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My… woman.
Good God.
The stall beside mine creeks open. “Sure. Thanks,” comes from the woman.
Gunz pushes the outside door and the white noise from the waiting room filters in. “I’ll be back in a minute, babe, unless you wanna get your tears dried up and meet me outside. Don’t think we want another jail visit tonight.”
Right.
Right.
Of course, he’s right.
We don’t need him getting into trouble for my emotional mess.
I spread my jean-clad thighs and drop the paper in the toilet, then watch in blank fascination as the water in the bowl soaks in, turning it transparent. I breathe in and out, letting oxygen saturate my lungs just as the water does the paper. The tension in my shoulders dissipates on a harsh exhale. “Yes. Sorry. I’ll… finish up.”
“Take your time and don’t apologize. You’re allowed to feel whatever you’re feelin’.”
Is he real? I just can’t with this.
As the door comes to a close, I slap my cheeks for good measure as the woman peeing in the space beside me thumps the wall between us. “You’ve got yourself a good man.”
I do, don’t I?
Gunz may not be mine, but he is one of the good ones… for Adam’s sake at the very least. Let’s hope this visit goes well today.
“Thanks,” I reply as I right myself, flush the commode with renewed strength, and get on with this damn thing.
We’re here.
Adam has a father now and we’re about to blow this bitch wide open. There is no going back. Only forward.
As Tom Hanks says, “There’s no crying in baseball.”
Game on.
CHAPTERSEVEN
GUNZ
Kit sits her fine ass on the stationary stool in our booth as we wait on Adam to arrive.
Fuck, I’m nervous.
I stuff both hands into my front pockets and chew the inside of my lip. I had to empty these pockets before we came inside, or I’d have a Dum Dum hitching a ride in my mouth by now.
It’s been years since I’ve been inside a room like this. Sure, it’s common for brothers to be in and out of jail. I visited a few of them in my youth when they had a higher propensity of gettin’ caught. Mostly Blimp and his hornball ways. We’re smarter now. With age comes wisdom. Plus, money talks. Don’t believe anybody who tells you any different.
Not wantin’ to crowd Kit when I know she’s nervous, I stand behind her and keep my distance. There’s not much space to do that, but I’m tryin’. It’s the least I can do after I found her cryin’ in the bathroom. She hasn’t said much since. I’m all right by that as long as she doesn’t ask me to take a hike.
A line of stools flank either side of plexiglass, and old-school payphones hang on hooks to use for communication. The lighting’s dim. Too dim. A guard takes his post beside the steel door we passed through as another does the same on the convict side. The bigger of the two is with the criminals. His back’s propped against the wall, arms crossed over his chest as he waits for men to enter.
Sweat tickles down the nape of my neck before it soaks into the collar of my shirt. I ball my hands into fists inside my pockets and clench my teeth to calm the hell down.
Fuck.
It’s about time.
