Carson in mm
Third Person's POV
Another month went by with the young couple not saying much of anything to each other. When they went to Aiden's parent teacher conferences Tiana would do much of the talking and question asking. When they were with Aiden they would talk to him and that didn't require them to speak to each other.
Their daily routine went something like this: Every morning Tiana would wake up and then go wake up Aiden. She would either knock on his office door, or set an alarm for him if he even bothered to come to bed the night before. They would get showered and dressed and drive Aiden to school. After walking him to class, Tiana and Jason would drive home. Tiana would make them breakfast and then leave to go and open the shop at 10:00, and Jason would be at work by 9:00. He would leave the house without so much as a 'see ya later.' Tiana would work and until 1 go get Aiden (she quickly learned that New York traffic is hell on earth) have lunch with him before dropping him off at her in laws house. She then would go back to work til 5:30, pick Aiden up again go home and then cook dinner. Sometimes Jason would be there sometimes he wouldn't. Even if he wasn't home for dinner he would be home within enough time to put Aiden to bed with Tiana at 8:30. Tiana would then go to bed at 10:00... alone. They would then wake up and do it all over again the next morning.
Tiana was drowning in loneliness. She felt like she had no one to talk to. Jason was basically ignoring her, she didn't really feel comfortable with her in laws that much to disclose their home life, plus she didn't want to seem like she's complaining about anything. She didn't have any friends here and she didn't want to call Viv because she just got married and was enjoying newlywed life, Keisha had recently gotten in a relationship so she was also busy with her new boo. She didn't want to worry her granny and Bryson's to young to talk to. That only left her father and that's fucking laughable if anything. Don't get her wrong Tiana loves her father, but he isn't exactly father of the year. He was always overseas when she was growing up and he wasn't always allowed to call because of his position.
So it's back to square one. No friends to talk to. No reliable parents, and a distant fiancé who barely bothered to look at her. She felt like she didn't have anyone and sometimes she wished Jason never came back. She knows how that sounds but she never felt like this before he came back. Yeah she was struggling finically but at least she was happy within herself. She wasn't so lonely. She had a support system.
'More money more problems.' She thought somewhat bitterly.
Tiana sighed deeply before going back to some paperwork. Ms. Gina offered to get Aiden from school so she had some free time on her lunch break to do some stuff at the shop. Of course that only took about thirty minutes and she still had a hour left on her lunch. Sighing heavily Tiana decided to listen to the growling of her stomach.
Grabbing her jacket, she walked out of her office. She bypassed her her employees mumbling that she was going to lunch. She stepped into the cool New York air, and decided to walk to this little cafe down the street from the shop.
When she stepped in she ordered a turkey sandwich along with a bag of chips and a lemonade. She sat at the small table outside by herself lost in her own little world.
Her thoughts were interrupted by someone bumping into her arm, knocking over her drink. "I'm so sorry ma'am." A deep voice apologizes.
"Oh it's okay." Tiana assures.
"Let me get you another one." The voice suggests.
"Oh no it's okay, I can..." Tiana's voice trailed off when she looked up to see who the voice belonged to that. He was tall, muscular, light skinned. He had a beard and bald head with kind eyes and a nice smile. In other words the man was fine.
"Please I insist." He smiles even bigger. "I wouldn't want you to give a bed review."
"And why would you be worried about a bad review?" She smiles back.
"Because I own this place." He answers.
"Really?" She asks.
"What?" He chuckles "you think that just because I'm big, buff black man I can't own a small cafe?"
"Well excuse me for being presumption." Tiana apologizes. "Though I would like to hear about how you got this place."
"Well let me replace your lemonade and I'll tell you."
_______________________
"So after the army I got out and took my savings and opened up this place." Carson, Tiana eventually learned his name, finished speaking making. They'd been talking for about twenty minutes. He was telling her about his time in the army and how he came to own the cafe. He told her all the places he's been, and all the people he's seen.
"You sound like you've lead quite the life." Tiana comments, taking a sip of her new lemonade.
"I guess you can say that." He says calmly. "I've been talking about myself this whole time, why don't you tell me about yourself."
"It's not really a lot to know." Tiana shrugs. "I grew up in Atlanta. My mother was in and out, out for the most part. My father's in the army, green barrette. Me and my brother were brought up by my granny. Had my son when I was eighteen."
"Any man in your life?" He asks.
"Fiancé." Tiana answer, flashing her left hand.
"That's quite the rock." He chuckles. "Must be worth some cash."
"It's a bit much. I told him I don't need anything that big." She say, rolling her eyes playfully.
"You told him you didn't need a big ring and he still bought that thing?" Carson asks shocked. "He must love you."
"He said and I quote 'I want to make sure that no one misses it," She laugh. "I'm still worried someone's gonna rob me one day." She joke, even though She knows that'll be next to impossible. Jason was already crazy about security, and after Tiana and Aiden got kidnapped he beefed up everything times ten. She's pretty sure there's snippers somewhere around here, ready to shoot if necessary.
"He's a smart man." He compliments her. "He's got a beautiful woman."
Tiana blushes a little and mumble a quite "thank you"
"So do you own that shop over there or are just working there?" He asks.
"I own it. It was a graduation gift from my fiancé." She tell him.
"Some graduation present." He chuckles. "How long you two been together?"
"Since high school." Tiana smiles, thinking about the first time she met Jason. He was so handsome, and sweet. She was brought out of her thought my by alarm going off. "Ugh. I gotta get back to work."
"Oh well it was nice to meet you Ms. Tiana," Carson stands with his hand out for herto shake.
"You too Mr. Carson." She says back, taking his hand. "Nice to know there's another black business owner on the block."
"Hey we gotta stick together." He jokes making Tiana giggle. "I'll see you later." He says, as she began to gather her things. "Hey wanna lemonade to go?"
"Sure."
And so the friendship of Tiana and Carson began
