give you a tour after we eat.”
I just nodded and followed him to the big kitchen.
- Writer
