Page 38 of Justice

“Night,” I barely squeaked out.

I could not afford any more alone time with this man.

20

JUSTICE

I didn’t sleep much the night of the party, and it wasn’t the business keeping me up.

It was her. Skye, out on that deck with the fire in her face, saying that thing about my daughter grieving, then flinching when I got too close to whatever she kept locked up behind those eyes. I’d let her run back in the house. Told myself it was the right thing.

But I lay up a long time after, staring at the ceiling, feeling the shape of a want I hadn’t felt since I buried my wife. It should have worried me. Mostly it just had me in a good mood I couldn’t shake.

The next day, I needed to be on point though. We were finally going to close with the Harlow brothers for some of the construction projects at Freetown. That’s where my focus needed to be — on the legacy I was building with my family.

The Harlow brothers signed the contracts a little after noon. After reviewing several other contractors, my brothers and I decided that their company was the best for the job. Their energy reminded me of my brothers. By the time the ink dried I had a good feeling about the deal, and a good feeling was not something I came by easy.

Roman Harlow was the older one, the one who did the talking. He wore a sharp suit, had a firm handshake, and looked a man dead in the eye when he spoke.

His brother was more reserved, but I’m testament that just because someone is reserved doesn’t mean they’re not ruthless.

They had a strong business reputation in Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas. They were looking to expand and Freetown was the perfect opportunity.

Freetown needed builders I could trust not to skim and not to cut corners. The Harlows had a reputation for none of that. We went over the terms one last time, shook on it all around, and I felt one more piece of the future click into place.

“We appreciate the opportunity,” Roman said, buttoning his jacket. “The Banks name means something. We don’t take it lightly, partnering with a family like yours.”

“Long as the work’s clean, we’ll be doing a lot of business.” I walked them to the door. “Matter of fact. We’re throwing something at the casino Friday night. Come through. Bring whoever you want. Consider it the welcome to the family.”

“We’ll be there.” Roman smiled, easy. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

I shook his hand one more time and watched them go. Afterwards, I hit up my brothers to let them know the deal was done and we would be breaking new ground soon.

After a long day of combing through the books, managing folks and thinking about her, I headed home. On the way, I received a call from Kira.

What the fuck did she want now? I thought as I answered.

“Storie called me,” she said, and I could hear her trying to sound casual about it. “Asked if she could come stay with me this weekend. Said she needed some maternal energy… and you know I’m her Godmother. She said she has things she needs to talk to a female about.” A pause. “That okay with you? I didn’t want to say yes without checking.”

Maybe some alone time with her godmother would do her some good.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” I said. “She could use it. Y’all have a good time.”

“Good. Great.” Kira sounded pleased. Then, lighter, too light: “So how’s everything at the house? Everybody good? How’s, um. How’s the new girl working out? Skye, right?”

There it was. And it landed different than it would have a week ago, because a week ago Skye was just the woman who ran my house. Now she was the woman I’d stayed up half the night thinking about.

“House is good,” I said, and left it there.

“She seems real comfortable over there. For somebody who just started.”

“Rita loves her. Girls are taken care of. That’s what I pay her for.” I kept it short and closed the door on it. I was not about to stand on the phone and let Kira dig around in a thing that wasn’t hers to dig in. “You can grab Storie Friday afternoon. She’ll be packed.”

A beat of quiet told me she heard everything I didn’t say.

“Friday afternoon,” she agreed, cooler now. “See you then.”

I hung up and let it go. Kira was Kira. She’d get over whatever this was, same as she always did.