“You don’t owe anyone a destroyed version of yourself either,” she said. “But let me tell you something—if you don’t figure this out and chill, this can turn ugly.”
“How?”
“You think men don’t have egos? You think Stacks gon’ keep playing a side role forever if he’s catching real feelings? You think Kairo won’t feel the shift eventually? You’re juggling fire, Khloe. And fire doesn’t care how good your intentions are.”
My chest tightened.
“You gotta decide what you actually want,” she continued. “Not what feels good today. Not what strokes your ego. Not what fills a temporary void. What do you want long term?”
I didn’t answer because I didn’t know.
“You asked for a spark in your marriage,” Coffee said. “You got one. It just came from somewhere else. Now you gotta ask yourself if you’re trying to light a candle… or burn your whole house down.”
“You made a mess,” she said bluntly. “And grown women clean up their own messes. So figure out if you’re staying married and cutting this off… or if you’re walking away and doing it the right way. But this middle shit never ends cute. Trust me. As a divorce attorney, I’ve seen it all.”
I pulled into the house driveway and put the car in park.
“Well I’m home,” I said quietly. “The party coordinator’s inside. I’m already an hour late.”
Coffee sighed. “Go handle your business. And Khloe?”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t wait until everything explodes to decide.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
I ran into the house with the front door shutting hard behind me.
“Where is she?” I asked before I even sat down my purse.
Kairo was sitting at the dining table scrolling on his phone. He looked up slowly, annoyance on his face.
“You just missed her,” he said. “The meeting was only thirty minutes long. She stayed trying to wait on you, but she had to get to the venue to make sure things were how you wanted.”
Damn.
I glanced around like she might magically reappear. “Well… what did she say?”
He reached for a notebook on the table, flipping it open. He had actually been taking notes.
“The caterer is booked. The DJ is booked with a list of special songs from Kennedi. The fireworks she wanted were approved by the venue owners.” He squinted at the page. “She mentioned something about the bartender being booked too, but I couldn’t remember her name.”
“Oh yeah,” I said quickly. “That’s Ty’s girlfriend’s best friend.”
He blinked. “Wait. Niv’s best friend Ty?”
“Yes.”
He leaned back in his chair. “Since when does Ty like women?”
I shrugged casually. “Since she got a girlfriend. But yeah, her girlfriend’s best friend is a bartender. I met her one night with the girls.”
“Oh.” He nodded slowly. “Okay. Cool.”
He closed the notebook.
