#PartyBoss isn't a term Tulip Carpenter coined herself but she wears it with pride. Her life is a party, she's doing what she loves, creating mindblowing celebrations for the happiest moments in people's lives. But when the baby she put up for adopt...
"Tulip..." He breathlessly uttered with pain flooding his face or maybe it was regret and guilt she couldn't decipher. "You didn't."
She weakly shrugged a river of tears rolled from her eyes. "I guess I'm not the strong Black woman everyone thinks I am."
"You shouldn't have to me." He cleared the burn of emotions from his throat as a watery film sheathed his eyes.
"But I had to because I lost my baby and the man I loved. Did you know that?" She leaned closer to the table as her hand began to shake from all the emotions teeming her body. "I loved you. I loved you so much and you broke me. How can you do something like that to someone you're supposed to love or were you just lying to me...for sex? Was that what it was?"
"No." He quickly shook his head. "When I told you I loved you I meant it." He swallowed hard letting his sight travel past her to the darkness of night behind her as his thoughts took him away. "I was just selfish and only thinking of myself. My pain. My feelings and I left." He refocused on her. "That's the truth. It was too much for me so I left. Vanished and moved on but...it didn't move on from me."
"What?" She asked, her cheeks started tingling as the air began drying the moisture. "What didn't move on?"
"This tea that I'm drinking isn't just something I love drinking." He gripped his hand tighter around the mug. "I have to. It's a part of my nightly ritual. A ritual I have to go through every night to sleep because I tried moving on but guilt doesn't let you." He took a deep breath and then continued. "After I transferred, school kept me busy. Then when I graduated, creating a brand kept me occupied but when I moved to the country for the winery I couldn't avoid it anymore. The silence gnawed at me and the nightmares came back, haunting my nights and I stopped sleeping until I had a breakdown."
Her lips parted at his admission and she uttered. "Oh." She just assumed that he moved on without a care.
"My parents helped me get helped and my investor helped me keep it off the radar and made sure I had privacy but it was my therapist that helped me realize what I needed to do."
"Which was?" She asked.
"Find you."
"So, you didn't do what your therapist told you to do."
"I did." He said, sitting up straighter. "How do you think my assistant chose you to be her party planner?"
She shrugged. "Word of mouth."
"From my mouth." He tapped his index finger on the side of the cup. "I had been trying to work up the courage and formulate a plan to see you and then she needed a baby shower so I referred her to you and—"
"It was a coincidence."
Jasper shook his head from side to side. "No, but Sidney being there wasn't a variable I added in."
"Well...damn." She fell back in the chair. "She likes you which you probably already know and I want to protect her from getting hurt but I can't stop her from wanting to see you."
He nodded. "I don't want to hurt her either. I never want to do what I did to you ever again. And you're right my words aren't enough so just let me show you that I learned from my mistakes and I can be that person you loved."
"Jasper..." She halted as she thought of the right words for what was going through her mind. "This isn't about us. Not anymore. I don't want to hurt your feelings so that we're clear... there's nothing here for you but Sidney and a partnership to be good co-guardians and/or parents for you. Are we clear?"
"We're clear." He answered. "So, when can I see her."
Tulip took a sip of tea, it was warm enough for her and not that bad. "Tuesday I'm teaching Sidney how to skate at the park, you can join us if you're free."
"I'm free." Jasper quickly said. "Send me the address of the park and I'll be there."
She tilted her head, "With skates, I hope."
"I need skates, too."
"Yes." She smirked. "It's a group activity."
"Then I'll be there with skates." He clarified, then took a swallow of tea at the same time as her.
Tulip let the warm brew slide down her throat trying to get her mind right for the ordeal she had committed to. Part of her hoped that Jasper was just going to breeze in and out of her life after seeing him at that baby shower but she had a suspicion that he was going to be around for longer than she hoped. Could she keep up the walls that trapped the affection she once felt for her or would he tear them down brick by brick?
When she got back in her car she felt a weight off her chest and typed up a text to someone who was waiting for an answer. It had been a couple of days since he asked but she felt like a new person now.
Tulip
If the offer still stands, then yes I'll go on a date with you.
She tapped send and hoped the text found Austin well.
Why do you think Tulip changed her mind about the date with Austin?
Since Tulip and Jasper shared their secrets about their recovery, will it have an impact to how they deal with each other?
Is Tulip right about her not being a 'strong black woman' after popping multiple pills to stop her emotional pain?
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