Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 109178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109178 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 546(@200wpm)___ 437(@250wpm)___ 364(@300wpm)
“I stayed with it, you know, the whole college thing, until the end of my senior year, but my grades were droppin’ fast. I went on to law school, had gotten accepted into Georgia State University College of Law. I tried to keep up with my studies, but I couldn’t sleep. Had nightmares of him attacking me. It started slow, but I think the stress from school, my grandmother getting sick, my father gettin’ sick too, with all of our unresolved issues, it started to stack up. The pressure mounting. Started remembering bits and pieces of the assault. Stuff I had forgotten or blocked out. Him tryna pull my pants down. I bit him… I didn’t even know that at the time. Couldn’t tell my mama, so it was all bottled up inside. I was a wreck. I needed to talk to her.”
“Why couldn’t you tell her what happened? Before you left for college, you told me you were working on your relationship with your mother.”
“I was… but it takes two to make a relationship improve. My mother was still closed off. She is who she is, Lennox. Anyway, I didn’t think she’d understand and hell,” She shrugged. “Even if she did, there was nothing she could do about it anyway. No one could erase what happened to me. I was never the same after that. I was paranoid. Felt like folks was staring at me. Talkin’ shit about me. A man tried to kill me, Lennox. In the rain. But somehow, I became the villain. I was lyin’, right? Just tryna take a good man, down! Oh, and here’s the cherry on top. This mothafucka had a girlfriend the entire time. So a new rumor spread that I was trying to break them up. I didn’t even know about her ass! People were playin’ on my phone. Threatening me. Calling me names. I had only gone out with this damn demon twice. Like I told you. Our personalities were far too different, but even more importantly, something about him didn’t seem right. I paid the price for listening to my intuition. Some people can’t take rejection. Telling them ‘No,’ sends them into overdrive.” She gazed once more into her glass.
“Don’t I know it. Always trust your gut. Believe it or not, the consequences could have been worse if you hadn’t.”
“What did that report say to let you know there was a storm that night he attacked me?” She slowly looked up. Met eyes. He was looking at her as if she were the sun chasing all the clouds away. With that one look, she felt warm all over. Cherished. Believed.
“Someone had the wherewithal to write it down. It said that you just kept screaming in the hospital, according to the staff and nurses, saying ‘I hate the rain!’ They said you were having some sort of breakdown. Had to give you medicine to calm you down at one point.”
They both drew quiet. Only the knock of the water pipes broke the silence for a long while.
“I was on academic probation in law school. I went from a 3.9 GPA down to a 2.1. It plummeted like a rock in an ocean.” She gulped the last drop of wine. “I used to love rainy days, but after that car accident, and then this? Naw…” She blinked back tears. “…I can’t stand the rain. Sho’ don’t want no storms.”
“What if I told you that rain is just the tears of a clown, and you ain’t got nothin’ to be afraid of?”
“Unless you can prove that to me, I won’t buy it.” She said with a chuckle.
“The proof is in the pudding. You know why?”
“Why?”
“Because a blade of grass ain’t afraid of another blade of grass, and lightning ain’t afraid of other bolts of lightning, Nadia. You are one of the strongest people I know. Few are more resilient than you. Don’t allow something you loved now to be hated because of a person who has already stolen your time and peace of mind. Every time you avoid the rain, you let him rob you.”
“What does that have to do with grass not being afraid of grass, and lightening ’nd such?”
You can’t be afraid of no storm, baby, because you are the storm. You blew back into my world just in time…”
CHAPTER TEN
On Talking Terms
An hour passed, and Nadia went from fighting back tears to holding her belly as laughter seized her body, shook her hard, and wouldn’t let go.
“Len, stop!” She dabbed at her eyes with her knuckle, ridding herself of the waterworks of mirth. “Joseph wasn’t like that.”
“The hell he wasn’t. He was a player. I’m not hatin’ on him because in a way, back then, so was I. I wasn’t a big cheater, ya know, but I moved on fast. Real fast. I felt like spice was the variety of life.” Joseph was another guy they’d worked with back in the day at The Red Rooster.