Keeping it a buck, when I’d called us friends, I was being fresh. It didn’t land that way. His silence and the deep hum of his tone grounded me without even trying.I knew I shouldn’t have settled into this, but I wasn’t versed on how not to.
“Earth to Liora! Where the hell did you just go, sister?” Lauryn asked, her voice interrupting my thoughts.
I blinked several times. “Shoot, my bad. I don’t know, what are you saying?”
“That maybe you should give Sergeant a chance. Maybe under all that pompous shit he’s really a good man.”
I laughed at her. “Um, no. I’m one, not interested in him, and two, not interested in that.”
“That what, Liora?” she asked, her voice having a natural nag similar to our mother’s.
“That lifestyle. It’s not me. Being the wife of somebody.”
“Then what do you want? What are you?”
I shrugged, hating when she started asking about my decisions. She was known as the mother of us for a reason. Shit like this.
“Right now, to exit this conversation, but situation wise, I’m fine right now. I’m in no rush to change anything about my life. Then again, I could definitely do without the shifts at the pawn shop. But I can tell that shit makes your father happy.”
She nodded and continued to push roses into the almost finished bouquet. “It does. He’s so happy you’re home, so is Sissy. Well, we all are, but we know it isn’t for long. You can’t really blame me for trying to find something to get you to stay.”
I laughed hard. “A man, Lauryn?”
“Well shit, yeah. Sometimes good dick will make you rethink your whole existence.”
“Maybe, but I’m not looking to get that from Sergeant. He isn’t even my type,” I shrieked.
She shrugged, then pointed her wet hands toward the shears across the table. “Hand me those, please.”
I grabbed them for her and extended the shears.
“I just want you to be happy, Li. I know my happiness is not your happiness and nor is Sissy’s or Pops’. You gotta find thaton your own. I also know that when you first got home you were missing something, something I’d like to think being here with us for so long helped you find.”
“Okay,” I responded, waiting for her question. She always had one.
“And with that, I also saw that look in your eyes the other night. You don’t stay still long, like at all, and you’ve been still for what? About six months?”
I sighed, understanding her point. Nine times out of ten, she had been put up to this by Sissy or our father. They wanted to know what my next move was, if I’d drop off the face of the earth again. My conversation with Sissy some time back hadn’t given her any confidence.
“You clocking me, Lauryn?” I asked.
“Always, big sis. You can’t be the only super spy in the family. P.S., I hope you know that’s what your niece told her class you were. They don’t want me or her father coming for career day either.”
I laughed because that sounded like my niece too. I should have known when she asked if I had ever jumped out of a plane. Like a dummy, I said yes.
She paused.
“But on another note…” Lauryn’s voice went up a pitch.
“What?” I rolled my eyes.
“Where have you been disappearing to? You left dinner last weekend, haven’t been at the shop much, and damn sure not at Dela’s.”
I grinned, cheeks warming at the thought. “Oh, you’re watching me close and minding mine.”
“Trying to. I didn’t miss the change in your expression when I mentioned dick. Seems like you’re already getting that, huh?”
I pursed my lips, stifling the smile threatening to break through, eyes living on her while she pruned the bouquet toperfection. She looked like our mother when she used to work with the flowers in here. When she realized I had no intention of responding, she pushed her glasses up and looked right at me.Something my mother definitely would have done.
