Chapter 15

Steele

"Can I get a selfie?" a random girl in the supermarket asked while we were shopping with my cousins.

"Sure," she said, looking embarrassed. You'd think shorti would be used to this after a week of being stopped for autographs and selfies. My girl was now a local celebrity since her producer had posted the track they'd been working on a week ago. The hits on the internet were astronomical for a first-time artist. Both she and Cory were in the spotlight.

"Is it true that you and Cory are an item?" The girl grinned after snapping the picture.

"No."

"Really? You guys have so much chemistry! You should-"

"I have much more chemistry with my boyfriend, Steele," she said, pointing at me. The fan looked suitably abashed, excusing herself and leaving the soup aisle we were in with my cousins Kenny, One - the oldest of the triplets, and Roderick.

"You just can't get away from your fans, can you?" Rod laughed. She grabbed a few cans of New England clam chowder instead of answering and put them in the cart.

"Aww, don't be like that, shorti! Steele doesn't mind you in the spotlight. You haven't changed, and that's the important thing."

"It's not that I'm going to change, Kenny. It's that he's going to leave! There's only one week left for us to be together. What if…" she asked, losing steam. "What if he decides that he doesn't want me anymore?" The question broke my heart. We hadn't really talked about my leaving yet. Simeon was scheduled for surgery in five days. The plan was to have him recover for two days, then send him back to Connecticut. One week. We only had one week left together in Canada.

I wrapped her up in my arms, determined to make this week amazing for her, even if it would be hard with her on evening shifts. I didn't want her doubting my love for her anymore.

"You are my lady, Hefsiba. You are going to be my wife one of these days. You-"

"That's easy to say when you're still up here, Steele. I don't want to have to-" Whatever she was saying, I cut off with my mouth, no longer seeing the point of talking. She whimpered and wrapped herself around me.

"Alright, you two. You've proven your point, cuz." The voice seemed to be coming from far away, but eventually, we stopped making out in the middle of the supermarket. "Damn. Y'all can ignore the world, can't y'all? It's a good sign y'all are meant to be together." The family chuckled.

"We're out of eggs," Sheeba muttered to get attention off her burning face. I smiled and caressed her cheek and the moment passed. We lost a lot of moments as the week progressed. My poor boo was having a difficult week with her patients and was too tired to stay up and party with us after shifts. She refused to call in sick, stating that she would only end up bringing me and my cousins to the hospital anyway. It was a hectic week.

The night before the operation, Simeon finally weighed in on the situation.

"It's not fair, the way this week has gone for y'all," he said firmly, scratching at the pins in his thigh. "It's like y'all ain't had no time together. Why don't you take shorti to breakfast at IHOP? It ain't too far from her home and y'all could just relax."

"She'd be too worried about being a bad hostess. She wants to leave a good impression on-"

"And she has," One said forcefully. "That poor girl has been bending over backward to make sure we're taken care of. It's time she took a little bit of time for her and her man. The surgery is tomorrow anyway. Who knows when it's actually going to happen?"

"I agree. A breakfast date would be perfect for y'all," Kenny agreed. "Shorti should be enjoying herself this week and instead, she killing herself keeping up with us and her job. She already part of the family. She don't need to prove it. Besides," he added, "The day after is her last day with us and she gotta work. We ship out the day after that first thing in the morning." I couldn't help my sadness at that. We'd been together for nine weeks and it all came down to this: a crazy group of evening shifts and a rush to the airport once she had a day off. Yeah, a breakfast with my baby sounded like a good idea.

"What if we miss your surgery?" I put up a feeble protest.

"Get the fuck out of here, nigga," Old Man Sim laughed. "It ain't like you doing the surgery! The most shorti can do is drop y'all off earlier and I don't need to see y'all ugly faces while I'm trying to sleep through the surgery. If I'm already gone, more's the better. If I'm still waiting, y'all can keep me company. Take care of your girl. She been miserable all week." I sighed, looking out the window. They were right, of course. But talking my girlfriend into it was going to be a hard sell. Sheeba was a firm believer in responsibility.

When she stumbled into the room after midnight, dark smudges under her eyes, I knew what I had to do.

"We're going to IHOP tomorrow morning," I said casually, snuggling her body against me. She immediately tensed, but I held her firmly. "I want one last date with my girl before we gotta go."

"Alright," she said shyly, snuggling against me with a yawn. The conversation continued, but my poor girl conked out right away.

"Take your woman home," Simeon laughed. "She ain't no good to no one like this." My cousins laughed along as I picked her up to carry her to her car. She woke up as we reached her ride.

"Steele! You can't be carrying me. I'm heavy!"

"Not as heavy as you were," I said, lowering her to the ground. It was true. She'd lost at least thirty pounds since Des took her on as a client. And what was left of her fat was swiftly turning to muscle with her intensive workouts. I was so proud of her. "Come on, baby. Let's go home. We have a date tomorrow morning."

"We don't have to-" I kissed the mouth off her before opening her door for her. We made it home safely, but my girl wasn't awake enough for anything sexual once we were in the bed. We made out the next morning before showering together and heading to the International House of Pancakes. We talked the whole way there, all through the meal, and all the way home. Mostly about our future, but also about our opinions of ourselves and where our relationship was going. Sheeba wasn't interested in a large family when the time came. She claimed that she was more interested in taking it one baby at a time and seeing where the little blessings went. I'd never thought about having anything but a large family. We were all extremely fertile. She also explained about her brutally painful periods and how she'd been on the pill for them for years. She wasn't sure how that would translate when the time came for children, but she was willing to try.

We were still talking when we got home after one in the afternoon. Sheeba ran upstairs to change into her work uniform.

"She seems happier," Kenny smiled.

"We been talking about marriage and kids and stuff," I said with a goofy grin on my face.

"How'd she react to your mandate for seven kids at least?" One laughed.

"I don't think we're gonna get past three," I shrugged. "She don't want tons of kids when the time comes. She sees them individually as blessings and wants to savor her blessings."

"Word?" Rod laughed. "I like that. Jerzi and I will have to think about that now that we're married."

"We got more to talk about, but I'm pretty sure she wants to get going to the hospital. Y'all ready?" She came back down the stairs just then and I couldn't ask more. The guys headed out of the house, cutting up as she unlocked the doors for us. It turned out that OS went to surgery at five in the morning. He was all set for vitals every four hours by the time we got there. We spent the entire afternoon ragging on him and his now-set leg. We had a blast, even taking a few videos of him walking to send to the rest of the family. Sheeba wasn't in the mood to celebrate when she arrived at the room after midnight again. This time we knew about the code that was called on her patient that evening.

"Did the patient make it?" One asked before anyone could say anything. She pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly.

"No," she mumbled. "He was gone before we even got to him. The rest was superfluous at the doctor's behest. He used to… Used to make us feel better and laugh so hard…" I wrapped my arms around her and let her cry on me. "The last thing he said to me was to not waste my chance for happiness, Steele. He said that we belonged together. Then he sent me to get water for him while he passed away." The girl was sobbing silently by now and I just held her close and breathed her in. "His family is on the way. At least it was a clean death. Donate everything that can be donated and give the body to science afterward. God, I'm so tired…"

"It's alright to sleep, darling," I said, rubbing her hand down her neck and shoulders.

"I can't. There's still too much to do."

"Like what?" I challenged her. She just looked at me. She looked so lost and tired, I couldn't help answering her wordless plea. "No, Babygirl. We not going out like that."

"But-"

"No, Hefsiba." Was that relief on her face? Yeah, I'd made the right decision. We wouldn't be having sex before I left the country.

… …

The next day went by entirely too fast for me. Before I knew it she was on her shift and I was back entertaining my cousin with the guys.

"Damn, cuz, you must really love this chick. You look as depressed as she does today."

"I could try to get another day so you can stick around with her on her day off."

"Nah, man," I said. "It would be that much harder to leave. Besides, Choyce is waiting on you. I appreciate the offer, but we gotta figure this out ourselves."

"You right. But don't count us out of your plans once y'all make them. Sheeba is one of us now."

"I love that she won't even hear of you moving up here," One chuckled. "Y'all see how angry shorti was when he brought it up yesterday? You'd think he threatened to cut off her hair!" They were all laughing by now but I couldn't bring myself to join in. Sheeba had a long, hard road ahead of her to relocate her life to New Haven, Connecticut. Who knew how long it would take to get everything done? And visiting Connecticut was out of the question. The next time I saw her, no matter where we were, that was where we'd be staying.

"Y'all don't get what it's like. All I can think of is bringing my baby home to me! But she's got a whole life up here to close out. Plus, she gotta do something when she gets to Connecticut: she always saying 'What's life without work'. I could put her up with me, but unless her name is on the mortgage, she considers herself a failure as an adult. I feel so helpless right now. I'm losing her and I'm so lost without her." That shut my chortling cousins up.

"So… Put her on the mortgage and call it a day, dawg. Didn't you just buy your house outright with the two million dollars you got from what's his face?" And that shut me up. The fact that Daemon Lyerty decided to double down on Simeon and my payouts at the last minute notwithstanding, Sheeba didn't want to be supported. It was an opinion that might change after several months without me, but right now, she was adamant.

"I appreciate you, cuz. This thing with Sheeba has me all turned around. I don't know how to help her. She needs a job down there, but she can't leave without selling her car and house. She doesn't have much in terms of packing, but I can't leave her without blankets in this cold-ass country."

"Man, she don't use them blankets," Kenny jumped into the conversation. "Why do you think she so generous with them? She could pack half her house and send it no problem. Selling the house is gonna take the most time, I'd suggest she work on that first, then get a job, then talk to the dealership about buying the car. She can always ship her shit to you and rent a motel room until she's ready to go. And she can Uber around the city on the money from the sale or rent a car if that's too costly. Once she's got a job, even a temporary one, she'll likely be ready to go."

"Word," One nodded. "I know it won't be ideal, but there's FaceTime until she gets herself together. It'll be lonely, but it'll work. Y'all will be aiight. Y'all love each other enough to make it work." I smiled for the first time all day. Yeah, it wouldn't be easy, but it was doable. I just had to get through the hardest part; saying goodbye.

… …

"Attention, please do not leave suitcases unattended in the airport terminal…"

Somehow I'd thought that if I just plowed ahead, this morning wouldn't come. We were outside of the international airport, waiting for Simeon to show up. The hospital had paid for a hospital chit to the airport because there wasn't room in Sheeba's car for all of us and him, not even if we stuck him in the trunk with the bags.

"Regretting not fixing us breakfast before we have to leave, shorti?" Kenny asked, sidearming my girl with a smile and a yawn. I yawned too, letting it go. Four in the morning was way too early to be waking up. It was in the thirties this morning, but Sheeba was still wearing a winter dress and tights like it was Springtime.

"If I turned on my stove right now, I might burn down my house," the girl shrugged. "I'm extremely tired and… This is not a cooking day," she settled for. She was trying so hard to be strong for us. I was so proud of her, but I didn't want her holding it in until she was alone. I wrapped her in my arms and felt her trembling.

"It's not goodbye and it's not forever," I whispered into her ear.

"I know," she whined. "I know that. So why does this have to be so hard?" She leaned into my strength for comfort, but the problem was my heart was breaking too. I had no answer for her.

"Thank God! I thought y'all were going to go without me," Simeon exclaimed as he hobbled up to our group on his crutches. His voice was bright, cheery, and utterly unwelcome in this instance.

"Cutting it kinda close, ain't ya, cuz?" One said with a glance at the clock outside the terminal. We had less than five minutes to say our goodbyes. The guys divided what little luggage the man had left among themselves, hugged my girl, and headed in, giving us a little bit of privacy.

"Subtle," Sheeba snorted with a watery smile. She seemed to be struggling with something, finally coming to a decision I instinctively knew I wasn't going to like. "Steele, I-" I covered her lips with mine and she sighed blissfully into my mouth. We spent the next few minutes tasting each other, lovingly possessing her mouth.

A loud throat clearing broke up the blissful moment.

"Sorry, man. They're asking for us," Rod said, looking like he lost a bet. I opened my mouth to tell him what I thought of his timing, and Sheeba stepped out of my arms.

"You'd better go while I'll still let you," she said with forced lightness in her sweet voice.

"I'll… call you when I get home," I told her. Then, lifting her chin so she'd look at me, I added, "I know you'll be following me soon, Babygirl."

Walking away from the girl of my dreams as she stood with tears glistening in her soulful brown eyes was hands down the hardest thing I'd ever had to do. I'd gotten comfortable. That was my problem. Sheeba and I were meant to be, just not right now. Something clenched in my gut at the thought of a long-distance relationship, but I would endure it until I could have her in my arms again.

I sighed as I looked out the window of the plane.

"Missing your girl already?" Rod sighed. "Don't worry about it, man. You'll be back with her before you know it."

"I already know it," I said dejectedly. "I don't know what I would have done if she'd cried just now. Sheeba is the strongest woman I've ever met. To see her so broken nearly broke me."

"Sheeba knows what she's doing," Kenny tried to reassure me. "It shouldn't take that long to get everything done so she can get with you."

"It's already too long," I sighed.