Moving toward the kitchen, I scrolled through my phone for Perry’s contact. When I found it, I clicked it and mashed the phone against my face, taking in the sea of children’s art that lined Greene’s refrigerator. It was then that my eyes landed on a check for twenty thousand dollars addressed to Greene with a notecard pinned above it. From what it said, I could tell it was probably from that nigga. I shook my head, feeling heat rise to the top of my head. This was typical nigga shit when a woman didn’t stick around. Nine times out of ten he was trying to reel her back in, not giving a damn about his kid.
Perry finally answered with concern etched in her tone.
“Hudson, it’s late. Are you alright?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“Then what’s up? First you drop off the face of the earth and have these people calling me like you died. Now you’re calling me in the middle of the night. Something has to be wro?—”
“Nothing is wrong. And you always know where I am, Perry. It was up to you to tell them or not.”
She laughed. “They didn’t need to know. You said you needed time, and given all you’ve been through, you deserved that much. Now I know you didn’t call to ask an old woman how she’s doing. Tell me what you need, Hudson.” Though my mother wasn’t shit, she had made one good decision when I was too young to make it myself and had gotten into some trouble. My mother hired Perry to represent me and she had been doing it ever since, even though she was halfway across the world.
“I want you to do what we talked about before I left.”
There was a brief silence on the line before she spoke again. “Are you sure? Because once we do this, there is no turning back.”
I nodded as if she could see me. “I wouldn’t dream of it. I’m where I should be. Now I want all that I’m owed behind that bullshit.”
“Okay, and if it matters, you sound better.”
“Thank you, I feel it.”
“I’ll get to working on the paperwork first thing in the morning. Hopefully they settle and don’t try to take this to court.”
“They should.” Footsteps behind me made me turn around. As angelic as the moment when I first laid eyes on her, Greene stood in the doorway, her robe tied tightly around her waist as if I hadn’t already seen every inch of her. “But, aight Perry, hit me up if you need anything leading up to that.”
“I will.”
We hung up and I slid my phone into the pocket of my shorts then leaned back against the counter.
“Are you okay?” She was in front of me seconds later, too much space between us for my liking.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
She shrugged. “I was thinking, you said you were tired of people always wanting something from you, right?”
I nodded, not knowing where she was going with this.
“Then this may not be a good idea, you staying here in Millers Pointe.”
“Why not?” Now I was extremely confused.
“Because I may fall into the category of somebody who wants and expects something from you.”
I just looked at her, about to respond, but she held her finger up for me to wait.
“I want all of you, Hudson, and I expect you to give me that.”
I smiled so fucking hard my cheeks hurt. “That shit was corny as hell, Greene with an e.”
“It has your big ass smiling, doesn’t it?”
A quick kiss later, she was moving toward the fridge. “Now do me a favor and take a bite of this cookie.” She held it over her back for me to take.
I laughed because those were the cookies Ethan had baked for Santa after we finished decorating. I accepted the cookie, took two bites, and the motherfucker was gone.Damn.
When she finished setting up, she came back for the cookie, which was already swallowed. When I shrugged, she mugged me slightly before walking back to grab another cookie from the microwave. This time, instead of asking me to take a bite, she broke a piece off. I chuckled.
