“You okay?”
“Not really,” she replied softly. “I haven’t been okay since January 21st.”
“What happened on January 21st?”
She didn’t respond. I didn’t push. “How long you think you’re gonna be in Jackson Falls?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Anybody given you a tour of the town?”
“Nah. This is like, the second time I’ve been out of the house since I’ve been here.”
“How long have you been here?”
“About a week.”
I shook my head. “And you haven’t been nowhere? I gotta get you out.”
“Uhm, no you don’t. When I’m ready for a tour, I’ll let my mom or my sisters know. They’ve got me. They’ll make sure I know where everything is.”
“Well, now you have three brothers-in-law . . . and a step daddy.”
She laughed, the lifting of her cheeks lighting up her entire face.
“You have more people in your corner than you know. Be ready at ten tomorrow morning. I’mma grab you and we’re gonna make some noise in Jackson Falls.”
“Why?”
I stared at her momentarily. “You look like you need to think about something other than what you’ve been thinking about.”
“No, thank you.”
“That wasn’t a request. I said what I said. Be ready at ten.”
I wasn’t even surprisedthat Bailey wasn’t ready when I got to the house. She struck me as the stubborn type. I wasn’t necessarily the patient type, but I figured I would let her make it, since it was obvious that she was going through a thing.
Perkins opened the door for me, and after we exchanged greetings, I spotted Bailey on the sofa in her bathrobe. “Quit playing with me,” I told her before taking a seat next to her.
“Ain’t nobody playing but you, uhm, which one are you again?”
Perkins laughed aloud. “This girl is hell, Bright. You sure you wanna be bothered?”
“Yeah.” I pulled out my phone and texted Bayliss. “I wanna be bothered.”
Me:Big Bro, have your girl call her daughter that just moved here. I’m trying to take shorty out and give her a tour of Jackson Falls. She’s tripping and giving me a major hard time.
Bay:You’re not trying to fuck on my step-daughter, are you?
Me:Be for real. I’m trying to be a good brother-in-law. I got about five minutes worth of patience left.
Before his nexttext came through, Bailey’s phone rang. She checked the screen. “Which one of y’all is a snitch?” She mean-mugged both me and Perkins. “I don’t care what my mama says, I still ain’t going.” She stood from the sofa and left the living room.
“She’s going,” Perkins assured me.
About forty minutes later, Bailey and I were seated across from one another at Butterscotch Café.
I shoveled a forkful or pancakes into my mouth, chewed, and swallowed. “I hope you don’t think that you sitting here not talking is doing something to me. It ain’t. I’m the youngest offour brothers, sweetheart. If there’s one thing I’ve been in life, it’s ignored.”
