Halfway to Love (eBook)

Chapter One

My story begins when I was out there in the streets or “The World” as some people call it. It was the spring of 2000. I was just released from prison and required to complete a nine month program in a halfway house as a condition of my release. I was stipulated to a halfway house located at 19th and Walnut Street in Reading, which is the city I lived in before I was in prison. My only expectation was to complete the program and to return to life in the world.

Then one day, I was hanging out at the front desk waiting to sign myself out for a furlough and to enjoy the three hours of freedom the program allowed me to stay out for each day. On my way to the front door, I noticed this beautiful young female walking into the halfway house. I couldn’t blame myself for stumbling, as I stepped down the steps, while continuing to stare at her. She was beautiful and had this radiance about her that made her stand out from everything that was around her. As she walked by me, I said, “hello” and winked at her. She couldn’t help herself but smile and say hello in return, which showed me that she was a lady.

In my heart and mind, I just had to have this girl, no doubt. On my way to the subway, she was all I could think about and I couldn’t think of anything else but her. I didn’t know her name or where she was from, which is the information I usually get from a girl when I first meet her, and it made her a mystery to me. She had the most beautiful tan and these bright blue eyes that sparkled like the rippling waves of the ocean. I closed my eyes, visualizing her, and thought of how only God and I could see how beautiful she was! As I was daydreaming of her, the train zoomed in on its tracks, and I was hoping that I would see her again when I got back from my furlough.

After I returned to the halfway house from shopping for clothes, I was on my way up the steps when I walked past the living room and saw her with some guys who were trying to kick game to her. As I walked up the steps, I could hear the guys asking her all kinds of questions about herself.

I quickly put my clothes away and came back downstairs hoping that she didn’t leave somewhere with one of those guys, because I could tell they wouldn’t know how to treat a lady like her.

When I came back downstairs, she was still there, sitting on the couch with her arms crossed, listening to the stories the other guys in the house were telling her. She noticed me looking in her direction as I paced myself little by little to get a closer look at the woman of my dreams. I felt that everyone there had their chance with her and blew it. Some of the guys made her giggle at their stories, and with that giggle they might have thought she was interested, but I could tell she wasn’t.

I approached her and said, “You are one of’ a kind!” I extended my hand, and she took it with a smile that made my heart tingle all the way down to my toes. “I’m not usually tongue-tied or lost for words, but you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on, and I like you a lot. What’s your name?”

“Jahaira”, she said, with no trouble of letting everyone in the room know how beautiful her name was, and it matched her in every way a man could possibly imagine.

“How old are you, Jahaira?” I asked curiously.

“Twenty-eight” she said in a soft and sexy voice.

As I began talking with her, I wanted to let her know I was interested in her, and I invited her to come with me to the back room by the porch to get away from the other people in the room. She welcomed the idea and we made our way to the back of the house. As we sat down on the couch, she pointed at the butterflies that were flying around the flowers on the back porch. I decided to pick a flower and handed it to her to see how she would react. She took it and smiled in an erotic way!

“By the way Jahaira, I apologize for being rude and not telling you my name. I am Lito”, I said, as I sat back down on the couch. “That’s what my mom called me; it was a nickname my grand mom gave me when I was a child and it kinda stuck with me ever since.”

“How old are you, Lito”, she asked, shifting towards me as I sat down beside her, her eyes following my every move.

“Twenty-nine. My grand mom helped raise me since I was three. When I was 17, my grand mom passed away from a heart-attack. I cried a lot ’cause she was like a mom to me. My real mom died in a car accident when I was seven. She was only thirty-eight.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. It must have been pretty hard on you?” Then she hesitated as if she was lost in a thought. “You seem different from the rest of the guys. All these guys have been trying to get with me, but it’s like once they start talking about themselves, they start telling me all these stories, and it just takes me somewhere else. I guess it’s because I’m single and I don’t have a man..”

“Jahaira, did anyone ever tell you that your long black hair and pretty blue eyes make you look Indian?”

She smiled, letting out a little laugh, and said, “That’s because I am. Well, half Indian, and half Colombian. I was raised in Palm Springs, Florida. That’s why my skin is so tan.”

“You have pretty little eyes, too, and once I saw you, I knew my heart belonged to you. May I take you out Friday? Maybe dinner?”

“Sure, Lito, I’d love to go. You know, you really are different from the rest of the guys, aren’t you? She asked, as if only to ask herself. “I see you keep to yourself a lot.”

“Sometimes”, I said, but the only thing I could concentrate on as she was speaking with me was her perfect face and long black hair that fell over her shoulders. She was beautiful! Her nose was small and pointy -- a perfect nose! She had these small dreamy eyes, and each time I looked into her eyes I thought of how I wanted this girl.

Everyone at the halfway house was talking about her and how “Banging” she looked, with full breasts and small hips that were very noticeable from a distance. They especially talked about how sexy she walked, switching smoothly, with her fat ass and thick legs -- a perfect woman! She was beautiful, and to me, everyone else was in the way.

“Jahaira, you have sexy lips.”

“Thank you, Lito,” she said, her red sparkly lips shining as she spoke.

Every day when I saw her downstairs, I would just say “Hello”, and smile at her, letting her know I was very interested in her. Then I would leave because I didn’t want her to feel that I was coming on to her too quickly.

Then a couple of days later, I went to visit my cousin, Jorge. He owns a barbershop on 17 South 5th Street, called Axzul Beauty Salon. His shop was on the second floor above the bar next to The New York Store, a store that sells clothes, sneakers, and other things that you could buy from the stores in New York.

I was getting my head shaved, telling Jorge about a date I was having with this on Friday, when I saw Jahaira at the door looking in. When Jorge saw her, he went to her, gave her a hug and kiss, and asked her, “When did you get out of prison?”

“A couple of days ago,” she said, sitting down in one of the chairs.

I asked Jorge, “How do you know her?”

“I’ve know Jahaira a long time,” he said, as he returned to shaving my head. “She was in prison for selling cocaine.”

Jorge cut me off as I was about to ask him another question and returned to his conversation with Jahaira, which left me with my words in my mouth. Jahaira was telling Jorge that she needed money and needed a job until she got back on her feet.

“What do you think, Lito? “ Jorge asked, looking at me in the mirror as he stood behind me.

“Sure,” I told him, “Help the girl out.”

I was playing it off, but I was mad as hell inside because I could tell there was some kind of connection between them.

Jorge looked over at. Jahaira and asked, “Where are you living now?”

“At the halfway house on 19th and Walnut”, she told him.

“My cousin Lito is in a halfway house, too”, he said, tapping his hand on my shoulder, letting Jahaira know that I was his cousin, and getting my attention.

I was going to ask Jahaira her name again to play it off like I didn’t know her, but Jorge knew I was in-the same halfway house, so instead I asked her, “you just got there a couple of days ago, right?”

She picked-up on what I was doing, acting like we hadn’t met before and said, “Yeah”, with that same smile that made my heart tingle.

Jorge asked Jahaira if she had any money, and Jahaira told him that she didn’t, but needed some money for clothes and stuff. So Jorge gave her $350 and told her to use it for whatever she needed to get back on her feet.

I was listening to the whole conversation and when they stopped talking with each other, I told Jahaira that I could give her a ride back to the halfway house.

“I have three hours and I was going to head over to the mall before I went back”, she said, while thanking Jorge for the money.

“I have three hours too, and I could use some new clothes myself”, I told her as Jorge started brushing hair off of me. I was thinking this would be a perfect opportunity to get some time with...