Page 71 of Widow Mayker

Her eyes shone with tears. “Really?”

“Really, baby. I gotta see you win by any means necessary.”

Shyah blinked back tears as she rested her head on my shoulder. Showing up for her was the least I could do. So, for the next hour, I let her sit in my lap while I intently listened to her speech on the effects of fuel stations in the urban community. She touched on air quality and water contamination. She also highlighted the increase of toxins due to poor ethical practices and the quality of fuel patrons receive versus in other more affluent areas.

Afterwards, I applauded her and offered minor critiques that would push her presentation over the top.

“You have it in the bag, baby.”

“Aw, thank you! I’m so nervous, but I’m more confident now that someone has listened to what’s been rattling around in my head.”

“It’s my pleasure. Now, I’m going to fix you a nice hot bubble bath, and I want you to relax while I make you dinner. Yeah?”

She nodded, vehemently. “I can do that.” With a quick kiss to my lips, she hopped out of my lap. I chuckled and followed her to her bedroom where she pointed to the ensuite. I made quick work of starting the water inside the luxurious claw tub resting at the back of the large bathroom. It only took a minute to locate her bath smell goods and add them to the water. Next, I lit a candle and waited for the water to finish. Once it was done, we traded places.

“Thank you,” she stated. Her cheeks were dark from a blush that I chased with my fingers.

“I’ll be in the kitchen, aight?”

“Okay.”

I left her room and made a quick trip to my truck to grab my duffle bag, then went back inside Shyah’s house. Her kitchen was spotless but lived in. She said she loved to cook, and I could tell. Mounted above the in-wall double stove was a television tuned to an R&B station. I found the remote and cut the volume up while I prepped dinner. Thirty minutes later, chicken breasts were in the oven along with a pan of chopped squash, zucchini, bell peppers, and potatoes. Lastly, I rinsed and started some white rice. Once I was done, I cleaned up and set the table.

Shyah hadn’t appeared yet, so I went to my duffle bag to retrieve the cellphone. It was dead, so I plugged it in and waited for it to power on. My mind travelled back to the night at Jemell’s crime scene.

As I stooped next to Jemell’s body, something inside his pocket flashed. Curious, I retrieved the cellphone to find it on and recording, and the battery was dangerously low. I stopped the recording, then blacked out the screen only to disengage the screen once more to see if it required a code. When it didn’t, something inside me urged me to take it.

“So, what you think?” Von questioned. I stood and discreetly slipped the phone into my back pocket.

Once the phone ran through its restarting phase, I went to the gallery to view the recording. Seconds later, my ears must’ve deceived me. I replayed the beginning twice before I realized it wasn’t deception at all.

“A woman?” I mumbled to myself. Nah, it can’t be. It’s impossible. But it was.

“Everything okay?”

Removing the furrow from my brow, I plastered a welcoming smile on my face, cut the phone off, and ushered Shyah to me. She’d changed into a lavender lounge dress that had thin spaghetti straps, and the hem touched her pretty, bare feet. She was braless, and her skin held a shiny dew that melted me like butter.

I kissed her lips and said, “I’m perfect, baby.”

I was better than perfect.

SHYAH

There was something about standing before Forest and Noa Bell that terrified me. I wasn’t afraid of them; I’d known them since I was sixteen. The two men were almost replicas of Adir, personality and all. Noa’s stoic expression was a little more forgiving, but all the Bell men seemed to have stoicism sewn into the fabric of their DNA.

I was done with my presentation and waiting on one of them to say something. They both stared at me like I’d just given them a rundown of aliens and why I believed they existed. I twiddled my thumbs, nervously waiting for one of them to blink. Everything I’d studied for came down to this moment. Months of preparation, and I was finally here. The anxiety of it all was high.

“Welcome to Bell Oil, Enterprises, Shyah,” Forest announced.

Just short of squealing, I clapped my hands. “Are you sure? I mean, not because we’re sort of related, right?” I had to be sure.

Forest grinned. Just a little. “If ya presentation would’ve sucked, I would’ve told you so.”

Damn. “Okay, thanks. Thank you so much!”

They offered me what I considered a smile, and I practically ran out of there to call Lewis. He had to go back to Atlanta yesterday, which bummed me out. I loved when he was at the farm, spending time with me. I couldn’t wait for Gion and Margarite to come for a visit. They would love Lewis.

I burst out of Bell Oil Enterprises and stopped in my tracks. Along the curb, Lewis waited by his truck, holding a bouquet of roses, balloons, and a big-ass teddy bear.