She shakes her head.
“He always said that as a man, my job was to protect you. I don’t ever remember him singing to me as a baby or telling me he loved me, but I remember him explaining to me how fragile you were. Why you always think I let you beat me up?”
Her lips curve up, and she glances down.
“If I wouldn’t even let the man you came from raise his hand to you, then why would I let some boy do it? I’ll never regret protecting you, and if you hate me for that, I’m okay with it,” I murmur. “So am I still just like Senior?”
She folds her lips under her teeth. “I don’t think you ever were.”
We stare at the fog coating my windshield and the raindrops racing through it. My phone vibrates in my pocket.
I can feel that it’s Slim without looking at it, just like I can hear her when she’s not with me. It’s the hardest part of the day. It’s that time when her head starts spinning and I try to predict how many more days she can chase me before she gives up.
Arnez cuts her eyes toward my phone glowing inside my pocket. “It’s her, huh?”
“It’s just a text. She just checking on me,” I choke. “I made her go home with Faye on Sunday after you left. So…so we’re good.”
“Who’s good? Me and you or you and her?”
My throat constricts. “Me and you.”
My phone vibrates again.
“Maybe you should check it,” Arnez mutters.
“It’s…it’s nothing. Eventually she’ll fall asleep.”
“You can always just block?—”
“I said she’ll fall asleep soon.”
She holds her hands up as if she’s surrendering. “Okay. I’m just saying if the texts are getting out of hand, I can help you make them stop like I did with?—”
“Ain’t no need for that. Just let her get it out.”
I drop my head against the headrest and stare at the raindrops on the windshield while my phone buzzes again.
“Pup…” Arnez whispers.
“I said, leave her alone.”
“But you’re crying.”
That warm wetness I only feel when it comes to Slim soaks into my cheek. I reach up and wipe away the tear, then pull my hand back, staring at the wetness on my fingers.
I clear my throat, croaking out a pathetic, “I’m straight.”
“No, you’re not.”
Arnez reaches over with caution, pushing her hand into my pocket and pulling my phone out.
“Just cut it off,” I mumble, reaching for it.
She pulls her arm back, and I close my eyes as tight as I can just like Slim used to do when we first met. “Leave it alone, Nez.”
I hear her shuffling around, unlocking my phone.
“I saw your dad yesterday…” Slim murmurs from it, making my eyes pop open. “I was too scared to tell you in the message I sent last night.”
