Kaycee sent me an email to voice her hurt that I chose not to attend her high-saditty baby shower. Keep in mind, I sent a top-of-the-line gift. It was something that I didn’t put on her registry when I did it because I knew that I would buy it. This was a common practice of mine. The items that I planned to buy my client, I never put on the registry.
Her email, in a roundabout way, said that she was offended that I felt that I could afford not to come. She alluded to a potential loss of business because she would have to think hard as to whether she would refer her friends to me. I must have read that email four times before I printed it to make sure it read the same with ink on the page.
Once I realized, yep, it read the same, I took it to my parents’ house so they could read it. They read it, laughed, and told me to tell her to suck her placenta. Marla was a lot often. When she said that, I clutched my pearls. I really had some on. The only thing that made it semi alright was that there were a lot of beneficial nutrients in placenta. Mothers often encapsulate their placenta to take like a vitamin.
I did what I thought was best and did not respond. If I had, it would have been brutal, and I would have certainly lost business. Worst of all, Grant could potentially become a single father if his wife responded to my response crazy. I tried hard not to cross my worlds, but sometimes, it happened.
On the other job front, it had been calm and hectic in the same breath. Calm because I didn’t have to get crazy with anyone, and everything flowed like it was supposed to. The hectic part was solely because of one human being. Scotty fucking McLeod!
I wasn’t sure what assignment Stitch was on, but I needed his ass to come back. Even when it was calm, Seneca found reasons that required Scotty and me to have to be in each other’s faces. We’d been to dinner a few more times since he ambushed my plans with Cora. Well, they weren’t solid plans, but plans, nonetheless.
The inner skeptic in me wanted to find all the wrongs in Scotty, but it was hard. He was a solid nigga, and I hated that for myself in the aspect of I needed some real nigga dick.
His vibe reminded me of my father’s. His presence was known, whether he made it known or not. When my father walked into a space, he commanded it. The air in the room left to make room for him. My father was a man’s man, and you knew it. In my spirit, it felt like Scotty was the same, and that was scary for me. I was attracted to this man, and I didn’t want to be.
“Blake! Girl, what you got going on over there?” Iesha’s voice bombarded my thoughts. Her ass was loud as hell.
My eyes rolled at her scrunched face. “Girl, I don’t have nothing going on. I’m chillin’ like the rest of y’all.”
Tonight’s girls’ night was hosted by Leydi, Tiberius Jr.’s wife. We alternated with who hosted each time. It was Iesha, Fatima, Aeon, Q’amie, and me here at her house. They were all cool as hell.
Aeon and Fatima were the newest to the group, and they fit in with us perfectly. Their friendship vibe mirrored Leydi and Iesha’s. Iesha was the loud and openly rowdy one, like Fatima. Leydi was that quiet assassin that was sweet as pie, but the bitch’s undertone spice was nutmeg. It was a spice that snuck up on you. Aeon gave that same vibe.
I craved these nights with the girls. I loved it when we were all together on chill shit. All of them were mothers, and I dealt with a bunch of soon-to-be mothers, so we all needed this break. It was one of the times when I felt like I could be soft and not judged by the niggas I worked with. These women were the only ones outside of my parents and clients that got the privilege to see the soft part of me.
“Nah, you’re over there dipping in and out of your mind. What’s in your mind that got you in and out?” Iesha’s ass was nosy.
Q’amie giggled. “I think she got Scotty on her mind.” Her hands went up in surrender. “That’s just my opinion.”
I didn’t need to see the heads snap in my direction. I felt them. “Wait, Scotty, the new manager of the body shop?” Fatima asked. When my head tilted as my brow tiptoed up my forehead, she provided more words. “I took Georgie to the shop like two weeks ago to pick up his car. He introduced himself to us. Calm down . . . no one was scoping out your man.”
Georgie was Fatima’s husband. It made sense that he used the shop since he worked in the barber shop that Tiberius Jr. owned.Touch of Goldwas founded by his father, Tiberius Sr., which was passed down to his half-brother, Derrick. Tiberius Jr. found out that Derrick was his half-brother well after their father died.
My manicured nail went up. “First of all, he is not my man. We work together.”
“If you call going to lunches and dinners working together, then okay. Seems like y’all doing a lot of man and woman shit to me. I could be wrong though,” Q’amie said.
My head bucked back. “Oh, Q’amie, you’re spicy today.” I tittered quietly. “Yes, you are wrong. Y’all know I love to eat. If a nigga’s gonna buy me food, then I’m going to eat it.”
“I’on know, Blake. I’ve seen Scotty a few times since he moved here. He’s a different kind of fine. What that boy got in him? I’on think he’s all black,” Iesha pointed out.
All of us snickered at the seriousness of her tone. She and Derrick were a perfect damn match. Both of them lacked any of the sense that God created. They both said whatever the hell they wanted, how they wanted, when they wanted.
“His father is Scottish, based on what he told me. He doesn’t know his father, though,” I told them. The room fell silent. My face scrunched at all the eyes that were on me. “What!”
Aeon leaned forward. “So you said that y’all just worked together, but you know all that about his father? That’s some fine water cooler talk, if I do say so myself.”
“Really! Midnight, get ya mama. Aeon, go play with ya trans dog, and leave me alone,” I joked.
Midnight was Aeon’s service dog that she had because of her POTS condition. The dog was a male, but Aeon’s son, Declan Jr., gave no fucks about that. That little boy told everyone that Midnight was a little girl. Why? I had no idea, but it was hilarious. If you told his two-year-old ass any different, he would be prepared to go toe to toe with you. A few times, I caught Aeon referring to Midnight as a girl.
Midnight looked up at me from his pillow, glanced at his mama, then laid his head back down. Fatima was right. That black lab was a nigga.
Leydi giggled. “Blake, you do know that it’s alright to like him? The world will not implode because you like a man.”
My neck drew back. “You said that shit like I’m a munch master or some shit. Stop playing with me, lady.”
“I mean, are you, bitch?” Fatima asked with a raised corner lip. “I don’t remember the last time that I heard you tell us a ‘got my back blown out’ story. We all got husbands and kids. There should be no way we get more dick than you.”
