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Shit! I had two options. One, take them all and burn my furniture tomorrow. Or two, leave them stranded and have G cuss me out for bailing. Reluctantly, I led them out to my SUV. The blonde chick made some comment about the car seat, but G climbed in back and she quickly sat on his lap. The other one happily jumped in the front seat. When we got to my place, I pulled up to the curb instead of in the parking deck. I gave my key to G and told him to take them upstairs. I opted for option one, and G could have a great time with both of them for the night.
~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, I ate my bowl of cereal, ignoring the death glares Macy gave me. She was still pissed I showed up at her house at almost three a.m.
“You better be glad you didn’t wake London,” she commented as she sat down to feed my niece.
“Did you want me to sleep in my car?”
“I wanted you to sleep in your own place instead of leaving it occupied by that sleazy friend of yours and his hoochies.”
“Babe, it’s not that big of a deal,” Mitch interjected. “I think he was being a good friend by letting his boy get some action.”
Mitch quickly dropped his head and finished his eggs when Macy shot him the same death glare.
“You know, sis, I’m feeling mighty unwelcomed with this attitude of yours.”
“You’re plenty welcome…during decent hours.”
“Next time I’ll sleep in my car.”
“Or maybe you should tell that sleazeball he can’t be bringing his piece-of-ass back to your place. Cheap bastard…you live in a one-bedroom. He should have gotten a hotel.”
I laughed as I got up to wash out my bowl. Macy had never liked Gerald, even back in high school. She liked him even less when she found out he was the introduction to my short stint of drug use.
“Or better yet, go to your girlfriend’s house,” she added, shoveling more of that foul-smelling baby food into London’s mouth.
The thought of going to Ginger’s did cross my mind, but I wasn’t sure how she’d feel about me being there.
“You live closer,” I answered, and leaned down to kiss Macy on the head. “And I called first.”
“Whatever, jerk,” she replied, but then gave me a smile. “So…how are things going with you and Lee?”
“It’s been two days, Mace, not much has changed. But, oh, I did get the house. Brenda called yesterday to tell me.”
“Congrats, man,” Mitch said.
Macy also offered congrats, and London clapped her hands like she understood what was going on. We talked awhile about the highs and lows of homeownership. Mitch joked about the lows and some highs of having a woman come in and take over your space which got him threats of being kicked to the couch by Macy. Watching those two interact, and seeing Macy with London, I was amazed at how domesticated my baby sister had become.
“Well, thanks for the hospitality, Mitch. I think it’s time for me to go see how much damage has been done to my place and hope nothing’s stolen.”
“Mitch? Um…excuse you. I’m the one that let your ass in,” Macy said, frowning in my direction.
“Yes, yes you did, but he’s nicer.”
“Next time, I’ll leave your ass outside and call the cops,” she muttered as she picked up London. “Good riddance to you. London and I have a playdate at the zoo anyway.”
Chapter 8
Calida
The clock on my dash showed the time to be 11:20, I may have been running late, but I was still probably here before Macy. After getting Shawn strapped into his stroller, we headed toward the ticket booth at Zoo Atlanta and sure enough, Macy was nowhere to be found. I’d wanted to make this trip a little earlier in the day to beat the heat, these late July days were brutal with the humidity, but Macy thought it would be better to wait for the animals to “wake up.” Whatever that meant. The real translation was getting her and London up and out of the house prior to ten would be next to impossible, so we settled on eleven, which apparently didn’t work for either of us.
“You’re a time thief,” I said with a smile. I handed Shawn his cup, and got a toothy grin in return.
One would think that after a year and a half I would’ve learned to better manage my time, but Shawn had a talent for throwing a kink in my best laid plans. Checking my watch, I hoped Macy would arrive soon. The humidity was even worse since it had rained yesterday. I could already feel my T-shirt sticking to my back.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Macy said as she strolled toward me a few minutes later. “Blame Mal.” She gave me a quick hug.
