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“I hope so,” our father replied. “Hopefully, starting with how your mother is doing.”
“Ah, man,” Jude palmed his face as I chuckled.
It was about to be a long afternoon.
Chapter Nineteen
NYX
“You know, I’ve been trying to be patient and wait for you to tell me what’s happening between you and my friend,” Ximena said, capturing my attention. Glancing up from my phone, I hitched an eyebrow. “But you’re taking entirely too long, and that smile on your face has me dying for details. It’s also the reason why I’m not complaining about you leaving me to handle all this work.”
“Girl,” I giggled, slipping my phone into my back pocket. “If you don’t leave me alone. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Right, who were you texting again?”
“My friend, Raelynn,” I lied quickly. Jamie had had my undivided attention for the past thirty minutes, and had Ximena not said anything, it would have continued. We were supposed to be having our first official date later that evening, and I’d been trying to worm the details from him about what we were supposed to be doing.
I didn’t blame her, though. Had I not been distracted; we would have had most of our closing list done already. Once the last gaggle of customers was out of the door, we’d be clear.
I wasn’t scheduled for two days, and I couldn’t wait to spend them at home, writing or wrapped up in one of my favorite shows.
“Yeah, okay, tell me anything,” she snickered. “As nosey as I want to be, I won’t pry. It’s hard because I’m so freakin’ excited. The two of you deserve to win, and it’s so dope to get to see it happen with each other.”
“I wouldn’t say that we’ve won,” I sighed, not wanting to get ahead of myself and make more out of things than they were. “But it’s definitely nice to have him around. He’s a breath of fresh air.”
“Oooooh girl, you blushing,” she teased, keeping her voice low so we wouldn’t be overheard.
“Excuse me,” one of the girls at the end of the bar called, interrupting us.
Nervousness crept through me. I hoped it wasn’t about to be one of those situations of her coming to me as a woman. We’d already done the last call and closed out their tab. I couldn’t think of another reason for her to want my attention.
“Sorry, we don’t mean to hold you guys up. I only wanted to ask a question before I left. Were you at the Buzzing Beans over in Hawk’s Ridge not too long ago?”
“Yes,” I answered hesitantly. “I was. I did a spoken word event.”
“See!” she practically shouted at the other girl she was with. “I told you it was her.” Directing her attention back to me, she beamed. “Your segment was really dope. How long have you been writing?”
“A while,” I shrugged, “More than a decade now.”
“Have you thought about going further with it? My friends and I love things like this and for a while, we’ve been debating on whether to create a space for people to do this regularly. We just don’t have enough help to keep up with it. Would that be something you’re interested in?”
“Hell yes,” I all but blurted.
“Perfect, I’ll shoot you my info before we leave and hit you up early next week.”
“No problem.”
“Ooooh girl,” Ximena murmured, bumping my shoulder with hers. “This is exciting!”
“You have no idea.”
Although I wasn’t trying to get my hopes up, I was sure I was beaming. I’d taken so many losses recently that I couldn’t help but be excited that things finally seemed to be turning in my favor. They were tiny steps, but even the smallest ones counted.
“I know you’ve been having a rough time of it lately, but it’s good to see you wearing a genuine smile again, Nyx. I hope it stays.”
“Thanks, Mena,” I grinned. “I have a feeling it just might.”
Applying the last of my make-up, I quickly admired myself in the mirror. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d poured effort into making myself feel beautiful. And I certainly couldn’t recall the last time I’d been so excited to leave the house. Slowly but surely, Jamie was helping me return to a modernized version of my older self. The woman I was before allowing Shane to come along and break me down.
