Danyelle smiled like she had expected it. “See? You needed that.”
“I did,” Nina nodded.
“I could tell.”
She arched an eyebrow. “You read people too?”
“Unfortunately.” Danyelle took a sip of champagne. “It’s a gift and a curse. Mostly a curse because people be exhausting.”
Nina felt her on that one. “Hello!”
For the next hour, they moved through the gallery together as if that’s how God intended the day to go. Danyelle had opinions about everything. She hated one sculpture because she said it looked like something a man made after learning the spiritual meaning of a womb. She loved a series of photographs featuring Black girls in church hats. She teared up quietly in front of a painting of an old woman braiding a child’s hair.
She realized she was most relaxed in segments depending on what her spirit was drawn to at the gallery. It was just enough to simmer her anxious thoughts, but not enough to completely forget the drama in her life. Nina wanted another glass of champagne before she called Roberto. She traveled over to the bar where Danyelle was chatting with a guest.
Nina lifted her head, realizing that she was standing under a hanging installation made of glass butterflies that had been carefully painted. She liked to believe that butterflies were always a sure sign of God being nearby.
“This one is for sale,” Danyelle informed her after her guest left.
“I haven’t made it to that side of buying art just yet.”
She was a novice in the game and only had one piece to her name, and that was the one Jio purchased for her on their first date.Oh, the things he used to do to put a smile on her face.Nina desperately missed the old days because they included the old Jio.
Danyelle pulled out her phone. “Give me your number.”
Nina touched her chest. “Me?”
“Yes, you,” she snickered.
“You look like you need friends who don’t ask stupid questions and won’t judge you for ordering fries at expensive places.”
Nina laughed. “Yeah you read people.”
“It’s a gift girl.”
Nina hesitated for only a second before taking the phone and typing in her number.
Danyelle glanced at it before smiling. “Good. I’m texting you so you don’t disappear into whatever emotional prison you came from.”
Nina shook her head, but she was visibly amused.
When she finally left the gallery, her demeanor had shifted. She felt lighter and less hostile. God was going to turn her situation around. The only thing she had to do was keep her faith.
By the time she got home, it was dark.
She slipped off her suit jacket and draped it over a hook and set her purse on the entryway table. Her heels clicked softly against the hardwood as she moved deeper into her safe haven.
Her heart skipped a beat once she saw Jio sitting on the edge of her sofa with his elbows on his knees, head bowed, hands clasped together like he was praying but knowing his lunatic ass... he was probably trying his best not to break something.
Nina stopped walking as whole body reacted before her mind could.
“What are you doing here?”
He didn’t look up right away.
The city lights painted his profile in shadows. His haircut was fresh but it always was. Jio didn’t have many off days. It was rare that he looked like what he was going through. The more she learned about him, the stronger her discernment grew to sense when everything wasn’t okay, and something internally about Jio looked undone.
He had no right to be sitting in her apartment unannounced after everything. She was sick of him coming and going like this was his sanctuary, especially when he made her feel like she needed protection from him sometimes. She was about to givehim a piece of her mind until he lifted his head. The look in his eyes stalled her anger and she swallowed her bitching.
