“I know. Now that I’m out of the Navy and shit, I can start to think about other things.”
“Does other things include a wife and some lil bad ass kids runnin’ around the way? You know how we used to terrorize our street back in the day,” he recalled with a reminiscent chuckle.
A ghost of a smile lifted the corner of my mouth. “You right about that. And don’t let Twan and Hines from the neighborhood up the street come over. The four of us together were some fuckin’ menaces.”
“Shit ain’t what it used to be, that’s for sure.”
“You still talk to either of them?” I quizzed.
He sucked his straight, slightly off-white teeth. “Nah. Hell nah. I stopped fuckin’ with them niggas a long time ago. Twan’s a fuckin’ hophead now, and Hines stay in and out of jail.”
I lowered my head, although I couldn’t stand there and act like I wasn’t surprised. “Damn.”
“Right. A nigga tryna keep on the straight and narrow path like you,” he joked.
“Whatever, mothafucka.”
“Yo, since you’re back in town now, you should come out to the club with me and a few of my boys to celebrate my birthday.”
“The club? Nigga, ain’t we too old for that shit?”
“Hey, even old niggas deserve to turn up once in a while. You down?”
My shoulders rose and fell. “Fuck it. Send me the info, and I’ll pull up.”
Xavier nodded with a smile. “Bet.”
Before we could continue our conversation, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I fished it out and saw it was the builder calling. “I gotta take this. I’ll be right back,” I announced before accepting the call and pressing the phone to my ear. “Hello?”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Gray. I’m calling to let you know that we’ve got your final walk-through scheduled for next month, and as long as there are no concerns, we’ll schedule your closing at our downtown office in the weeks following. Will that work for you?”
I dipped my chin. “Yeah. That works.”
“Great. I’ll circle back to get you some specific dates and times, and we’ll see you then.”
I ended the call with a smile on my face. Everything I’d been working toward was falling into place exactly as I’d planned. Everything except for Lex. I thought back to the Pandora charm I’d purchased and considered leaving the party to return it, but I didn’t. Someway, somehow I’d give it to her, and hopefully it would make her see how serious I was about her. With every encounter we had, it got harder to play the background and not blow up her lifeor mine.
One week later.
From the colorful streamers taped to the living room walls and dangling from the ceiling to the brightly wrapped presents with bows and gift bags with tissue paper sprouting out like freshly bloomed flowers, the Gray family home was more than ready to celebrate my father’s fifty-ninth birthday. It was no secret that Mama took birthdays seriously. She had the whole main level of the house decorated for Pop’s special day and always made sure to bake us our favorite cake flavor every year. His was a double-layered German chocolate cake.
I snatched one of the freshly baked chocolate chip cookies from the jar in the kitchen, leaving half of it hanging from my mouth as I placed the gifts I’d bought next to the others. I’d stayed up until two in the morning trying to “wrap” them, until sayingfuck itand tossing everything into gift bags with no tissue paper. It was the thought that counted, not the presentation, right?
After everyone ate dinner and watched Pops open his gifts, I knew I’d be leaving there soon with a full belly and to-go plates for the next couple of days. But I wasn’t complaining. I’d spent so many years at sea missing out on family get-togethers that being home after so long felt like the only gift I needed, and it wasn’t even my birthday.
The basketball game played loudly on the sixty-inch TV mounted to the wall, while Liv set up the first game when her phone started to ring near the couch.
“Oak, can you grab it and tell me who it is?”
I walked over and scooped up her phone to see a picture of her and Lex on the screen. She was calling, and my heart fuckin’ somersaulted in my chest. “It’s Lex,” I responded.
“Answer it for me.”
I rolled my eyes. “What makes you think I wanna talk to your friend?”
“Just shut up and answer it before she hangs up.”
“Fine.” I reluctantly agreed before swiping to accept the call. “Hello?”
