Her face still looked guarded, and I wasn’t sure if maybe she was still upset or if there was something else on her mind. I instinctively stretched out my arms to hug her but then realized maybe that was weird.
“Sorry, I’m used to giving a hug whenever Jae or my sisters and I fight. Do you mind?”
Her eyes searched mine for a moment before she shook her head. I gently pulled her body towards mine, wrapping my arms around her shoulders and upper back. She wasn’t much shorter than me, and it felt easy molding my body against hers.
I could tell Shiloh wasn’t much of a hugger because she awkwardly patted my back. I let out a soft chuckle into her damp hair.
“We’ll work on your hugging skills too,” I teased.
She huffed out what I would consider to be a laugh against my shoulder, and I pulled away. Without another word she turned and left, leaving behind the scent of cologne.
Why was she wearing cologne? It wasn’t bad, a little more smokey than anything I wore, just definitely wasn’t expecting her to smell like that. I swore she got more unpredictable the more I got to know her.
I pulled out my phone from my bag to text Jae about Shiloh’s visit and her plans to return.Oh shit, she must be wearing her boyfriend’s clothes.I dismissed the intrusive thoughts and decided to message my dad as well. I saw that he read my text almost immediately and waited a moment to see if he would reply. I opened Instagram when he didn’t and was scrolling when my phone started to ring.
“Hey, Dad,” I answered.
“Hey, you got a second to talk?” he asked with a serious tone of voice.
“Yeah,” I said hesitantly. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I, um, I just saw your text about Shiloh. I’m glad you guys cleared the air.”
“Yeah,” I nodded to myself.
There was a pause of silence.
“Dad?”
“Yeah, I’m here. Sorry. I,” he cleared his throat and sighed. “Look, I don’t want you to repeat any of this, Enoch, okay?”
“Yeah, okay. What’s going on?” I asked with more urgency than before.What the hell is wrong?
“Your aunt called this morning,” he stated. I scrunched up my face trying to understand why that would be important. “I guess she drove Shiloh home last night and—”
“Yeah, she didn’t want me to drive her,” I interrupted.
“Right. Well, I want y’all to hang out here at our house. Remember what I said last night?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Sometimes people act the way they do because they don’t know otherwise. And sometimes it’s a defense mechanism.”
He hummed in response and cleared his throat again.
“What’s going on, Dad? Why are you telling me this?” I insisted.
“I get the impression she might not have the best home life. I know you’ve said she’s a little standoffish but just give her some grace. We don’t know what other people are going through.”
“Okay. I mean, I wasn’t going to give up that easily on her. She’s coming tonight to watch the fight at the gym,” I explained with a smile, excited to see her again.
“Oh, good. Mom and Esty should be there tonight too. I’ve got work tonight, but I’m off tomorrow. Maybe we—oh, hold on, I’m getting another call. I’ll talk to you later. Love you,” he finished before the line went silent.
I pulled the phone away, realizing the call had ended and let out a sigh, rubbing the back of my neck.
What the hell happened last night that Auntie wanted to call my dad? Is Shiloh homeless or something?
I recalled the events of last night, my mind yearning to overthink and uncover who Shiloh was.
“There you are!”
