My focus shifted from her to our surroundings. When I realized what she was staring at, I understood why she reacted the way she did. Prior to this, we had one destination in mind and had unexpectedly ended up back where it all started.
Before she pulled over to talk, Cassie and I were riding through the hood on our way to Mercedes’s house to pick up Orisha for the weekend. Usually, we would meet Mercedes somewhere, but she couldn’t do it today, so I told her I would come to her house to get her daughter.
Thoughts of Orisha had never left my mind after I saw Mercedes at the mall that day, so after everything settled down in my life, I reached out, and we’d been in contact since. Orisha pulled on my heartstrings after I found out what Shane had done to her. I later learned that she was the only child among Mercedes’s six children to have been targeted.
Shane’s busted ass wasn’t someone who crossed my mind anymore after Mercedes told me she found out he’d been murdered. I knew it wouldn’t be long until he did some foul shit again, and somebody got him. It didn’t even pain my heart to find out the news.
He had mentally damaged Orisha, but I hired a therapist for her, who was helping her improve tremendously. Some weekends I let her stay with us, too, just as a way for her to experience life outside the hood. Also, Orisha and Rhema were becoming close, and I noticed this was helping her slowly come out of her shell. She started looking forward to spending time with us. Mercedes and I weren’t the closest of friends, but she appreciated how much my family and I looked out for her daughter, and we didn’t mind doing it.
“Ember?” Cassie tapped my forearm.
“Huh?”
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“If you’re thinking about using the restroom, too, then yes, we’re thinking about the same thing.”
“Oh yeah, my bad. Let’s go inside this fast-food spot so you can pee, then we’ll revisit this conversation.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I agreed. I couldn’t think of anything else until I emptied my bladder.
We went into the burger joint, and I handled my business. Minutes later, we were standing in the parking lot next door, staring at the huge “For Sale” sign. I quickly retrieved my phonefrom my pocket to tell Mercedes we would be a little late to get Orisha, then Cassie and I entered Hidden Treasures Thrift Shop.
We walked into a half-empty store. It seemed like the few items that were left were on sale for pennies. I looked around, remembering my time working here and the days I dreaded coming in to work, hearing Mr. Gross fuss up and down these now dusty aisles. Cassie was walking ahead of me, looking around too, trying not to get her clothes dirty.
Some of the light bulbs hanging from the ceiling were broken, old clothes were all over the floor, and broken glass was on the shelves. The entire place was dimly lit and looked depressing.
“Ember, this place looks like shit,” Cassie said, looking back at me and whispering. “At least we kept it up when we worked here.”
“You’re right about that,” I muttered, still surprised at the state of the shop.
As we kept walking, I spotted Mr. Gross looking like he had aged since the last time I saw him. A few strands of gray hair barely hung on his scalp. There were thick bags under his eyes, his glasses were crooked on his face, and his lips were cracked with white, slimy gunk and dried blood on them.
Mr. Gross looked up from an old radio he was messing with, and he looked like he had seen a ghost.
It took a minute for him to process who was standing in front of him. “Ember? Cassie?” he asked, like he couldn’t believe it was us.
“In the flesh,” I answered.
Mr. Gross’s eyes traveled over the diamond jewelry hanging from my ears, draped around my neck, my shiny wedding ring, and then he looked at the stylist jumpsuit Reason had a designer custom-make for me.
“I see you’re selling the place,” I mentioned, drawing his focus back to my face.
His shoulders hung low. “Something like that.”
“The for sale sign out front says it all,” Cassie interjected.
He stood and leaned against an old table. “What brings you two here?” he asked, brushing off Cassie’s comment. “I never thought I’d see y’all again. Ember, it looks like you got big money now. Did you come here to flaunt your shit in my face?”
“Not that it’s any of your business what I have, but no, I didn’t come to flaunt anything in your face. We were passing by and noticed the ‘For Sale’ sign and thought we’d come inside and pay you a lil’ visit.”
“Ain’t much to see around here anymore. I gotta sell the place to afford my medication.”
Damn, I didn’t expect to hear him say that.
An idea instantly popped up in my head. “Mr. Gross, I think I might be able to help with that.”
Cassie gave me a look as she waited to hear what I had to say.
