“A few flicks and that’s it. I’m hungry.”
“Girl, you don’t want to talk about hungry, and I’m starving five minutes after I eat. Come on and stop fussing. Tonight, we're just going with the flow.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m going to stop and enjoy myself. Come on, girl.”
I put on one last swipe of lipstick, tossed it into my purse, and got out of the car. I made sure, on our walk up to the front entrance, to text my mama and check on my baby. Everybody talks about velcro babies, but nobody ever mentions velcro moms, because every time I’m away from her, even when I know she’s fine, this feeling of dread creeps into my chest. She’s a part of the reason I don’t care to go out, because babies can’t come into the clubs.
Ciara paid for our admission to get inside the garden, and we started down the path where the artwork was displayed. We held hands the whole time, until she let mine go and stopped walking all of a sudden.
“What are you doing, Ci? Are you okay? Is it your water?”
“No girl, I’m good. You just need to walk around this corner ahead of me, and I’ll fall back.”
“What do you mean, walk ahead of you? Let’s walk together.”
“No, you go first, best friend. Trust me. Don’t you trust me?” Ciara seemed choked up as she held her hand across her chest.
“Of course, I trust you, Ciara.”
“Well then, go. Walk that way, P.”
“Okay, I’m going, I’m going.”
I walked ahead of her, still confused, but my friend was right, and I did trust her with my whole heart.
The first thing I noticed when I turned around the corner was the bouquets of flowers lining the pathway, one after another, pulling me even further in a way.
“Is this for me? Did you do this for me, Ciara?”
“It is definitely for you, but I didn’t do it. Just keep walking.”
I listened to her, following the path until I reached the end, where lights glowed so bright the figure at the end of the pathway looked like just a shadow until I focused in.
“Oh my God! Are you serious!” I screeched seeing that it was Crew standing there with a white linen suit on, a pair of gold framed glasses, and a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
I covered my mouth as I tried to catch my breath because my heart was racing while my mind struggled to catch up with what my eyes were seeing.
“Crew, what the hell?”
I walked toward him, still half convinced I was dreaming.
“What are you doing here? Did you escape?”
He chuckled as he took me into his arms, chains glistening and he smelled so damn good.
“Nah, I didn’t escape Pretty P. I didn’t want you to know in case shit didn’t work out, but months ago, the prosecutor on my case was caught being dirty and all his cases from the past couple of years got overturned. His court cases, witnesses, andeverything came back fraudulent, so the state was forced to drop my case and conviction.”
“Baby, what! How long have you been out?”
“Two days, but I knew your birthday was coming up, and I wanted to surprise you today.”
“Fuck a surprise, I would’ve taken seeing you any day of the year?”
I playfully punched him in the chest.
“Well, I am going to make it up to you, trust me. It’s been killing me being out and not being with y’all, and now I’m ready to see that bad baby y’all keep lying about. I know my baby is an angel.”
“She is, but she still has her bad moments. She’s so fuckin cute, though, Crew, but she gets it from someone I know.”
