Page 49 of Pretty

I grinned at Papa and hugged his neck. After I kissed his cheek, I declared, “Papa, you are the best. Je t’aime.”

“Not as much as I love you,” he replied, kissing my forehead.

I hopped up from my seat beside him as Maman laughed at me.

“Where are you going?” Chloe asked as I headed for the stairs to go to my old bedroom. We had an annual tradition of spending Thanksgiving night with our parents and getting up to go shopping early the next morning.

“Where do you think? You heard the man. To pack a bag for my trip to Orchard Park.”

“People are on the edge of their seats, and the crowd is quiet. It is fourth and goal at the two-yard line, Mitch,” I stated to my fellow co-anchor.

We were wrapping up the game between the Bills and the Chiefs.

My focus was on the game, but my mind kept traveling back home. I needed to see Pretty; she was so sad when I left her yesterday morning. Every time I called her on LiveTime, she had that same sorrowful look. I knew that it was the holidays, and she had told me once before that the holidays could be really hard on her because it had been her and her late husband’s favorite time of the year. Despite her anger at him, I knew she couldn’t help but think about their memories at this time of the year. She didn’t need to be alone, and as much as I hadn’t wanted to leave her alone, I had no choice.

“Gaines for the touchdown! And the Bills win!” I shouted.

“He survived a hit, and Johnson tried but couldn’t take him down. That’s the third touchdown of the night for Jared Gaines, Drew,” Mitch Baker replied.

“Yeah, Mitch. He has displayed toughness tonight. The hit that he took from Johnson was enough to take most players out, but it wasn’t enough to stop Gaines. He’s like a locomotive on the field tonight. He was able to keep his feet right there at the line of scrimmage and still make it through.”

We wrapped up the game, and I immediately went to record my closing comments for the post-game show. It was another hour after the game ended before I left the broadcast booth and headed back to my hotel. There was a team Thanksgiving dinner back at the hotel, but I had already made my apologies and explained to the producer and the others that I would be skipping it. The only thing I wanted was to grab my things from my room and head back to the airport to go home. I needed to be with my woman tonight, to reassure her and to make love to her.

When I arrived at my hotel later, I said my goodbyes to everyone and caught the elevator up to my room.

“Hey, Ev. You’re not going to the dinner?” I asked my producer.

“I am. Gotta grab something from my room first, and then I’ll head back down.”

“Oh.”

“You good, Jennings?” he asked when I slumped against the wall.

“Man, I’m tired as hell. I’m worried about my girl. I called her on the way to the hotel, but she hasn’t answered.”

The doors opened to the floor for Everett’s room. “Well, you have a good night. I’m sure all the hard work you’ve done will pay off this week,” Everett declared, smiling as he stepped off the elevator.

“I hope so. Good night, Ev, and Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Same to you, man. Be thankful for all your blessings tonight.” He strode away whistling, and the moment that I could no longer see him, my thoughts returned to Pretty.

I assumed she may have gone home from her parents and shut the world out. She told me that she had a habit of doing that in the past. I knew she was supposed to spend the night with her family, but a person could easily get thrown off at the holidays and find themselves at the bottom of a pit of depression, tossing all their plans to the wind.

I opened my room and smelled the scents of pear, cucumbers, and sandalwood. I frowned in confusion, but I knew that it was my room, because one of my bags was at the foot of the couch where I’d left it. In the past, women had paid front desk staff to sneak into my room. I prayed to God that wasn’t happening tonight, because a few people would get their feelings hurt. Rather than taking off my coat, I strode to the bedroom and didn’t spot anything.

Music poured from the speakers in the bathroom, and I headed in that direction. My heart thudded wildly in my chest, afraid of what I might find. I pushed the bathroom door open with a scowl on my face.

“That doesn’t look like you’re happy to see me at all. I was hoping to clean my man, love him down, and help him to relax as we celebrated the holiday together,” Pretty proclaimed, kicking one leg out of the sudsy bath.

She had run a bubble bath, and her entire body was covered in bubbles except for her face and now one exposed foot and leg.

“You can do that, baby. How did you get in here?” I asked, a smile forming on my lips. The thudding in my heart turned from worry over drama to a welcomed reception of my woman.

I removed my coat and tossed it back into the room on the bed. Pretty explained that she had reached out to the producer at the last minute and told him what she wanted to do. I thought back to Everett’s behaviors and chuckled. I hadn’t noticed that he was up to anything. I wasn’t sure if that was because he’d played it so cool, or if it was because I was so distracted.

After I was undressed, I joined Pretty in the tub.

“Come here, beautiful. I was worried about you all day.”