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Quinci Everly
I’d thrownwhat little things I had in a bag, so my parents could drive me to the jet strip. I couldn’t wait to get back to New York so I could see Dymon and hug him tightly. He and I talked for most of last night—until he could barely hold his eyes open. I let him vent about all the shit he had to fix in one day that Declan fucked up in just two short weeks. I knew he would go back, but I at least thought I had him until the end of the year, when I’d probably be sick of walking around his house, staring upside his head.
After I was done getting my things together, I left the room to see my parents sitting at the dining room table. I hadn’t really talked to them since I found out that they were, in fact, selling the land. That next morning, they left me alone, but my mother put me a plate of breakfast outside my door. One thing I loved about my parents was that they gave me space whenever I was angry.
“Good morning, Quinn. Are you talking to us now?” my mom asked.
My plate was already in my spot, so I eased in the seat. “Yes. Yes, I’m talking to you now. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have blown up at you two like that. It’s just…it’s just that I hate to see that everything you, Dad, and your dad, and his dad, and so on and so forth, have built, get thrown down the drain. They are not going to want to keep that grove up. The minute it’s sold, they are going to dig those trees up. I didn’t want that. I don’t want that. Here’s what I can do.”
“No,” my dad said sternly. “That is precisely why we didn’t tell you. You would try to fix it. We don’t need it fixed anymore, sweetheart. It is what it is.”
“It is what it is? That’s all you have to say to that?”
“Yes. Because at this moment, there isn’t anything that we can do about it. Your mother and I did what we could.”
“Mom. Dad. I can ask Mr.—”
“No.” He pointed his finger. “No. Absolutely not.”
“Dad, he’ll do anything for me and to make me happy. If you guys needed anything, he’d do it.”
“I am well aware, but…” He looked at my mom and then back at me. “Baby, it’s already sold.”
“What!”
“That’s what I been trying to avoid telling you. The bank won’t tell us who bought it. It was actually sold a couple of weeks ago. And that’s what I was asking the young man the other day, and he reassured me that he didn’t purchase it and told me that if you wanted him to buy it, then he would.”
Tears slipped down my face rapidly. “Geez, Dad. I wish you all would have been told me.”
“Baby, that’s why I wanted you to go to New York. I wanted you to have some experience outside of Citrus Grove. And you’ve gotten it. You’re happy. And you’re in love. He loves you back. That’s all me and your father could’ve ever wanted for you. Not being here. You’re much bigger than here. I hope you understand.”
What they were saying was along the lines of what Dymon was saying to me last night on the phone. He didn’t want me to be mad at them, and I wasn’t. I was just slightly disappointed. They knew how much I hated secrets being kept from me.
“I understand. I do. Well, promise me that you’ll tell me if you’re getting ready to lose the houses.”
“That’s way far off, but we won’t be keeping anymore secrets from you.”
“Good. Thank you. That makes me feel so much better.”
“Knock. Knock. Good morning,” Kemba greeted, walking around the corner.
“Hey, friend.”
“You ready?”
He reached for a piece of bacon off my plate, stuffing it in his mouth. I was sad that he wasn’t in town to meet Dymon. I knew they would’ve really hit it off. Dymon was also looking forward to meeting the man I talked to more than once a day.
“I am. My things are in the room by the stairs.”
When Kemba came back with my things, my parents and I stood at the same time.
“So, do we promise not to keep secrets from each other, so a crazed man won’t come in here, alleging that my baby is getting beat?”
“I promise,” I agreed through tight lips.
I would never be comfortable talking about my lifestyle with my mother, no matter how close we were. My parents walked me outside, and we all hugged tightly.
“I love you, kiddo.” My dad kissed my forehead. He stared at me for a few moments.
