Color Me Blind (A Divine Love Story Book 1) (28 page)

Blake and Jasmine were
in the kitchen making breakfast which consisted of bacon, eggs and grits.  The breakfast was coming along very slowly because they kept stopping to kiss, tickle or hug each other. 

Damon descended the stairs and headed to the kitchen for some
juice.  What he saw caught him off guard. He had to remember what had transpired the night before. 

Jasmine and Blake were blocking the refrigerator as they were locked in an intimate embrace.  He noticed that Blake’s hand rested possessively on Jasmine’s backside.  Damon cleared his throat.  Blake looked up and smiled.  Embarrassed, Jasmine buried her face in Blake’s chest. 

Damon asked as his eyes landed on Blake’s hand, “I thought you weren’t into that dawg.” 

Blake grinned, “A very wise man once told me that one could learn to get into that.” 

Damon laughed and extended his fist for a bump. 

“Now can
y’all please get from in front of the fridge? I’m thirsty.” 

Jasmine asked, “Hey where is Carmen and Lucy?  We have some
important stuff we need to discuss.” 

Damon replied, “C
armen should be down any minute.  I don’t know if Lucy is here or not.” 

Blake picked up a cell phone that was on the counter and dialed Lucy. 

“Hey are you home?”  He waited for her response. “Okay see you soon.” 

When he hung up Damon and Jasmine stared at him waiting for an explanation. 
             

Blake said, “She is actually on her way home now, about fiv
e minutes away.  Enough already.  We need to meet this guy she’s been creeping with.” 

They both nodded.
  As Damon was sipping his juice Carmen descended the stairs with a Cheshire cat grin on her face.  Jasmine gave her a knowing look and laughed.  It made Carmen blush.  Damon poured her a glass of juice and brought it to her as she sat at the table.  The two of them joined them at the table with breakfast to wait for Lucy. 

Carmen asked,
“Why does everyone look so serious?” 

Blake answered, “Serious business to discuss.” 

His somber look gave Carmen pause.  Before she could ask Lucy popped her head into the front door.

She looked to be in a good mood
.

“Morning guys!  Why is everyone sitting at the table staring at me?” 

Damon said, “We were just discussing who you been tiptoeing with and why we don’t know him.” 

Lucy rolled her eyes as she sat next to Carmen.  She stole Carmen’s glass and took a sip. 

Jasmine said, “Let’s say grace people.” 

They all bowed their heads as Jasmine blessed the food. 

As they began to dig in Blake said, “Okay guys it’s time to have that talk.  Jasmine and I were discussing some things last night about Ahmed’s final wishes.  It’s about time we dealt with it.” 

The mention of Ahmed’s name brought a very somber, painful mood on the moment of breaking bread together. 

Lucy asked, “Do we have to do this now?” 

Jasmine responded, “Yeah sweetie, we do.” 

Carmen said, “Okay then, just spit it out.” 

Blake took the floor, “Okay guys as his attorney you were made aware that Ahmed made out a living will.  Ahmed was a very well off young man.  He was very risky in his investments and it paid off.  You know how much of a stickler he was about finances and saving for his future.  It was his desire to pay o
ff the rest of this house.  I sent the check over-night yesterday and we should be getting the deed to the property any day now.” 

There were
stunned faces all over except Jasmine because she already knew. 

“He also left $10,000 to each of us to be used to start a college fund for our first born.” 

More shocked faces. 

Damon
asked, “Dude seriously?” 

Jasmine
nodded, “You know how Ahmed was about planning.” 

Blake said, “So now that the house is paid off there are some decisions that need to be made.” 

He got up and went to a drawer in the kitchen and pulled out four manila folders.  He handed each of them the one that had their name on it. 

He said, “So over the past week I kind of buried myself in work
trying to avoid dealing with the Jasmine drama.”  She elbowed him and they all laughed. “But since I knew I was going to pop the question it got me to thinking about where we will all go from here because I know you guys don’t want to be here with me and Jaz all over each other.” 

It took a few seconds for them to comprehend what he said. 

Lucy choked on her eggs, “Oh my God Jasmine you’re wearing a freakin’ diamond!” 

Carmen dropped her fork and snatched up Jasmine’s left hand. 

She said, “How in the world did we miss this iceberg sitting on your finger?” 

Jasmine grinned in response. 

Damon shook his head and said, “I see y’all two ain’t playing no games.”

Lucy chastised, “How could you not call us and tell us the moment this happened?” 

Jasmine smiled, “Um, I was a little busy hanging out with my fiancé.”

Lucy rolled her eyes, “I just bet you were.” 

Damon gave Blake a hopeful stare.

Blake shook his head an
d said, “Still blue.”

T
he two men shared a laughed that was lost on the women. 

Blake asked, “Can we please focus on the business at hand?” 

Carmen demanded, “We want details immediately following this meeting.” 

Jasmine
replied, “Deal.” 

“Anyway,” Blake continued, “So I got to thinking our original plan was to turn this
place into a bed and breakfast.  It looks like we will meet our goal a year early.  In your folders you will find real estate listings.  Ahmed made sure that we were all financially secure and made good decisions with our money.  We’ve been living here for almost six years so our expenses have been pretty minimal.  I have found each of us, well me and Jaz’s are together, three listings to choose from.  We will all be still within fifteen miles of each other and this place.”

Each of them opened their folders and began to look at the listings. 

Jasmine asked, “So you just knew I was going to say yes, huh.  That’s why I don’t have my own folder?” 

He laughed
, kissed her hard and gave her a cocky grin.  She smiled and rolled her eyes. 

He went on, “Knowing each of you the way I do I think you will see that I picked some great prospects based on what I knew you’d like.”  He kissed Jasmine
again. “See, being annoyed with you made me very productive.” 

She gently
pinched him. 

He said, “Carmen each of yours has a huge kitchen.  Lucy each of yours
is very modern in design and Damon each of yours are architectural works of genius.” 

As each of them browsed they were nodding their approval.
 

Carmen
asked, “You guys know what this means?  I can’t believe we’re not going to be living together anymore.” 

Lucy leaned her head on Carmen’s shoulder and wr
apped her arms around her waist.

Lucy said,
“Growing up is so not fun.” 

Damon said, “Well at least we won’t be that far away from each other and we can just rotate whoever’s house we hang out at that week.” 

The moment was bittersweet for each of them. 

Damon asked, “So what’s the plan to turn this place into a B&B?” 

Jasmine said, “Okay this parts my turn.  Let me just get this off my chest now.  You guys, Ahmed knew he was going to die.” 

S
he paused to let them absorb it.  She could tell by the look on their faces that they needed a moment. 

She gave it a few more beats then said, “When he called me into the room he told me.  Please don’t be ma
d that I didn’t tell you guys. How could I when I was praying that it wouldn’t be true.  There were a couple things he told me that I want to share.  One is that a week before he went to church with Victoria he gave his life to Christ, which has given me so much peace in my time of grief.  Even though I know we are all in different places where that is concerned I hope it gives you all some peace as well.  He’s okay. He’s actually better than okay.”

Carmen, Lucy and Damon all shared a look that had Blake and Jasmine aware that they were missing something. 

Blake asked, “What is it?” 

Carmen said, “Well Jasmine
, with everything that’s been going on we’ve all kind of been thinking that maybe we should give this church thing a try.” 

Jasmine’
s mouth involuntarily fell open. 

Lucy laughed, “
We decided that we want to start going to church with you on Sundays.”

Jasmi
ne’s hand went to her heart.  She put her head down to say a silent prayer of thanks for yet another answered prayer. 

Damon said, “It’s about time we give this God of yours a try, maybe find out where you get your resolve from to stay so strong.”

Carmen added, “Jazzy, you were never preachy to us and you don’t judge us because we’re not living by the same standards you try to.  Even though we know you feel some of the things we do are wrong you’ve still remained a great friend to each of us.  You led by example and that’s something we can respect.”

Blake was s
hocked as well.  That same tugging he felt on his heart the night before was back. 

Jasmine said with unshed tears in her eyes, “Oh my God
, you guys don’t know what this means to me.  I’m so happy.  I’m so excited about what God is going to do in each of your lives.” 

Carmen smiled, “Was there a number two?” 

Jasmine was momentarily flustered, “Oh yes of course, sorry you guys completely threw me off my thought process.  The second thing was he wanted to do something for Alyssa.  He said she saved his life and he wanted to do whatever he could for her.  He said she has a little girl and I think he wanted to get her out of her situation of just being a grocery store cashier.  So here is my suggestion.  You guys let me know if you’re down.  I was thinking that we set up a scholarship in Ahmed’s name for Alyssa and the five of us put her through school for him.” 

She
paused to gauge their reactions.  They all gave her poker faces. 

“You guys I know we don’t really kno
w her but Ahmed adored her.  We are all so fortunate.  We won’t have to pay for her room and board if we offer her the position to manage the B&B.  We can afford to give her a decent salary.  It was Ahmed’s financial planning that put us in a position to be able to do this.  We may have never gotten the chance to see him alive again if it wasn’t for her.  Okay, somebody say something.”

Jasmine was nervous.
She had discussed it with Blake.  Of course he was on board. He always had her back, but she waited patiently for her roommates to respond. 

Lucy said, “I’m in.” 

Carmen replied, “Me too.” 

They all looked at Damon. 

He said, “If we send our family to stay here when they come to visit do you think she’ll let us get a discount?” 

They all laughed. 

Damon said, “Of course I’m in.  I can’t think of a better way to acknowledge Ahmed’s legacy.”

Blake said, “Great, then it’s settled.  The realtor is expecting calls from each of us next week to set up times to go view the houses.” 

Damon looked at Carmen and asked, “Wanna look at houses together?” 

She goggled at him. 

He laughed and said, “I’m just playing relax.” 

Truthfully he was half serious but he wanted to see where she was.  Carmen had him by the heart
strings and he didn’t know what the next step was.  This was all brand new to him.  He didn’t think he was ready to put a rock on her finger like Blake had done but he knew the thought of losing her was one he didn’t want to entertain.  Would she feel like she didn’t mean as much if he offered to move in with her versus marrying her?  This was the first time he’d ever felt bad about sleeping with a woman and not being married to her.  Where had that come from?  He’d have to give that some serious thought.  With this new approach they were taking to know God he knew that was something he had to take very seriously.

Lucy interrupted his thoughts, “So you guys
, what’s the time frame for all this to happen.  How soon are you guys trying to get married?” 

They both responded, “Soon.” 

Everybody laughed. 

Lucy
asked, “How soon?” 

Jasmine said, “As long as it takes me to plan it.” 

Blake added, “She means as long as it takes my mother to plan it.”