Her Premarital Ex (The Alexanders Book 3) (2 page)

“
Ah, see you’re trying the
pittu,” he told her.

“
Yeah...never thought I’d
be eating Sri Lankan cuisine, but I figure it took me two years to
learn how to cook it...might as well eat it.”

“
It’s pretty good,
Suh.”

Why does she keep calling
me, Sir,
he pondered. The way she said it
sounded more like ‘Suh’ but still, he wanted to know why she kept
on saying it. At any rate, he laid his fork in his plate and took a
sip of coconut milk, thinking about the last time he sat at this
table with Gabrielle. He had told her to never make eye contact
with him. Now, that’s all he wanted. Eye contact, to see her big,
beautiful eyes would make his day.

“
Is something the matter,
Suh? You look upset.”

“
What?”

“
You don’t remember,
Suh?

“
No. Enlighten
me.”

“
When I applied for this
position, almost five years ‘go, you told me to address you as
Suh...not Mr. Alexander, not Dilvan...but Suh.”

“
Yes, Suh. You sho nuff
did. I just figured it was your thing to do, especially after you
made Mrs. Gabrielle call you ‘My Lord’.”

“
Come again, Suh,”
Beatrice asked with raised brows.

“
I said, from this point
forward, I want you to call me Dilvan. Can you do that?”

“
Yes, Suh...I mean, yes,
Dilvan,” Beatrice grinned. “It sho gon’ sound mighty funny me
calling you by your first name and all...gon’ take Ms. Bea a while
to get used to that.”

“
Okay, well just keep it
at the front of your mind. Can you do that for me?”

“
Yes, Dilvan. I can do
that. See, it’s working already, now ain’t it?”

“
Yeah. It is.” Dilvan
dropped his fork again. He hadn’t known Beatrice that well. He
didn’t even know if she had a family. He’d never seen anyone come
by to visit her. She lived in one of the downstairs bedrooms in his
home. Out of curiosity, he asked, “Beatrice, do you have
children?”

“
No,” she replied
downcast. “Ms. Bea never had no chilrens. Doctor once told me I
couldn’t have youngins.”

“
Oh. What about family?
You have any family in North Carolina?”

“
No. I do have a brother
that lives in Newport News, Virginia. A younger
brother.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes.”

“
Why has he never come to
visit you?”

“’
Cause you told me I
could not have any visitors.”

“
I did no such thing,”
Dilvan responded facetiously, thinking she was joking.

“
Oh yes you
did.”

“
I did?” he asked with a
frown.

“
Yes, you did.”

“
Well, why don’t you visit
him?”

“
I did what?”

“
You told me I could never
take any time off of work...said I needed to be available any time
you needed me.”

At any rate, he couldn’t
dwell on the past. He could only start rebuilding his character one
small step at a time. So looking at Beatrice, he said, “Okay, so
I
am
a jerk. I
can’t believe you haven’t had a vacation in five years, so here’s
what I’m going to do. You tell me when you want to take a vacation
and it’s yours. And if you want to visit your brother, I will
personally make the arrangements as well as pay all of your
expenses.”

“
Really, Suh?”

“
Dilvan,” he said,
correcting her and refreshing her memory on what she should be
calling him now.

“
Yes...sorry,
Dilvan...told you it was gon’ take Ms. Bea a while to get used to
calling you by your first name.”

“
And yes, I am
serious...let me know when you want to see your brother, and I’ll
pay all of your expenses.”

“
You already have. Oh, and
by the way, how much am I paying you?”

“
Twenty dollars and
hour.”

“
That just went up by ten
an hour.”

“
Well, ain’t God good,”
she declared, raising her hands to the roof. “I sho do ‘preciate
it.”

“
You deserve
it.”

“
Well, let me get these
dishes cleaned up,” she said with a pep in her step, eager to work
now that she’d just gotten a raise and apparently a sane
boss.

“
Um...actually, before you
go, I need to ask you something.”

“
Okay.” She gave him her
attention again.

“
At the wedding reception
party, did Gabrielle say anything about me?”

“
I saw her that day...at
the store. She was buying some ice,” he said in a nostalgic
way.

“
Oh yeah, ‘cause the ice
maker had stopped working or something like that. So you spoke with
Mrs. Gabrielle?”

“
Dilvan, you know
Gabrielle and Tyson are
happily
married now, don’t ya?”

“
But don’t you think it’s
best to let her be...for her sake and for your own?”

“
I thought about it, but
no, I don’t. I can’t get over feeling like Tyson took her from me,
Beatrice. I mean, I know where I went wrong with Gabrielle, and all
I want to do is make it right.”

Beatrice sighed. She
didn’t want to tell him what she
really
thought – that he was too
rigid to even think about love. But she didn’t want to sugar-coat
anything either. “I think that sometimes, people rush into love and
relationships. You’re still young, Dilvan, and you a handsome
fella, too. Just take some time, get yourself together and figure
out how you can make yourself a better person – a person that will
be ready for a relationship. Everything else will fall into
place.”

“
Anytime. Now, let me
clean up in here.”

Dilvan crossed his arms
and leaned back in his chair. He’d been getting a lot of advice
lately but something about Beatrice’s advice resonated with
him.
Make yourself a person that will be
ready for a relationship...
it sounded easy
but Dilvan knew it would require a lot of hard work, and to win
Gabrielle back, he was up for the challenge.

After
extending the umbrella above the four-chair patio table,
Gabrielle sipped on a cup of coffee, topped with cool whip and
cinnamon, waiting for Tyson to join her. The morning was sweet, the
humid air dampened her skin and while she looked towards the water,
she admired the way the sun struck it at different angles which
brightened some spots and darkened others, producing a variation of
colors.

“Here you are, my dear,”
he said setting a plate in front of her. “Let me know how you like
it.”

“Nothing?” he responded.
“Looks like you’re in deep thought.”

“I was.”

“About what?”

As if you don’t
know
. Gabrielle took another sip of
coffee. “Nothing.” She studied him more, realizing that he was
somewhat of a mystery. The fact that she didn’t know every single
detail about him seemed to give him an edge. Besides, everyone had
a past – some hidden secrets that they didn’t want anyone to know
about. Even though Tyson’s secrets were the topic of many rumors,
she could see for herself that he was a good man. He’d helped her
get back on her feet and rescued her from his cruel, self-absorbed
cousin. In the process, he’d fallen in love with her, made her his
wife and now, they were sharing breakfast on a most beautiful
day.

“A penny for your
thoughts,” Tyson said, watching the breeze tackle her hair. The
wind had picked up considerably. A storm was in the forecast for
the evening hours.

“Okay, okay. So, I’ve been
thinking about something,” Gabrielle began with garbled words
because she was still eating. “I want to learn the business of
restaurants. That’s what you do...that’s what Padma does, so since
I haven’t mapped out a career path for myself, I was thinking that
maybe I should learn the career of those around me.”

“What?” she asked when she
noticed he’d stopped eating.

“I know that,
but—”

“But you don’t want to
rely on me.”