“So, whoisshe?” she asks after a minute of blessed silence. Her voice is casual, but I know Lo. She prides herself on knowing everything about everyone. This is so contrary to that narrative, she’s probably reeling. She’ll have to stay that way. I’m not ready to talk to her about Sin.
I pick my words carefully. “She’s a family friend. From Ghana. Nobody you know.”
“Oh.” She widens her eyes with feigned awe. “Anormie?”
I flinch at her use of the word we coined when we were young, dumb, and heartless. Moments like this are a reminder that all Lo’s done since is age and get smarter.
“We’re not in high school any more, Lo. We’reallnormies now.”
“Oh, Kwame.” She says my name like I’m an idiot she’s humoring.
“What?”
“This populist streak of yours is cute. But you wouldn’t last two weeks trying to live like everyone else.” She chuckles and shakes her head.
“How do you know what it’s like to live like everyone else?”
“I went to public school when my dad was running for state legislature remember?” She sticks her tongue out like she’s gagging and shudders.
I curl my lip at her. “You’re such a snob. It’s not a streak. It’s not my fault my dad is rich. I know you don’t believe me, but I want a simple life.”
“You have no idea what that really means.”
Oh, but I do.Two months of Sundays have shown me the life I want. I’m not ready to share that world with Paloma yet. “I’d like to.”
She sighs. “You can’t look like that, have that brain, all that money, and a father who has power and just…be a worker bee with a partner who you can’t bring to the club because she doesn’t know which fork to use.”
Her alluding to Sin makes my skin feel a size too small. I hate that she even knows she exists. “She’s not my partner. We’re just friends. But she’d fit in anywhere. She’s the most incredible woman I’ve ever met, and it’s me who’d be punching up if she’d have me.”
“Wow.” She lets out a breathy chuckle. “Good thing I’ve got a thickskin. My feelings would be hurt listening to you talk about another woman like that.”
“First, you’d have to have feelings,” I drawl.
“Touché,” she sings.
Besides Titus, Paloma is my oldest friend. Our families had been next-door neighbors and her father is a mentor, even though he and my father are politically opposed.
Paloma and I ended up in college together and after three years of being fuck buddies decided to make it official during our senior year.
It didn’t last long. We seemed to bring out the worst in each other and the sex was mediocre. We were better as friends, and besides occasional alcohol-fueled hookups, have remained so since.
But when I moved back here things were different.
The previous ten years could have been themed Disasters in Dating. I had given up on the kind of love I thought I wanted. The kind that made any house, no matter the size, feels like home.
When I got back, Lo made it very clear she wanted to pick up where we’d left off.
She was honest about her motivations—an alliance that would give her the money to buy the power she sought.
I could do a lot worse than a gorgeous, intelligent woman I respected and who respected me.
We didn’t talk about love. We talked about goals and worldviews. We began a friends-with-benefits situation that included being each other’s plus one and blowing off pent-up sexual steam.
But since I started spending time with the Sackeys, Sin is all I want.
“I’m leaving,” Lo announces abruptly, breaking the uncomfortable silence that’s fallen between us.
I sit up. “You don’t have to,” I protest, but I’m not sorry she’s leaving.
