First ring, he answers. “Everything good, Ms. Lizzie?” Nickoi asks, casual, calm. I hear the murmur of voices in the background, his boys, laughing, talking low.
“It’s not Lizzie. It’s me,” I say, heart hammering against my ribs.
There’s a silence that stretches too long. Too pointed. “Why yuh not answering when mi call?” I ask softly.
Still nothing. Mi allow him fi get over the shock.
I wait a beat, then keep going. “I’m sorry… and mi cyaa bother with this silent treatment thing weh you a—”
Click.
He hangs up. Just like that. The silence that follows is loud. Louder than anything he could’ve said. Shame slides down my spine, especially with Lizzie sitting right there, pretending like she never heard a thing. Jesus.
So this is how he felt? That sting, that humiliation… I feel it now. Deep. Sudden. Unforgiving. And worse? He’s not just any man. He’s their Don. And I disrespected him in front of his crew. My stomach twists.
“A the credit done?” Lizzie asks gently.No, enuh. A Nickoi hang up inna mi ears.
“Mi nuh sure,” I say, trying to soften the moment. She doesn’t say anything. She doesn’t need to. Nickoi just handed me a taste of my own damn medicine. I sigh and nudge a piece of broccoli around the plate.
“Mi have two daughters,” Lizzie says suddenly, maybe trying to distract me.
I glance at her, grateful for the switch in topic. “Yeah? How old?”
“The big one is 26, and the younger one just turn 14,” she replies, pride warming her voice.
“That’s nice, man.” She nods, but her face dims a bit. “Dem nuh live with me anymore. Dem father have dem in Barbados.”
“Eeeh? Him come from Barbados?”
“Yeah,” she says, her tone lighter again. “Mi just decide fi mek him take them. Mi couldn’t manage everything here by mi self.”
“You still close with them?” I ask softly.
“Yeah, man,” she smiles. “Mi big daughter always check in, always a mek sure mi good.”
I smile with her. “She visit?”
“Dem coming Christmas,” she says, and her whole face lights up. I nod, trying to feel that joy too.
***
An hour slides by in a blur of music and low conversation. Lizzie grabs her bag, sliding her phone into the front pocket with a sigh. “Mi nuh live far from yah, enuh,” she says, her lips twisting. “Just nuh live in this neighborhood though.”
I walk her out. The air is cool now, the kind of cool that settles on your skin and makes you miss warm hands. “Come early tomorrow,” I say, standing close. “Mi wah you help mi pick something.”
She nods, half-distracted. “Alright, hun.”
A car creeps around the corner, headlights flickering over the gate. Lizzie’s face lights up like Christmas morning. “See me driver deh come,” she grins, already pulling the door open before the car even stops properly.
The man inside nods politely. She slides in like it’s muscle memory, waves once with her fingers out the window, and they’re gone, just like that.
“Good night,” I whisper to no one.
The gate clicks shut behind me. I walk back inside, the silence suddenly louder than before. I grab my water, chug it like it’s going to save me, then unlock my phone with shaky fingers. Results. The screen loads. My heart stutters. Then I gasp. Loud. Ugly. Real. The scream tumbles out of me like it’s been waiting in my chest all week.
“Mi pass! Oh God mi pass everything!”
Pretty bright girl right through,the voice in my head whispers, giddy and smug.
