Page 71 of Surrender

She giggled. “You did. Because of you and Daddy, I low-key feel sorry for any man that doesn’t measure up.”

“Oh! But when we said it, it was a problem!”

“No, no, no! Y’all tried to come for me. Let’s make that clear. Anyway, like I was saying, these niggas have al ot to live up to. Arranged Hearts would have a lot on their hands dealing with me. I can see them having me on the waiting list for years.”

I chuckled. “I don’t think that would be the case. They are very thorough and efficient. Trust me, as bad as you think you are, there is somebody out there that is perfectly compatible with you.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, Jake. Can you see me, of all people, marrying a nigga I never met? And don’t get me started on sex! What if the di?—”

“Stop right there. I don’t wanna hear that shit.”

“My bad. I was about to treat you like Kachelle for a minute.”

I shook my head. She had a bad habit of treating me like one of her girlfriends. There had been plenty of times we’d been talking, and she slipped up and called me girl, especially when she was gossiping.

“You can finish this conversation with my wife.”

She playfully rolled her eyes before diving back into her meal. We parted ways a short while later, and I headed to my wife’s office to take her some food. It was Friday and superhero day. She’d walked out of the house this morning dressed as Storm from X-Men. Baby had the wig and color contacts to match. Halle Berry had nothing on my wife. She looked so damn good in that get-up that I almost made her late.

I couldn’t believe my wife was low-key a nerd. It was so sexy on her though. We had Marvel movie marathons or watch anime together all the time. Her Funko Pop action figures had a full display in our walk-in closet. The shit was massive. Since our home had a finished basement, I was thinking of adding a display case or shelving for her. We hadn’t really decided what we wanted to do with it just yet, but more than likely, it would be for entertainment.

I stepped into the office and chuckled to myself at all the kids dressed in their superhero outfits. I approached the receptionist desk and was greeted with a smile by a woman dressed like Supergirl.

“Hey is Dr. Mitchell available for a second?”

She looked me up and down for a moment. “May I ask who’s asking?”

“Her husband.”

“Oh! It’s about time we met this mystery man! Hold on a second. Let me see if she’d busy. She was finishing up a cleaning. You can have a seat.”

“Thank you.”

I copped a seat in the corner and busied myself with checking emails. I could feel a set of eyes on me and looked up to see a kid that couldn’t have been more than eight looking at me. He was holding one of my books, looking from it to me. Since my picture was on the back, I was sure he was trying to make sure he wasn’t seeing things.

When I waved at him, his eyes widened. He frantically tapped his mother’s leg and pointed at me then the book. A big smile broke out on her face when she recognized me. Grabbing her son’s hand, she came over to where I sat.

“Hi. I’m sorry to invade your space like this. Are you J.A. Mitchell?”

“It’s no problem at all and yes ma’am, I am.”

“This is my son, Ellis. He loves your books.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Ellis.”

“Can I get a picture? My friends are gonna be so jealous I met you!”

I chuckled. “Sure thing, man.”

He happily took a seat next to me. I loosely wrapped an arm around him, then leaned in and smiled as his mother snapped the picture. After thanking me they had back to their seats but by this time a small line had formed in front of me. There were more kids, all of different ages, than I realized who knew who I was. They were eagerly as excited to get a picture themselves.

I did it mind. Moments like these were my favorite. Each of them introduced themselves and told me their favorite book by me. Some of them asked for my autograph. I was happy to oblige them.

“What’s going on here?” I heard.

I looked up to see my wife standing there with a smile on her face and her hands on her hips.

Thomas, the twelve-year-old who was currently taking a picture with me answered. “It’s J.A. Mitchell! Can you believe it?”