“Yeah, well, . . . I’m not a big social media person,” she replied. “I only keep a profile because Tara forces me to post for promo. She runs all of it. I hate it.”
Zay laughed. “You always did. I swear, you the only person who could disappear and really be gone forever.”
As soon as the words left his lips, he felt the weight of them. After everything that transpired between them in the past, . . . the words just came out more twisted than he meant them to be. Before he could correct what he meant, she spoke.
“I didn’t disappear.” She paused before she continued, her voice low. “I just chose peace.”
He nodded and decided not to press any further, changing the subject. “I ain’t never really been online like that either. Unless I’m dropping something.”
There was another stillness between them then, thick but not uncomfortable. He, again, broke the silence.
“Fifteen years and it wasn’t even algorithms that brought us back together. Wild, right?”
She smiled gently and leaned back in her chair. “This really is very wild.”
The sun reflected off her neck, and a silver glow shined in his eyes. That was when he noticed the necklace. A thin sterling silver chain with a heart-shaped diamond pendant, resting just below the collar of her blouse. It was simple but familiar.
His jaw tightened.
“You still have that?” he asked quietly.
Love glanced down. Her fingers instinctively touched the charm. She didn’t answer right away.
Before she could reply, Kam entered back into the room with the finalized production folder. “Yo. We’re locked in.Congratsto the both of you. Let’s make this hot!”
Tara stuck her head in, one hand on the door, the other with the phone to her ear. “Love, car’s out front.”
She nodded, gathered the papers in front of her into a neat stack, placed them in a manilla folder, and threw it into her tote.
She stood from her chair and walked around the conference table with her head down to avoid Zay’s gaze.
He hesitated and quickly debated whether to stop her, ask her more questions to get answers he never received after fifteen years, but couldn’t think of the right words to say. As she walked through the open door, he called out her name.
“Princess, wait.”
She stopped, placed one hand on the door but kept her head still.
He rose from his chair slowly and placed both hands on the tabletop. He leaned forward. Kam stood still, puzzled. He gazed between the two of them but remained silent. Zay exhaled before he spoke.
“You really gonna act like we don’t have history?”
Love’s eyes lowered to the ground. She breathed in then out and looked over her shoulder. Her expression was unreadable.
“It’s been fifteen years, Zay,” she said. “Let the past be the past.”
Then, she walked out the door. It shut softly behind her.
Zay stood there at the table for a moment. He sighed then sat back in the chair.
Kam walked over to him and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You good?”
He didn’t answer at first. Then finally, he answered. “I . . . I don’t even know, bruh.”
Kam just exhaled. “Princess? Who is Princess? And what was that all about?”
Zay let out a breath and mumbled something cryptic about a hook to a forgotten song he hadn’t finished in fifteen years.
Take Your Own Advice
