Page 35 of The Key To His Soul
“Do that on your own time. You know I love when you pop it.” Cutting into my chicken, I scooped up some rice and brought the combo up to my face to examine it before eating. “Hold up,” I said, doing my best Nate Dogg impression, making her laugh. With my hand up to my mouth, I pointed to the plate. “You did something with this rice.”
Smiling proudly, she nodded. “I did. A lil’ bit of this, a lil’ bit of that. You like it?”
“Hell yeah.” I spooned another forkful into my mouth.
“Good, because I plan to have this meal and more on the menu at my new restaurant.”
She spread the blueprints between us in order to give me a full picture of what she wanted, and off the rip, I could tell that her indecisiveness was what made her call me. The ideas weren’t the problem; it was the fact that there were so many. I looked over what was in front of me in silence for a few seconds before looking back up at her.
“So… you finally ready to take that leap?”
She sat back and smiled. “I am. And I know you’ve been telling me it’s time, but I had to feel it. You know things always have to be in alignment for me, not what looks like alignment to everyone else.”
“Yeah. And I get that.
“Who else knows?”
She shook her head. “Nobody other than you and God. I told him first.”
That made me pause. “Not your dad? Aura? Grandma Lettie?”
“Nope.”
“Oh. Why me? I mean, I love that ‘cause you showing who got rank ‘round this muthafucka, but why me?”
She cocked her head and looked at me incredulously.
“Key, not only are you the planner, but you’re the only one in the family who can execute my vision the way I see it in my head. You figure out the flow, and you always make shit make sense. It’s a special skill you have that you inherited from your mom.”
I smiled into my wine as I took a sip. It wasn’t my normal cocky smile, but a fulfilling one. I didn’t think my family understood how much joy it brought me to be theonethey called on for special “you hear it first” moments. It was like I was the link in the chain that kept everything connected in a sense, and I loved that they allowed me to show up in my fullness. Sometimes loud, bossy, and a stickler for detail, but they knewmy heart and that whatever they needed done that was within my power would get done.
“I love how you tryna butter me up to take on this new project.”
“And I love how it’s working, so where you wanna start?”
For the next two hours, we talked locations with high traffic, décor, atmosphere, lighting, and overall vibe down to the smallest detail. We’d done some more cutting out of magazines, and I’d even downloaded Canva on her iPad and spent time showing her how to navigate it. I took notes in my phone of ideas she seemed passionate about as she talked and challenged her on ideas I thought didn’t fit her overall plan.
“I would suggest knocking this wall down.” I circled one of the walls on her blueprint that I felt would cause a hazard on any packed night.
“Really?”
“Yeah. You want that traffic from the kitchen to the main dining area to be clear, especially on a busy night. Which most nights will be.”
She nodded slowly and scribbled a note on her iPad notes. “Okay, cool.”
“And I can knock the wall down, one less thing you have to outsource for. Oh, and I have another bottle of wine in that black bag too.” I pointed to the bag I’d brought in with me.
“It’s you offering to knock down a wall like that’s just some shit you do on the regular.” She laughed.
“It’s not. It’s a lot of shit I don’t do on the regular, but I’ve done it, like letting a nigga slip his phone in my bag. Actually, knocking down a wall…”
“Being nasty in the parking lot of your cousin’s establishment,” she cut me off as she sipped her glass of wine.
My eyes widened, but I couldn’t hide the hint of a smile on my face. “What you mean?”
“I mean, me seeing you on the camera hopping in the backseat wit’ a nigga.”
“We was talkin’,” I weakly defended.
