When I sat at the island, Aubry jogged down the stairs. Before she headed for the door, she kissed me on the side of my head and told me she would be right back.
“I hope you sprayed the bathroom with yo stankin’ self,” Gabe said with his nose turned up.
She rolled her eyes and popped him in the back of his head. “Shut up, ugly! My booboo smell like roses.”
“You wish! I don’t know why you think you perfect.”
She sucked her teeth and looked at me with a knowing expression. “Ain’t I perfect, daddy?”
I smiled and nodded. “You already know.”
She made a cute face, smiled and stuck her tongue out at Gabe. “Told you.”
“That’s why she act like that,” Gabe said, shaking his head, leaning over to show me the post about Durant on his phone.
I might not have had love from a woman… well, the woman I wanted but I had it with my kids and right now that was enough. Low key, it would be enough to last a lifetime.
CRESCENT
At the sound of my alarm going off, I turned over and grabbed my phone from my nightstand to silence it. Sitting up, I groaned, swung my legs to the side of the bed and gripped my head. It was early. Too early. 5 AM to be exact. I needed another hour or so of sleep, but I had shit to handle before I had to be at the airport.
I picked my phone up, checked a couple of emails, and scanned through my schedule. I didn’t have much on it. Just needed to finalize a couple of contracts and talk to the team before I dipped. That was easy. I just needed a cup of coffee to get me through. Last night, I stayed up later than I should have. I knew I needed to sleep but after leaving both Moms’ and Nova’s gravesites, I stayed up late as hell on the phone like I didn’t have to be up at five. In the moment, I was good with it but now, I was paying for it.
With a deep breath, I sent a good morning text, slid into my house shoes and stood up, stretching. When I walked into the bathroom, I stopped at the mirror and brushed my hand over my cheek, admiring my fresh line up. Shit was crispy. I got myself together yesterday too. Hit the barbershop and when I got back to the crib, I packed so I would be ready to go. I guess you couldsay I was like a kid on the night before the first day of school. Today though, I would be like one in a candy store. I was excited as hell about my trip. I couldn’t remember the last time I took off of work to actually enjoy myself. That was all I did for real. Worked. The trip was much needed.
After my shower, I dried off and headed into the room to get dressed. As I was sliding my white t-shirt over my head, my phone went off. Walking over to the nightstand, I picked it up. Lu.
“What up doe, sis?” I answered.
“Hey. What time are you leaving?”
“Gotta be at the airport at ten,” I paused and looked at the phone. “Why wassup?”
“I wanted to catch you before you left.” She hesitated. “I got a lunch date.”
Luna was doing alright. After moms passed it was a little rocky. Shit, it was rocky for all of us. But as expected, she took it the hardest. Had even vowed not to start a family since moms wasn’t here and wouldn’t be around to witness it.
With raised brows, I stood at the mirror, steady getting ready. “Straight? With who?”
“Mmhmm,” she hummed. “A friend.”
I adjusted my shirt. “You goin’ out with a nigga?”
I couldn’t remember the last time Luna mentioned a guy to me. Had to be years ago. She’d never been in a serious relationship which was crazy as hell considering my sister was beautiful and had her head screwed on right. She might’ve been a little high maintenance, pushy, crazy bratty, and annoying at times but she was a good woman. It didn’t make any sense to me how she’d been single for so long. Any time I would mention dating to her she’d say, ‘the dating pool has piss and shit in it’, and we’d leave it at that. I knew she had to be lonely though.Women needed intimacy. Men too, but definitely not on the same level as women.
She sighed. “Yeah. Remember the guy I told you about at the vet?”
“White dude?”
“Yes,white dude.”
“Ain’t goin out with a nigga then,” I said with a snort.
That wasn’t surprising. Luna and a white man made sense.
“Whatever. Anyway, I’m going out with him. Only as friends though.”
I wanted to tell her that despite moms being gone she would want her to continue on with her life in a healthy way. Shutting men out because she didn’t want to start a family because she thought it was ‘too late’ wasn’t really fair to herself.
