“I ran into his sister at the mall a few days later. Omni. She’s cool as hell. We might bring her out one night.”
“Oh, we're meeting the family now,” Sametra teased.
“It was random,” I laughed. “We were both in Le Creuset. She recognized me from the video. Next thing I know, we’re having lunch.”
“I should’ve put money on this,” Tessa said.
“You didn’t know anything,” I said, even though she kind of did.
I lifted my wrist. “And yesterday he shows up with these Ecuadorian roses and this, back where it belongs.”
They all froze.
“Halo… you said you lost that,” Winnie whispered.
“I thought I had. But he found it at his place after the fire, fixed the clasp, and brought it to me.”
“That’s sweet and all,” Winnie said, “but let me make sure I heard this right. He had security on you?”
“To keep me safe from his psycho ex-assistant,” I clarified. “Not just for fun. Oh, and don't do that with your breaking-the-code ass. Tess, this heffa told that man I was his biggest fan.”
Tessa shrugged. “Because you are.”
“That was before I knew he was stalking,” Winnie said gently. “That’s a lot.”
“I know,” I said. “But he didn’t lie. He didn’t sugarcoat anything. He told the truth and let me decide what to do with it. And I was wrong about some stuff. I thought it was messy ex-girlfriend drama. It wasn’t. It was an assistant with a history of stalking, apparently.”
“And you said yes,” Sametra said.
“I said yes to dinner,” I corrected. "Friday night. That's all I agreed to." I pointed my fork at each of them. “And I already told him, if he plays in my face, I will Taylor Schbusiness his ass. No remorse.”
Tessa spit her wine. “You said that to him?”
“Word for word.”
“What did he say?” Winnie asked.
“That he wouldn’t expect anything less from his firecracker.”
“Oh, so y'all both crazy and know it,” Winnie said.
“Probably,” I admitted. “My bigger concern is… what if it’s just the chase? What if I let myself fall, and he gets bored? I don’t have another disappearance left in me. My daddy filled that slot.”
The table quieted.
“Then you walk away,” Sametra said. “But you don’t block your own blessings before they reach you. If somebody wants you, let them show you.”
I dropped my eyes to my bracelet, thumb on the engraving.
Strength & Grace.
“Go to dinner. See what it is. If it’s nothing, it’s a meal. If it’s something, then you found something.”
I lifted my glass. “To one dinner.”
“To one dinner,” they echoed.
Glasses clinked.
