“Great! As much as I love those two, I’m afraid they got their fashion sense from me. I’m not the one to dress up and prefer to be comfortable.”
I gave her a once over. She was dressed simply in a black dress, little to no makeup, diamond studs in her ear, a gold tennis bracelet on her wrist, and a large rock on her left hand. Her hair was pulled into a long ponytail that flowed down her back. She was right; her style was plain. She was a beautiful woman, but nothing to double take at.
Sitting up straighter, I nodded. “I’ll take care of it.”
Corey spoke up. “Well, I believe tonight’s been beneficial in more ways than one.”
“I agree! Yosiah, it sounds like Blue Shield is exactly what we’re looking for when it comes to upgrading our systems at the stadium. Have your lawyer set up the contract and send it over so ours can take a look at it.”
“Sounds like a plan. I look forward to working with you both.”
Corey bounced his eyes between me and Yosiah. “I’m not going to lie, I was hesitant about working with you. I’ve seen a few articles about your wife and the way she was spoken about… she seemed very immature and I didn’t want anyone who couldn’t keep their home life in order close to what we had planned. Not to mention, her father doesn’t have the best reputation. There was a lot weighing against my decision, but seeing her tonight, I can say that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
My heart stumbled. It reminded me of what Yosiah had said to me this morning. Instead of showing him that his words bothered me, I sat up straighter and kept my smile wide. Dragging my tongue over my glossed lips, I reached for Yosiah’s hand and curled mine over it.
“I can admit in my younger years I was a bit wild, but being with Yosiah has changed me a lot.” Tilting my head in his direction, I smiled.
Yosiah cleared this throat. “While my wife can be a handful at times, she helps keep me grounded when things get too serious.”
My skin prickled at his words. It was the first time he’d ever spoken about me in that way. Yosiah turned his hand over and interlocked his fingers between mine.
“There’s a gap between you two, right?” Corey mentioned. “In age I mean?”
“There is,” Yosiah answered.
“Me and my wife too have an age difference. Twelve years to be exact. Most people thought we wouldn’t last, but we’re going on year twenty-five and in love more than ever.” He grabbed his wife’s hand and brought it to his lips. “I’m happy to see another couple beating the odds.”
Heat bloomed in my chest. It made me happy when other people complimented my relationship. It helped show I was right about me and Yosiah being together.
“Plus, us girls gotta make sure to keep these boys in line, right ladies?” Maggie snickered, taking a sip of her wine.
“Agreed.” I grinned.
The events tonight were unexpected, but I was happy to say it was a small distraction from the crisis I was currently facing.
CHAPTER 6
Yosiah
“I’m proud of you, son. You set out to build your company on your own, and in five short years, you did exactly that,” Mom gushed, squishing my cheeks between her hands.
I had stopped by their house to help my mom remove a virus she had gotten on her laptop from a phishing email. Tomorrow was the award show and my parents would be in attendance.
I chuckled and grabbed her wrists, pulling them. “C’mon, Mom, relax.”
“Yeah, Zoya, stop babying the boy,” Dad commented.
She scoffed with an eye roll. “Well excuse me for being proud of my only son. Being honored by the Black Excellence Foundation is a big deal. They’re one of the largest, well-respected organizations around, even the NAACP has acknowledged them. Knowing they see our son’s talent is worth being excited over.”
I smirked. “I appreciate it, Mama.”
My attention went back to the screen. My fingers worked on the keyboard as I focused on the task at hand.
“Mom, next time don’t open any emails that look off. I upgraded the security on here, so you should be good going forward.”
“Well how was I supposed to know they were trying to steal my information.”
“It’s a common thing with hackers. Good thing you didn’t log into your bank or anything, so they shouldn’t have gotten any important information.”