“Yeah, man, I’m straight. Where you tryna eat at?”
“I don’t know, but I have a taste for some seafood. I’m tired of the Boiler and The Keg though.”
“Shit, Red Lobster is played out, too.”
“I agree. What about Pappadeaux or B. C’s?” he asked, and it was hard choosing between the two.
“I’m cool with either one. B. C’s is closer than Pappadeaux, and the traffic to get out west can be brutal.”
“That is true. I’m not trying to get caught up in all that airport traffic trying to make it out west.”
“Then B.C.’s it is,” I replied.
“Okay, bet. Let’s ride,” Tate said as I sat back in the seat as the sounds of The Notorious B.I.G’s,Sky’s The Limitblared through the car speakers.
I really wasn’t up to going out, but since Tate suggested it and I was trying to stay in his good graces, I agreed… plus, I was hungry. Receiving those divorce papers really made things real. I needed to find a way to get Ava’s attention so that she would be open to us at least being friends if nothing else. I felt that if I could get her to forgive me and we became friends it would help make what happened between us a little more tolerable for me. One thing that I was not okay with was the fact that she had moved on so quickly. That was what was really nagging at me. But I didn’t want to bring that up to Tate. I knew that he wouldn’t side with me on that.
Thirty minutes later, Tate pulled into Bob Chinn’s. I instantly got excited because it had been a minute since I’d eaten there. When we pulled into the valet parking lane, the smell of seafood permeated the air causing my stomach to start growling. Gettingready to get out of the car, I noticed that there was a long line of people waiting.
“This is the only thing about this damn place that I don’t like. The wait time is always long!”
“I agree. But they have a waiting area with a bar now. We can head inside and wait in there. I figured we can get a shot or a beer,” Tate suggested.
“That sounds good. I could use both actually.”
Following Tate inside, he stopped at the hostess stand to add our names to the waiting list for the dining area, then we went to the bar. We both ordered a shot of Patron and two Heinekens. The hostess said that the wait was only fifteen minutes, so I checked the time on my watch and saw that it was a little past eight-fifteen.
“Yeah man, you gon’ be all good, bro,” Tate said, taking his shot to the head, as we both stood off to the side. He was facing the area where people were eating, and I was facing the outside window.
“I know I will. I just can’t shake the guilt I have over Ava. I owe her an apology if nothing else,” I responded downing my shot.
“I get it, but you probably gon’ have to give her time to get over it first. That was a lot to have to take in. I know it was for me, so I can only imagine how she must be feeling. Plus, you know how women can be. I know that girl loved the hell out of you if she didn’t do anything else. She put up with a lot of shit from you and stayed in your corner through the good, bad, and ugly. So, you gon’ have to understand that she needs time for it all to sink in. So, you don’t know if she hasitor not?” Tate paused and gave me a certain look.
I knew what that look meant and what ‘it’ meant. He was referring to my virus but didn’t want to announce it in a room full of strangers. It was a look that I had become very familiarwith because he’d use it often when referencing it. I guess it was his way of respecting my privacy.
“I have no idea. She hasn’t told me one way or the other. You were there when she presented the whole thing to me. She never said anything. Every time I try to talk to her, she never answers. And when I went to talk to her the other day, she had a nigga answering her door, so who even knows?”
“Wow!”
“I know. I pray she doesn’t have it. She doesn’t deserve for that to happen to her. All I know is she up and left me, moved out, divorced me, and got a new place,” I said as I sulked.
“How do you know she got a new place?” Tate asked.
“When I went by her sister’s house, one of the neighbors told me she moved. She moved into a townhouse a few houses down from where her sister lives.”
“Good for her. Just give her time. You don’t know if she is seeing someone else, just because a dude was at her house didn’t mean they were shacking up. You know how Ava is.”
“I’m telling you what I saw with my own two eyes.”
“What exactly did you see though? That could have been a family member or friend helping her move.”
“For as long as I have known her, if she was that close to a male family member or friend, I would have known him. He wasn’t at our wedding so that’s how I know he’s someone new in her life. Plus, the nigga referred to her as his lady. I wanted to beat his ass right where he stood. If it wouldn’t have been for my damn hip…”
“You probably shouldn’t jump to any conclusions. You do know that you really can’t have a say in what she does now, right? Speaking of your hip, where is your cane?”
“I don’t need it anymore. I’m sick of walking around looking like a senior citizen with that cane. I was pissed because our divorce wasn’t final then. I have every right to be pissed.”
“Really, bro, you really didn’t, but I don’t want to go there ‘cause you gon’ get all in your feelings again.”
