He was quiet for a second, then: “I’ma take Yusef to school this morning.”
I sat up, clutching the sheet to my chest. “You sure? I can?—”
“Nah, I got it. Me and lil man need to chop it up anyway. Make sure his head is right before he walks into that building.” He sat up too, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, and I tried real hard not to stare at the way his back muscles moved. This was not the time, Zainab. Focus. “You good here?”
Before I could answer, my phone buzzed on the nightstand. It was Cookie from Grits.
I hadn’t talked to her since before the parole hearing. Before my whole life exploded in that prison hallway. The thought of going back to that diner and pretending like everything was normal made me want to crawl under these expensive-ass sheets and never come out.
But I answered anyway.
“Hello?”
“Z! Girl, thank God you picked up.” Cookie sounded like she was two seconds from a nervous breakdown. “I know it’s your day off but I’m in a bind. Tasha called out, Maria’s kid got the flu, and I got a full house with only one person to work the floor. Can you come in? Just for a few hours? Please, girl, I’m begging.”
I closed my eyes. The absolute last thing I wanted to do was put on that ugly uniform and serve waffles to people who wasn’t gonna tip me right anyway.
But Cookie had always been good to me. One of the few people at that job who actually treated me like a human beingand not just the help. And disappearing completely right after Larry went missing? That would look real suspicious.
“Yeah,” I heard myself say. “I can come in.”
“Oh, thank you, thank you, THANK you! I owe you so big, Z. I’ll see you in an hour?”
“I’ll be there.”
I hung up and Prime was watching me with one eyebrow raised.
“Work?” he asked.
“Cookie’s short staffed. Needs help.”
He nodded slowly, that calculating look on his face. “Aight. But listen—after today, I want you to cut back. Go part time. Tell them you’re focusing on your business, Sweet Zin is taking off, whatever you gotta say. Don’t quit right away—not after Larry just disappeared—but start pulling back.”
“And then?”
“And then in a month or so, you put in your notice. You don’t need that job no more. Not with the kitchen I gave you. Not with what we’re building.”
What we’re building.
He said it so casual. Like it was obvious. Like we was partners in this life, not just two people who’d stumbled into each other’s chaos and somehow decided to stay.
This man was going to ruin me. In the best way possible.
“Okay,” I said quietly. “Part time. Then quit.”
“That’s my girl.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead, all soft and sweet, and I had to actively fight the urge to pull him back into this bed and forget about responsibilities altogether. “Now go get ready. I’ll make sure Yusef is up and fed before I take him.”
An hour later,I was standing outside Grits like it had personally wronged me.
The morning sun was already too bright, the smell of bacon and burnt coffee drifting out every time somebody walked in or out. Same cracked sidewalk I’d been stepping over for two years. Same faded sign that Larry was too cheap to replace. Same everything.
But I was different now.
Funny how almost dying a few times and revealing your secret identity will do that to a person.
I took a deep breath, fixed my face, and pushed through the door.
The breakfast rush was in full swing—every booth packed, the counter full of regulars, and Cookie running around looking like she was about to lose her whole mind. She spotted me immediately and damn near sprinted over.
