I shook my head, trying to play it cool. I didn’t discuss my business too much, and both Rico and James knew that. “Noa’s cool people. I was just doing my job. Y’all can chill,” I offered, hoping that would dead the conversation, but it only fueled it.
“Shit…” Rico dragged the word out. “You don’t act like that at any other house. You don’t be sniffin’ up under Ms. Beverly like that,” he said, referring to one of our other disabled clients.
“Ms. Beverly is eighty-four and has dementia,” I pointed out.
“Exactly,” James muttered.
“Y’all wild,” I said, chuckling.
“Nah, you wild,” Rico said, grinning widely. “Look, Noa bad as fuck, I’ll give you that. But she is a client, bro. And she… you know… disabled. Ain’t she paralyzed or some shit?”
I side-eyed him for two reasons. Rico’s ho ass flirted with every beautiful woman in a two-foot radius, so I knew he was calling me out, and I couldn’t for the life of me understand what Noa being disabled had to do with her beauty.
“Noa’s not paralyzed. She got lupus.”
“Same difference,” he mumbled. “She still in a chair.”
“Yo’ point?”
James leaned forward. “Point is… that’s different, Q. That ain’t regular shit.”
“Man, look. If Q wanna get his Meals on Wheels on, that’s his business.”
I gripped the steering wheel tighter. The old Quade would have slammed his face into the dashboard for that disrespectful ass comment. He was lucky I had healed and considered his ass a friend.
“Same way you hit those no-brain ass girls,” I said, voice calm. “Carefully. And with consent.”
James let out a loud, “Damn!”
Rico threw his hands up, laughing. “Okay, okay! Shit. My bad.”
“Nah,” I said, making sure he heard the seriousness in my voice. “What you not gon’ do is talk about her like she some punchline.”
They got quiet.
“That woman has been through more than we know, and she still got her chin high. Still soft. Still sweet. Still fine as hell.”
Rico leaned back against the window. He ain’t have much to say now.
“A wheelchair doesn’t make her less of a woman,” I added. “Don’t disrespect her like that.”
“Oh shit, you feeling shawty for real?” I could feel Rico staring at the side of my face, but I didn’t look. I was feeling Noa—a little too much. I’d told myself before that I wasn’t ina position to want anybody, especially not her. I had too much baggage, but being around Noa made it really hard to remember all the reasons I wasn’t supposed to want her.
“Real shit, I admire that woman,” I admitted for the first time out loud. “She strong. She funny. She got this sharp tongue, but it doesn’t come out unless it needs to. She makes me forget half the bullshit I got goin’ on. That chair?” I shook my head. “That don’t take nothin’ from her. If anything, it makes me respect her more.”
“You preaching, bro!” James called out.
“Boy writing his vows already.” Rico laughed.
“Y’all stupid.” I waved them off. “Y’all done?”
“Yeah, man. But real talk… You sure you wanna take that on?” Rico straightened up.
“Ain’t taking nothin’ on right now, just admiring her. That’s all.”
“Mmhmm, you just admiring her, huh? Bet.” James nodded his head.
“Yeah. Alright,” Rico said, and they both laughed like they already knew where this thing with Noa and me was headed. Hell, maybe they did. I didn’t argue. I just kept my hands on the wheel, eyes straight ahead. As much as I wanted to, I had no intention of acting on my feelings for Noa. I was just admiring her, but that admiration? It was getting real hard to contain.
