Coffee got quiet for a second.
“Khloe,” she said, giving me her comforting bestfriend voice, “you’ve been the good girl your whole life. The good daughter, the good wife, the good friend, the good everything. Words stopped working a long time ago. It’s time to show him.”
I huffed out a laugh, trying to dodge the seriousness. “I’m not trying to do all that. Then I’d have to hop in my car and drive three hours to that bougie-ass city to become one of your clients.”
She gasped dramatically. “First of all, Sankofa District is not that bougie. It’s just where more of the rich men live and a perfect home base for the firm.”
“I know.” I sighed. “I just miss you being close to help keep my mind clear.”
“I’m not saying everything Kairo does is good,” she said. “He thinks quality time is eating dinner and sharing a bed. You’ve been telling him what you needed for years. He didn’t hear you then. He won’t hear you now. So start doing more for you. Be unavailable sometimes. Not to hurt him, but to remind him what it feels like when somebody’s presence isn’t guaranteed.”
I sat there, shaking my head. “Girl, you make it sound so easy.”
She laughed. “I just want you to realize that you’ve been patient for years. Marriage doesn’t mean shit if the wife feels like an afterthought, Khlo.”
“He left before I woke up this morning,” I said, quieter this time, like I was confessing to the room instead of just her. “But he texted me saying to meet him at home for lunch.”
“Well,” she said in her business tone, “you need to make sure you are the lunch.”
The laugh that came out of me was immediate. “Girl, stop.”
“No,” she said, dragging the word out with seriousness. “I’m serious. Put on some lingerie, oil up in that Nubian Nectar Oil, and make sure you’re in that bed posed so good that he can’t resist you, even if he tried.”
I could practically see her pointing her finger through the phone.
I look at our pictures again, remembering a time when resistance was never part of our vocabulary.
I smiled. “I think that’s a good idea,” I said.
“Tuh.” She coughed playfully. “Every idea I have is good.”
“Okay, Ms. Bitch,” I teased back.
She sighed dramatically. “I’m hanging up.”
“You love me,” I reminded her.
“Yeah,” she admitted. “I do.”
“Well, let me go spice this lunch break up. I need some new lingerie. And candles. And maybe some flowers. And—”
She cut me off with a laugh. “Now you doing the most again.”
“You told me to,” I said.
“I said sexy,” she corrected. “Not Hobby Lobby.”
I smiled, shaking my head. “I miss you, Coffee.”
She softened again. “I’ll be there to visit soon. I miss you more. I’ll call you when I’m done at work. We’ll review the damages.”
I sighed, smiling. “I love you.”
“I love you more,” she said back.
I hung up the phone and let it rest face down on the desk. I could feel my cheeks warming. I thought about lunch. About how I’d walk back into the house differently today. About how I’d greet him with pussy and ass spilling everywhere. I caught myself smiling wider, then covered my face with my hand like someone could see the evidence of desire burning in my body.
I stood and grabbed my purse. “Well, Khloe… let’s go get lunch ready.”
