“You sound like an old lady when you say it though.”
She shrugged, finishing her first pretzel and checking the time on her phone. “We need to start heading to the car. It’s getting late, and I wanna be on time to the dinner.”
“Okay.” I wrapped up what was left of my pretzel and picked up my bags.
We started walking toward the parking garage, both of our stomachs settled now that we’d put something in them.
“Any update on when Poppa D should be coming home?”
“They said it’s looking like next month.”
“Okay. They ‘bout to free the GOAT finally. It’s been time.”
“I know, right? But girl, quiet as it’s kept, I don’t think he tryna come home with me. I think he’s making plans to move in with his boo.”
“Aunty Fawn?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Ooouuu.” She snickered. “Yo’ daddy just too cool fa me.”
“For me too.”
We made it to the car, and she popped the trunk. Placing our bags neatly inside, I stepped back and shook my head.
“Can you believe I was just in there shopping for a man? Like girl, I got a man after a whole year of swearing them off.”
She laughed. “No. Can you believe I was just in there shopping for Aura? My man, Aura.” Hitting the unlock button on her car, she walked over to the driver’s side and got in, while I made my way to the passenger side. “Not only did I buy the pajamas for Aura, but I bought him a two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar bottle of cologne. Just swiped my card like it was some shit I did on the daily. The di…” She stopped herself and looked straight ahead, starting up the car.
Leaning over, I tapped her shoulder. “Ummm, the what? I didn’t catch that last part, boo.”
“Nothing,” she said quickly, keeping her eyes on the steering wheel.
“Oh, hell naw. You definitely was about to share something, and the class is listening, babes.”
She laughed sneakily. “Well, the class needs to move onto another subject.”
“Nae, we don’t do that. You started the sentence. Go head and finish.” I sat up in my seat, refusing to snap my seatbelt until she told me something.
“I was about to say… my last dinner shift at the diner put some things into perspective.”
“You know what? Since you being all hush bout yo’ business, yet somehow always wanna know mine, I’ma let you make it. But you got ‘til this weekend to dish, heffa, or I’m never giving you my tea again.”
“Now, that’s a lie. You know you love to fill my cup. But I’m gon’ tell you about what went down wit’ me and my man soon. You just better be ready to listen and not judge.” She blew me a kiss and pulled out of the parking spot.
We’d decided to get dressed together at my place in order to save time. I was glad she suggested it because now I had a reason for Enzo to pick me up. I just wanted to cuddle up under him, while he rubbed my back and kissed my face. The man was amazing and kept finding ways to confirm that I’d made the right choice by giving him a chance. Him helping me out with KJ’s punishment put him in a new light as well.
I told my father about it, and he was all for the way I was disciplining KJ. He also mentioned that Enzo was taking the right approach in the way he had my back. He didn’t overstep, and KJ seemed to be okay with it. To me, it showed that he wasn’t trying to force his way into KJ’s life. Instead, he was going with the flow.
By the time we made it to my house, it was seven o’clock. The dinner started at 8:30, giving us little to no time to prep and get ready. I looked over at Danae once we grabbed our bags and walked onto the sidewalk.
“I know. We need to hurry up,” she said. “I just gotta jump in the shower, and it won’t take me no time to get dressed.”
“Same.”
I unlocked my door, and the smell of Pine Sol hit me immediately. That wasn’t normal unless I was doing the cleaning. Pushing the door open, we stepped inside to find KJ in the kitchen mopping. My brows lifted because KJ didn’t mop.The most he’d do was Swiffer some shit and leave the dirty pad stuck to the bottom. He glanced up once he heard us.
“Hey,” he said flatly.
