Aftermath...

Brooke and NiaJean are sitting at her kitchen table drinking their morning tea and talking.  “Deja’s show was really good last night.”  Brooke says as she pours honey into her tea.  “Yeah I’m proud of her.  She’s so talented.”  NiaJean says with a proud look on her face.  She scoops tea onto her spoon then blows on it before tasting it.  “She’s getting ready to leave to go on tour.”  She says after taking a full sip of her tea.  Brooke looks at NiaJean curiously then asks, “When did this happen?”  “It just happened.  She’s leaving in a couple of weeks I think.  She met up with some people at her show and they offered her an opening spot on their tour so she’s taking it.  They just have to work out all the details.”  NiaJean replies with a sad look on her face.  “Are you ok?”  Brooke asks.  “I’m sad about her leaving but she needs to get out there and do what she loves.”  She says.  “When is she coming back?”  Brooke asks.  “I don’t know.  It might be a couple of months or even longer.”  She says. 

NiaJean gets up from the dining room table and goes to the kitchen.  She comes back with two forks and two small saucers that have pieces of butter pecan cornbread on them.  She places one in front of Brooke and sits down with the other in front of her.  Brooke looks at NiaJean with a huge smile on her face because she loves NiaJean’s cornbread and can’t wait to eat it.  She takes a bite of the cornbread and sits for a moment as she savors every bit of the flavor then asks, “Are you guys doing well with everything else now?”  “Yeah, I still can’t believe she was smoking in my house.”  NiaJean says.  Brooke pauses then asks.  “Wait, but don’t you smoke?”  NiaJean is irritated by Brooke’s question and quickly answers back.  “Brooke, I don’t do it in the house and would never do it around Sage!”  “Yeah, I guess that would be stupid.”  Brooke answers as she digs into her cornbread.  “Very!  I’m thinking about quitting anyway.”  NiaJean replies as she watches Brooke enjoying her tantalizing creation.  Brooke looks up from her almost finished palate satisfying piece of wonder and asks, “Why?”  “I don’t know; it was just one of those moments that opened my eyes to some things I need to change.”  She answers.  “Oh.”  Brooke says as she is at a loss for words.  There is an awkward silence in their conversation so Brooke takes a sip of her tea, finishes her last bite then changes the subject. 

“So what happened to Brian last night?”  She asks.  “He said he had to get up early this morning so he couldn’t come over.”  NiaJean replies.  “You invited him over?”  Brooke asks.  NiaJean hesitates then answers; “Well yes.”  “So much for holding out.”  Brooke says.  “I was holding out.”  NiaJean quickly replies.  “You never told him what you wanted did you?”  She asks.  “No.”  NiaJean answers.  “You and your communication skills have got to get better.  How in the world is this man supposed to know what you want if you don’t tell him?”  Brooke scolds.  “I know Brooke; I was going to talk to him last night.”  She says.  “And give him some?”  She asks.  NiaJean pauses then says, “Maybe.”  “You were!”  Brooke yells as though NiaJean is across the room.  “He’s backing off again.”  NiaJean says with concern in her eyes.  “Well you can’t go back and forth with him, it’s confusing.  You know what you should do?  You should invite him over for dinner and just totally spoil him for the night.”  Brooke suggests.  “Yeah maybe I should.”  NiaJean says with hesitation.  “Maybe?  You should!  And make him some of your world famous butter pecan cornbread.  He’ll be hooked for life.”  Brooke says convincingly.  “Ok, I will.”  She says with confidence and a big smile on her face.  “Look girlie, I have to go.  Brandon and I are going furniture shopping.”  Brooke says then gets up to leave and hugs her.  “Thanks for the tea and the amazing piece of taste bud party.”  They both laugh.  “Love you girl.”  Brooke says.  “Love you too.”  NiaJean says as she hugs Brooke back.  Brooke leaves and

NiaJean picks up her cup and dish off the dining room table and walks to the kitchen and puts them in the sink.  She makes herself another cup of tea then sits back down at the dining room table to drink it while she finishes her piece of cornbread and thinks.

There is a knock at NiaJean’s door which surprises her because she’s not expecting any other company.  She gets up and goes to the front door to answer.  She peeps through the peephole but can’t see who's at her door so she cracks it open.  Jason is standing at the front door smiling.  She is tempted to close the door in his face and walk away but instead she opens the door and lets him in.  They both awkwardly stand in the entryway for a moment.

“Want some coffee or tea?”  She offers as she walks towards the kitchen.  Jason follows her to the kitchen as he answers; “Coffee.  You know how I like it.”  NiaJean goes to the kitchen to make Jason a cup of coffee with three teaspoons of brown sugar and a dash of cream while Jason stands in the doorway of the kitchen and watches her make it.  “Aren’t you going to taste it first?”  He asks as she hands him the cup of coffee.  “I don’t do that anymore, I’m sure it’s how you like it.”  She says as he takes the cup of coffee out of her hand.  NiaJean gets a small saucer out of the cabinet, fork out of the drawer then cuts Jason a piece of cornbread.  She passes him in the doorway holding the bread and fork in hand and sits down at the dining room table.  Jason follows.  She slides his piece of cornbread in front of him then proceeds to finishing her tea and cornbread. 

They sit in silence as they eat and drink.  Jason gulps down his coffee and devours his cornbread in what seems like two seconds then blurts out; “Look Nia, I’m still in love with you.”  NiaJean stops eating and becomes sick to her stomach and words begin to spill out of her mouth.  “You can’t do this to me.  It took a long time to get over you and the minute I’ve moved on and I’m trying to build something with someone else; here you come disrupting my life.  I can’t let that happen Jason.  I’m finally happy again.”  “I know you don’t deserve me coming back in your life after all I did but I’m begging you to just hear me out.”  NiaJean sits in silence as Jason continues.  “You are the best thing that ever happened to me and I want you back for good.  I want to prove to you that I am the man for you without a doubt.”  “Why couldn’t you realize that when you had me?”  She asks.  “I was stupid.  You know how guys are; we don’t realize what’s in front of our face until it’s gone.”  He replies.  “Well, I’m gone and it’s time for you to go.”  She says.  “What?”  He asks with a shocked look on his face.  “Bye Jason.”  She says as she looks directly in his eyes.  “This is not you.”  He says as he grabs her hand.  She looks down at his hand on hers then slowly takes her hand away and sits in silence without looking up at him and repeats her words.  “Bye Jason.”  Jason gets up from the table, stands and stares at her for a moment but she doesn’t respond.  His face is full of pain from the rejection.  “Yeah, alright.”  He says with hurt in his voice.

Jason leaves without saying another word.

NiaJean sits at the kitchen table and tries to take in what just happened as she contemplates her decision.  She clicks the blog app on her phone and begins typing.

We don’t miss people until they’re actually gone.  We take for granted that they’re always going to be there no matter what we do or say but the time comes when they are taken away either by tragedy, circumstance or release.  There’s not a lot we can do about tragedy or circumstance but when we finally decide to release someone from our lives it can feel like the biggest weight has been lifted or like we’ve made the greatest mistake of our lives.  None the less, we must realize that some people are in our lives for a moment and some are in our lives for a lifetime.  The crazy thing about destiny is anyone or anything can always turn out to what we least expect.   

Tears are streaming down NiaJean’s face as she types.  She stops typing then dials.  As soon as the person on the other end answers she says, “Hey are you busy?  Can you come over?”