A Short Walk Home Read Online Free

until she left to reunite with her mother at age 16. But living with her mother was a whole new challenge, as her mom exposed her to some of the darker sides of life. Riddled with addictions, her mom was unpredictable and unreliable. As a result, Jaymee left home to continue school and try to salvage a life for herself after barely a year with her mom. She had Logan at 21, but her relationship with Logan’s father was all but over by the time Logan celebrated his first birthday.
    This was the young woman I was going to meet. Living her life on her own and highly independent, she had allowed me in, and you better believe I felt honored.
    I arrived in Akron as scheduled, but when I got down to the baggage claim, Jaymee wasn’t there. I sat down, looked around, and started to get that unsettled feeling deep down. I spotted a sign for the hotel next door, and began seriously considering it as my backup plan. Just as I was resigning myself to sleeping on a hotel mattress, suddenly everything went black. I felt the warmth of breath and a kiss on the cheek. It turned out that Jaymee had hidden away, and had just been watching me squirm for a minute. Sensing my discomfort, she had decided to put her hands over my eyes and surprise me.
    I pulled her close, feeling so happy to finally meet her faceto face. We went to dinner before spending the rest of the night talking. It had become something we were very good at. The next night we had dinner at her friend’s house, and we spent Sunday morning alternately enjoying each other’s company and wishing I did not have to leave.
    Fortunately, I missed my plane and was “forced” into meeting her then-5-year-old son, Logan. After dinner that night, he and I set about making cookies in the kitchen. Once finished, I began taking them off the pan to place them on a wire rack, and when Logan asked to help, he gently placed his hand on top of mine as we removed the cookies together. When I glanced back over at Jaymee, she was sitting on the couch with a smile on her face and tears of happiness streaming down her cheeks. I think I made a good impression.
    All too soon, Monday morning came and I was off. Back home in New Orleans, the very first thing I did was make a call to my oldest friend—Chef John Besh.
    “Chef? It’s Cry. I need your help.” “I quickly explained my situation. “Jaymee is flying in on the 29th. Her birthday is the 30th. I’ve decided; I want to ask her to marry me, and want to do it at your restaurant. Can you help me?” I knew I was doing the right thing. So did John, though he gave me a hard time about it anyway.
    “Marry you? What, does she need a green card? No wait, I forgot; that was the
last
one you were involved with. My bad.”
    “John, I …” But of course he cut me off.
    “David, of
course
I will help you. I will do anything you want me to. So, what are you thinking?”
    We hashed out all the details, and a few days later I paid him a visit to put the plan in place. Just like that, everything was ready—I was going to ask Jaymee to spend the rest of her life with me,just 15 days after meeting me for the first time. I’d taken some risks in life, but this one topped them all. It was my most fervent hope that things would work out well—for both of us.
    The day of Jaymee’s arrival came before I knew it. The day she flew in, we spent some time in New Orleans, getting her acquainted with the city. We visited my parents and generally spent the day enjoying our time together. It was a nice time, mirroring the time we’d spent in her hometown, but the days still seemed to drag on forever. All I could think about was the proposal.
    Later that evening, we made our way downtown to Restaurant August, where John greeted us at the door (with a quick sign to me everything was set). After we were seated, he hand-delivered personalized menus; John would be preparing each course himself and would bring them to our table personally. Everything was fantastic,