AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I miss you, too.”
Silence coated the line. It admitted things that Makai wasn’t. Exhaustion was weakening his resolve and it was impossible to shake it off.
“Baby,” I sighed, wishing I was right next to him.
The shift change he’d suggested months ago resurfaced in my head. I was almost ready to make the switch. My hesitancy was a result of thoughts that pertained to the ease of navigation through days that I was on schedule.
My days were still incredibly productive. Not sleeping past noon gave me plenty of time to enjoy the rest of my day or handle any business necessary because everything was still open.
Working from seven in the morning until seven in the evening meant that I’d clock in before everything opened and after everything closed, leaving my off days as the only option to handle business. I didn’t like the idea. However, now that Makai was in my world, nights without him felt much more torturous than giving my entire day away three times a week.
“Yeah. Yeah. I’m up, baby. I hear you.”
“I haven’t said anything.” He was hilarious, even when he wasn’t trying to be.
“Oh. What’s up, though, Mommas? How has your shift been going?”
“Baby, you’ve asked that question already.”
The quietness gripped my body, wrapping it tightly in Makai’s web. My smile widened as my head switched from one side to the other.
“Goodnight, baby,” I whispered, ending the call.
Makai’s level of comfort in my space offered me a version of peace that left me feeling fuzzy all over. I opened the group thread, finding a slew of messages I’d missed in my absence. Because the notifications were silenced, they hadn’t shown up in the center either.
I hadn’t had much time to process the previous night. Discovering Nelson was a part of Makai’s world was unexpected. Having them meet was never on my bingo card. And last, predicting Makai’s response was impossible.
We never discussed my previous relationship. If it was left up to Makai, he’d claim to be the first man I ever dated. His delusion was the cutest, but encounters like the one we had last night were painful reminders that he wasn’t.
Hi, ladies. Anyone awake?
Though there wasn’t much to dwell on about the situation, there were a few lingering thoughts that I needed to get out of my head. I’d come to the perfect place. A group full of listening, nonjudgmental women that I’d grown to love and cherish over the last few months.
Hardly a few seconds passed before my phone vibrated in my hand. Kleu was calling. I opened the bag of chips as I swiped across the screen. Once it was situated between my shoulder and ear, I unscrewed the cap on the bottle of water.
“Hello?”
“Hey, what’s up? All the old women are asleep. It’s just us. I’m cleaning so my fingers aren’t available.”
“At this time of night?”
Kleu’s insomnia was a frequent topic between us because she was always the only member of the group chat who was awake well into my shift.
“I used to be sliding down a pole at this hour. Forgive me for playing pretend in my head, watching all the money I’m no longer seeing nightly fall onto the floor beneath me.”
“I think that mentioning this to your doctor will be beneficial.”
“I’m all right. I’ve been a night owl since I was a child. My internal clock isn’t the same as the rest of the world’s and I’m okay with that.”
“Okay. You’re right. It’s not different from me choosing the overnight shift, huh?”
“Not at all. Some of us are just wired differently. Now, what’s up?”
“Wellllll,” I paused. “Makai and I ran into my ex-boyfriend last night.”
“Oh shit. Let me put this mop down. Say what now?” She chuckled. “Say when, say who, say how?”
“Makai brought me along with him for dinner. It was date night for us. I’m assuming he decided to kill two birds with one stone. I don’t know. Nelson was a guest at dinner.”
