I watched her when she wasn’t paying attention. She was here today to help like I knew she’d be. In my head, she was always more like a sister than a cousin to me, and there wasn’t a single time I called on her for something that she hadn’t come through. From the big things to the small, she’d been there.
It broke my heart that life had thrown her a few curve balls over the past year, starting with her surprise breakup with Lamar. As close as we were, I still hadn’t gotten all of the details out of her, but I couldn’t understand what could’ve happened. They’d been going strong for a couple years when, the next thing I know, they’re done. Over. Angel was devastated.
Now, roughly a year later, she was finally starting to come out of the deep funk she’d been in. She wasn’t all the way back, but I knew she would be soon. I could feel it.
The sound of the doorbell distracted me from my thoughts and I hopped to my feet on autopilot.
Angel gestured for me to sit. “I got it.”
I took my seat again and went back to the balloons just as my phone rang. It was AJ. “Hey!” I said, a little too over-the-top, probably sending off all kinds of red flags in his mind.
“Hey,” he replied in a rush. “Kai just called. He’s gotta catch his plane, but there’s a document in my briefcase that I signed, but forgot to hand off to him yesterday. He should be there any minute.”
At the sound of his words, I peered through the sliding glass doors to where Angel stood with her hand on the knob.
“I think he already made it.”
“Cool. The sheet should be right on top,” he added. “I’ll wait while you look.”
That made me nervous because I had no clue when the tables, or his mother, or the caterers would show up, blowing my cover if he heard too many voices, too much commotion in the background. Still, I had to play it cool, so I did as he asked.
I walked in just as Angel pulled the door open, but I couldn’t see who was on the other side. I heard her give the visitor a soft greeting, but didn’t hear a response. I found AJ’s briefcase beside the couch where he’d left it the day before and didn’t have to do much digging to find the paperwork.
“Got it. I’ll go give it to him now.”
He thanked me and ended the call, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief.
I stepped into the foyer and Kai came into view; however, he didn’t see me just right away, mostly because his attention was completely on my cousin. It seemed like I’d walked up just as whatever short-lived conversation they were having was coming to an end.
Angel stepped back and pursed her lips together as she slipped both her hands into the back pockets of her denim shorts.
“Hey, Kai,” I greeted him, noting that he was a bit more casual than I was used to seeing him when I’d stopped by the office to visit AJ. He was dressed to travel—khaki shorts and a t-shirt. His glossy, black strands, which reminded me of my husband’s, were topped with a pair of sunglasses.
He responded with a warm smile and a nod as he pulled his eyes away from Angel. He did so in such a way that it seemed to be a struggle to look somewhere other than at her. “Samantha. Good morning.”
I smiled back, pretending not to notice. “I think this is what you needed?”
He looked the sheet over after taking it from my hand. The corner of his mouth lifted again, just like the expression he’d been wearing when I first walked up. “This would be it. Thank you,” he added, but his eyes shifted from me back to Angel for just a fraction of a second. It dawned on me that I should introduce them. Not only because they’d never met before, but because she’d be working for him as his personal assistant in the very near future.
“Kai, I’d like you to meet my cousin, Angel.”
He took a step closer and extended his hand to her. “Angel,” he said, repeating her name as he stared at her with enough intensity that even I felt it. “Pleasure to meet you,” he added. He had a way about him, an awareness of self, a smoothness to his personality, I guess you could say—his steady eye contact, confident tone. I know Angel didn’t miss it.