Color Blind (BWWM Interracial Billionaire Single Mom Steamy Romance Novel) (10 page)

“
That’s awfully sweet of you, but we’ll be
okay
. We’ll get the test results back in about a week. Until those are in, all we can do is keep giving her ibuprofen for the pain,
stiffness,
and fevers.”
 

“
Listen, I have to tell you something,” I said as I sat at the red light.  
 

“
What’s that?” She wondered as she peeked her head through the crack of the door, checking on Nevaeh.
 

“
I was hoping to see you again, which was the reason….”

“
Dale,” she cut me off, “I don’t mean to
interrupt,
but there’s no way I’m leaving my baby to go anywhere. I had a great time with you on our lunch date, but I need to stay here with her right now. I hope you understand.”
 

“
I
thoroughly
understand. Actually, I was on my way to your house right now.”
 

Kimberly let the idea sink in for a moment. “What?”
 

“
When you didn’t answer your phone, I went up to your work to see you, but you weren’t there. I thought I’d come by and see you.”

“
But I never gave you my address. How do you know where I live?”

“
I have my ways. I’m almost there. My GPS says I should be there in about eight minutes.”

§

What the hell is this guy thinking?
Panicking, he forced me to do what I wasn’t ready to do.
 

“
Dale, there’s something I need to tell you…” he cut me off.

“
Tell me when I get there. I’m about four minutes out. Do you need me to pick anything up on my way over? Juice, medicine, dinner?” He was determined to show me that he was sincere and committed to mine and Nevaeh’s happiness.
 

“
She’s good on ibuprofen but if you could bring something over for dinner that would be great. I didn’t want to leave her alone for too long while I cooked but I’m hungry and I’m sure she is
too.”
It would also buy me a few minutes to get this place straightened up.
Looking around the house, there were clothes, shoes and toys everywhere.
 

“
Yes, I can do that. Do you guys like fried chicken and all the sides?”

“
That would be nice.” I hesitated for a moment, “Dale, I wanted to tell you that I haven’t been blowing you off. I’ve been so busy with my little buttercup. It’s hard not having anyone to take care of her other than myself. I know my best friend—Lorraine—has our back and would do anything at the drop of a dime, but she really needs her mom. I hope you can understand.”
 

“
Kimberly, I completely understand. I wouldn’t expect you to do anything less. I’ll see you soon.”
 

After we had
ended
our call, I walked back into my room where Nevaeh was resting in bed. “
Hey,
sweetie pie.”
 

“
Hi,
Momma
. Who were you talking to?” She had overheard bits and pieces of the conversation.
 

“
A friend of mine. His name’s Dale, and he’s going to come over to hang out with us. He wants to meet you!” I proposed enthusiastically, hoping
that my daughter would be happy to have a new visitor. Hopefully, she won’t say anything to her grandmother or uncles that I had a white man over here.
 

“
Why?”

“
Because I talk about you so much! He’s heard a lot of great things about you.” I explained as I playfully swooped Nevaeh’s nose with my fingertip.
 

“
You didn’t tell him any funny stories about me, did
you,
momma? I don’t like when you do that; everyone laughs at me!”
 

“
No, I haven’t told him any of those yet. I figured I’d save the best for last.” I giggled with my daughter. “He’s going to bring us some dinner. Are you in the mood for fried chicken?”
 

“
Mm, that sounds good! I don’t know how much I’ll be able to eat, but I’ll try.”

“
That’s all I ever ask. No matter what, mommy always loves you, okay?” I reiterated as I tearfully smiled at my daughter.
 

When Nevaeh became sick, she hadn’t had much of an appetite.
It didn’t worry me at first
since Nevaeh went through bouts where she wouldn’t eat anything to where she’d gobble up everything in sight. But these the last couple of weeks, she’d hardly eaten anything.
I hoped her decreased hunger was the reason she was so weak, but my instinct told me that there was more than meets the eye.
 

Before Dale arrived, I ran around the house trying to tidy up. My home wasn’t ordinarily messy, but since I’d been taking care of my daughter so much, everything kind of fell by the wayside. Scampering from room to room, I was out of breath by the time I was done. That will have to be good enough, I thought as I looked around the house. I checked on Nevaeh again as I finished up with the housework.
 

“
Momma, why are you running all over the place?” she questioned when she noticed me standing in the doorway.
 

“
I wasn’t,” I lied, fanning my face in an attempt to cool myself off.
 

“
I could hear you. I bet you ran through every room there is.” Nevaeh laughed.
 

“
Mommy was picking up before our friend Dale gets here. I’ll come back in a few minutes to check on you.” I promised.
 

I made a mad dash to the bathroom, rubbed on some deodorant, smoothed out my hair and began to apply a bit of lipstick.
I had just opened my tube of mascara when there was a knock on the front door. “Shit, Dale’s here
,”
I whispered. I quickly swiped my long lashes with a coat of black mascara and yelled, “I’m coming!” as I approached the front door.
 

Dale was carrying a few bags of food with a variety of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, biscuits, coleslaw and condiments.
 

“
Oh my! Dale, you didn’t have to bring all of this!” I marveled as I rifled through the containers, placing everything on the table.
 

“
It was no problem. I figured I’d pick up some extras so you can reheat them tomorrow for lunch or dinner,” he smiled at me.
 

“
Thanks,
Dale, that was very thoughtful of you,” I gloated. “Here, let’s make our plates and I’ll bring Nevaeh out to join us once everything’s ready.”
 

“
You lead and I’ll follow.” He replied.

We formed a nice little assembly line as we put food on the dishes. I was in charge of the chicken and Cole slaw while Dale handled the mashed potatoes and gravy and corn. After our drinks
had been
poured, I went into my bedroom to bring Nevaeh out for dinner but she was fast asleep. I debated waking her up for a moment but decided to let her rest; she could eat later.
 

“
Well, I guess it’s you and me,” I announced as I walked back into the kitchen.
 

“
How come? Doesn’t she want to meet me?” Dale frowned, a little disappointed.
 

I shook my head, “No, she’s sleeping. I was going to wake
her,
but I’d like her to get rest so she has some strength. She can eat later. I’ll heat it up for her.”
 

As I pulled up a seat next to Dale, I had no idea that our evening was about to become much deeper than I’d ever imagined.
 

Chapter Six

“
Thanks for dinner. It was delicious. If you don’t mind, I’m going to run
to
my room real quick to check on Nevaeh. You can go ahead and have a seat on the couch.”
 

Dale nodded as I began making my way down the Harris to my bedroom. The door was still cracked open, allowing me to poke my head into the doorway; I spied Nevaeh still fast asleep. I backed away and walked to the living room.
 

“
Would you like some coffee or something?” I offered.
 

“
Yeah, that would be nice. I’ll help you.”

“
No, you’re my guest. You sit tight and I’ll be right back.”

“
Kimberly, you’re not at work. You don’t have to wait
for
me. I insist, let me come help you.”
 

I shrugged my shoulders as he followed me into the kitchen. After we had
poured
our coffee, we headed back to the living room and sat on the
couch facing each other. I sipped my coffee as I noticed Dale looking at all of my pictures.
 

“
You sure have a lot of pictures of Nevaeh in here,” he said, smiling in admiration.
 

“
Yeah, I live for that little girl.”

“
Who are those people?” he probed, nodding towards pictures of my family.
 

“
That’s my mom and dad,” I said, pointing to a picture of them that was taken before he was killed. “And those are my brothers,” I picked up their picture. “This is my oldest brother Tony and these are my two younger brothers,
Jason,
and Terrance.”
 

“
Where do they live?”

“
My mom lives in Lemay with my baby brother Terrance, and my other two brothers live in South County.”
 

“
Why does your mom live with your brother? Where’s your dad?”
 

“
That was one of the things I’ve
wanted
to talk to you about,” I said looking at my coffee mug.
“My family doesn’t like white people. My dad was killed by a crooked white cop.”
 

“
That’s terrible. What happened?”

I looked at him for a moment as I tried to gather my emotions to form the right words. It was so tragic even though it had been a little over 10 years since the accident.
 

“
It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. I understand.”

“
No, it’s okay,” I said looking at my late father’s picture. “I guess it was more of a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some guy, close to my dad’s age, had robbed a convenience store. The police were on a look-out for a subject wearing dark jeans and a gray hoodie.”

“
Let me guess, your dad was wearing something similar?” he interrupted.

I nodded. “Yeah, and he was in the general vicinity where the crime occurred. As he was walking down the street, the cops tried to stop him.
Obviously
, he resisted because he didn’t know what was going on. That’s when things got
nasty,” I stopped. I had to try to collect myself before I could continue.
 

“
I do not like
the sound of this story,” Dale said.
 

“
When he resisted, the police automatically assumed he was the perp they were looking for. My dad tried reaching for his wallet, to show his ID to prove who he was and that’s when the cop emptied his 9mm into my
father
,” I began to sob.
 

“
Jesus fucking Christ! I remember that story. It made national headlines. Kimberly, I’m so sorry,” he said sympathetically.

“
My pops never made it home that night. I can still remember my mom calling everyone to see if anyone had seen him. We didn’t know what happened to him until the next afternoon. They waited a whole fucking day to call our family.”

“
Is that why you didn’t want me coming over? Because your family hates white people because of what happened to your dad?”

“
Yeah. I’ve never been a racist person, but my family became very prejudiced since the incident. If they knew that you were here, my brothers would come stomp a hole in your ass.”

“
What if I talked to them? Let them see I’m not
an evil white
guy?”
 

“
That won’t work, Dale. They won’t see it like that.” I didn’t want to say what came out next, but I figured it was the only decent thing to do. “If you don’t
wish
to continue a relationship with me, I understand. I’m not even sure it’ll work.”