“He had to make a run, but said to give you this,” she said before I could say anything.
I nodded and took it from her hands. Then my eyes glossed the massive, rundown office before landing back on her. Something on the computer monitor had her attention.
“What time do you get off?” I shocked the fuck out of myself when I asked that.
She looked from the monitor to me, then at the phone in her lap. “’Bout fifteen minutes. Why, you about to offer me some more coconut water?”
I chortled. “Nah, I was gonna ask if you wanted to get a meal with me.”
She looked away from the computer, those beautiful eyes again landing directly on me. This time they didn’t jump around like a pinball. They stayed on me like she was thinking hard.
After a silent forever, she nodded. “Sure, but given your current situation, I’m sure we aren’t going to an actual restaurant.”
I shook my head. I had damn sure not thought that part out.I hadn’t even thought about asking her to eat with me.
“Nah, you right, it won’t. Put your number in here. I’ll send you the address.” I pulled my phone from my pocket and handed it to her. Of course it wasn’t locked because I had no reason to lock it. I was dead. Nobody was going through my phone.
After she put her number in my phone, we agreed on seven-thirty and I left the shop. I had to figure out what meal we’d have. It couldn’t be anything in this area, so I was probably gonna get something closer to my spot. The entire time I drove, I couldn’t help but question what the hell I was doing.
TWO
Liora
Dinner with him. I had agreed and now I was overthinking and wondering if I was losing my mind in the process. He sent his address and I mapped it out to a property in Westvale. That wasn’t a long drive for me considering I never drove the speed limit. I only agreed because he was an interesting man, the type who—with everything I had going on in my mind—I should have steered clear of. Yet here I was, keying in the address, on my way to him. He too had a lot going on,a lot, but who was I to judge.
I pulled out of the parking lot of the pawn shop. My thoughts ran rampant, wondering if I was being reckless. It was just a meal, right?
My thinking ceased the moment my phone began ringing through my car’s console. When I glanced down, I saw it was Sissy. Lil mama called to check in and always wanted to know what I was up to before she tried to make plans I almost always found a way out of. It was never anything against my sister, but everything against her young ass energy. I could fuck with a calm dinner and maybe a movie, lil mama wanted to club hop, bar hop, and drink. I didn’t have that in me and we didn’t think the same.
“What’s up, Sissy?” I greeted after pressing the green circle on the console screen.
“Nothing. I wanted to know what you were doing.” She sounded like she was pouting into the phone. For what, I damn sure didn’t know.
“Headed to meet somebody. Are you good?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I just wanted to…” Her sentence trailed off. I immediately picked up on it. Though Sissy was young minded as fuck and worse than me when it came to communication, one thing with her and I was very clear. Sometimes she called just to hear my voice, others she came by the shop just to see me. It was like she missed me without saying it. Lauryn told me that it bothered her when I left and went dead silent when I worked. With my profession, in order to protect them, I had to have minimal communication with anybody I cared about because it kept them safe. They understood that, but it didn’t make things any easier for them considering I missed most holidays and only spoke to them maybe twice a month, if that. This was the longest I had ever been home in ten years. The last thing I wanted was for them to get used to it. Because though I loved it here, I had absolutely no intention of staying. Briar South was and would forever be my home, but I didn’t know how to be still. My mind wasn’t good at it. Maybe it wasn’t that at all, maybe it was the fact that I hadn’t done it in almost a decade.
“I’m not going anywhere like that, Sissy. I’m here for a minute.”
“Um, okay. Thank you. Can we have dinner this weekend?”
“Yeah, just let me know when,” I replied simply.
“Okay. Well, I’ll let you go. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
When we hung up, I turned the music up and zipped through traffic, playing with the pedal like it was a joystick. I loved speed.It did something for my soul, sure to send convulsions down my spine the faster I went.
I pulled into the little cul-de-sac about fifteen minutes later, then clicked through my phone, looking for the number he’d sent his address from. All these homes looked alike and I didn’t want to pull into the wrong driveway.
I clicked the number and ringing filled the car before he answered.
“Yeah.”
“Which house? All of these single-family homes look alike.”
He laughed. “The one with the garage door open. Pull in and don’t hit my shit.”
