AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Whew! That feels good.”
Kemba looked back at me. “Wetakinga break!”
I shot him a thumbs up while guzzling,turning the water bottle up.
“Did you hear what I said?” Kembawalked up, pulling off his gloves, reaching into the cooler.
“I go… what?Like, finally, maybe, a year without hearing his name, and suddenly, I’ve heard his name twice in one day. What are the odds?”
“No need to snipe at me. I wasjust asking a question.” He leaned against the top of the golf cart staring down at me behind hisdark shades.
“I’m not sniping. He left me and our relationship, and—”
“Relationship?”
I cut my eyesup at him. “Yeah, relationship, and never looked back, so I don’t understand whyI would let himstop me from moving anywhere that I wanted.”
He squinted before taking a swig of his water.
“What?”
“You’re being alil’ revisionist, Quinci. Der…he asked to marry youbefore moving to New York, and you said no. So, this wasn’t just some relationship.”
“Okay, we don’t have to go down that road again. He didn’t want to live here, and I do. We could have made it work from long distance.”
“How? Ms. I’m Scared to RideAPlane.”
“Hey, it’s twenty-nineteen.People are doing unconventionalshitthese days.”
He laughed before taking another swigof water. “Like I told you before, yourmind is so much bigger than this place. You remember how creative you were in school? Andhow people always gravitated to you because of your spirit?You can make a new life anywhere, but Citrus Grove is going to always be in your heart.Plus,you don’t have to stay away forever, sheesh. Youactinglike once you leave, you’ll be banned from here.”
That made me laugh.
“I’m serious.You should take good and free opportunities whenever youareafforded them because you never know when they’ll comearound again.”
“Who knows if it’s a good opportunity anyway? Executive assistant sounds like a glorified asskisser,and you know that is not me. Because if this family business is so big, what is she doing down here in small ass CitrusGrove when she could be all the way across the world in an expensive place like… Dubai or something?”
He shook his head while pushing himself off the cart. “Come on, we got work to do, woman.”
* * *
Just as Iwassnapping on my helmet, my watched vibrated against my wrist, followed by the walkie talkie sound.
“Quinn. Can you pick up the seafood box from Sam’s? It should be ready by the time you get there.Our friends from Chicago… wait, New York wanted some of our seafood.It’s already paid for.”
I pushed the button. “Alright, Mom. I just locked up. I’ll be home in a few.”
“Alright, baby. Make sure you strap your helmet on even tighter…” She ended the page and came right back, whispering, “You know Willie Earl’s grandsons be coming here on the weekends, flying up and down that road on those four wheelers. I don’t know why they don’t stay over inFort Myers with that mess. Okay. Be safe.”
With every page I got, I realized that my dad wasright.I should have never showed my mother how to use that feature. You never knew what she was going to sayorwhen she was going to say it. Iwas going to find a way to disable it without her knowing.
I got on my moped and pulled away.
Every sunset in Citrus Grove was beautiful unless there was bad weather. Every night, the wind chill dropped to about seventy degrees. The lukewarm wind always felt good. It didn’t takelong for me to see the boys who my mom were telling me to watch out for.There were three of them zoomingtoward meon their loud four wheelers.Every weekend, they kept up that noise until the police went by and talked to Mr. Henry.We exchanged head nods as we passed each other.
Fifteen minutes later,I’d pulled into Sam’s.It was one of the best seafood places in this corner of the state. All the seafood was fresh every day. Everyweekend, people from surrounding countiestraveled to eat here. Around here, we didn’t do reservations, so it was a line out the door all the time. It was alsoon the beach, so you had a great view while you ate.
I walked inside the building, and the smell of fried fish smacked me right in the face, reminding me that I was hungry as hell. I’d skipped lunch just like my mother told me not to do.
