✞ C E L A I L a C R O I X ✞
"I'm so happy you could squeeze in the church. I'm sorry for such a short notice," Camille says from behind Celai, startling her.
However, Celai is able to manage her professionalism as she turns and smiles at the First Lady. "Oh, it's fine," she assures. It's more than fine considering God blessed her with work to do after she fervently prayed for it.
"I know Bernard already explained everything to you a few hours ago, but I just wanted to personally thank you since this was my idea after all. It came out of the blue, and two weeks later, you're already on top of the work."
"It's good you want to do something for the kids that have Spring Break coming up. I'm happy to help out."
"What have you done so far?" she inquires with a kind smile.
Celai shows her the two sketches of the soon-to-be decorated church and then the one she's currently working on. Camille raises her eyebrows in amusement. "Wow, you got a lot done," she observes. "And they're all so beautiful."
"Thank you, Camille," she says.
Her eyes draw to the one she's only halfway finished with and they widen. "Wow, can I see this one when you're done?"
Celai chuckles softly. "Of course. I'll let you know when I'm wrapping up on it."
Camille nods eagerly. "Alright. I'll be in the back with Bernard in his office if you need anything." She smiles again before she leaves Celai alone to focus on her work.
"Now, back to you. What were we talking about?" Celai says to Jayelle, who happened to be on a phone call with her when Camille walked in. "You and Wes?" she asks as she continues her sketching.
Celai hears Jayelle chuckle to herself. "After our date, we spent about two hours discussing how to file for permanent custody over Ty. Apparently, his dad is a lawyer."
"Sounds like Matchmaker Celai didn't do so bad after all."
"Yeah, but she's still the most annoying person on Earth."
"Mm, right after you. So, what's the new status with Ty?"
"Nothing is official yet but from what I know, Wes is talking with his dad about the case as we speak."
"Look at God," Celai praises. "So does that mean you're gonna stop avoiding Wes?"
"I'm willing to marry anyone who helps bring my nephew home for good. So to answer your question, we have another date next week."
Celai can hear the smile on her best friend's face. "I'll be needing a wedding date soon."
"It'll be after yours." They share a laugh before Jayelle continues. "Honestly, God's timing couldn't have been more perfect. I was starting to worry I was becoming a financial burden for you. But now, you won't need to lend me money."
"Girl, you are not a burden and you never will be. Yeah, I had that dry spell, but I'm doing well now by the grace of God alone," Celai truthfully says.
In only two weeks, her trust was starting to increase greatly in God, and while she had her mind stressing over her money last week, she barely thought about it the next. If anything, she became grateful that she didn't have to pay any house bills and she only had to worry about her personal ones.
Celai's eyes flick to the church door that seems to be opening by itself, but Julian pokes his head in, surprising her.
"Girl, let me call you back," Celai says before hanging up on Jayelle. She doesn't mean to, but she's excited to see Julian; they haven't seen each other in person for two weeks due to the overload of work Bernard gave him. Being around someone constantly then not seeing them for half a month was detrimental, to both of their surprise.
Celai gets up from her chair and reunites with Julian in the middle of the church, hugging him and feeling his soft lips press everywhere against her cheeks and forehead. "I missed you," he says, pushing his head in the crick of her neck, leaving a kiss there as well.
"I missed you too," she gushes, becoming overwhelmed in his arms— not from reuniting, but from his reaction. As she hugged him, she felt his heartbeat begin to rapidly pump in his chest. She smiles to herself. She did that.
"You ate yet?" Julian asks as he pulls away, ending their embrace.
"I haven't eaten since last night," she confesses with a laugh.
He shakes his head, not seeing anything funny. "Let's go get lunch, there's a Chick-Fil-A up the road." Before Celai can decline his request, he mentions, "I already talked to Camille about it. Let's go real quick," he encourages.
"Okay. We have to hurry though, cus I think Camille likes the sketch I'm working on now and I want to get it to her as soon as possible."
Julian sucks his teeth. "Everything with you comes with terms and conditions."
"Oh, whatever," she says as she pushes him, making him chuckle. They step outside and with the temperature beginning to rise, they simultaneously agree to walk instead of drive.
As they stroll along the jagged sidewalk, the occasional car driving too fast past them, Julian looks toward Celai in question. "Did Bernard seem... agitated to you?"
Celai furrows her eyebrows. "I haven't talked to him since this morning, but no, not really. Why?"
"I think he's upset about something. He's been distant the whole week. I don't have any idea why though."
"Did you say or do something?"
"All I did was mess up some plans yesterday, but I fixed them pretty quickly. If it's not that, I don't know what it is."
"I don't think that's it— you fixed it, so it doesn't matter. But if he is mad about something, I don't think it has anything to do with you; maybe he's just having a bad day," she suggests.
Julian shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head a bit. "Maybe a bad week. The last time he was having a bad week, he had me doing all his work. And that seems to be the case again."
"Then we can pray on it when we get the chance," she says as she hops over a rain puddle. "How was therapy today?"
Celai watches his face stay neutral instead of it turning up like usual at the sound of the treatment. Her eyebrows raise in response. "It went okay," he tells her. "Rochelle helped me figure out some of the things I didn't allow myself to process."
"Like what?" Celai impulsively asks, instantly regretting her question. She got the hang of not forcing information out of him, but every once in a while, she slipped up, like now.