She shakes her head. “Gimme my hug. I’ve gotta get some gas and head over to Mr. Jackson’s. I’ve got a potential hoarding situation. His wife’s been sick, so it’s just him there.”
My shoulders tense in a way that I only ever associate with Faye leaving. “I got you. Go get in the car.”
She reaches for her back pocket, but I grab her forearm. “I said I got you.”
Her thin lips perk up, and she wraps me in her arms before pulling away and planting a wet kiss on my cheek. “I’m still sorry about that whole thing that happened last week with Lovie and the house.”
As soon as I hear “Lovie” my heart does that weird stutter that mimics the way words tumble out of her mouth, and the pit of my stomach tingles. It’s a nauseating tingle that makes my heart stutter faster. The only time something like thisalmosthappened was in fourth grade when Briana Russell told me sheliked me. The next day she said she couldn’t be my girlfriend because her mama found out who my people were and that nauseating tingle just turned into nausea.
Faye avoids my eyes. “I told her it was unacceptable to leave your place like that. She knows better.”
I frown. “Wait, you got on to her?”
“Not in a harsh way.”
And Slim took it, instead of telling her I lied?
“Look, Lovie can be…a lot,” Faye adds.
My eyebrows bunch together.
I like Faye more than I like myself most days, but just the thought of her raising her voice at Slim makes my mouth twitch—even if it was over a stupid lie I told.
“I’ve got clients to keep happy, Rich. Even clients I know well. If she left your house like that, imagine how she’ll leave my other houses if I let her do another job alone. She’s usually better than this with the business. I think she might be going through a rough patch with this boy she calls herself wanting to marry, but I can’t afford to lose any of my clients right now. She can’t just leave folks’ houses any kind of way because they’re in an argument.”
I gulp in a mouthful of air.
She reallydidn’thave a clue.
She sounds like she’s living on another planet far away from Slim. This is the same woman that looked at Arnez and knew she had started her period, but for some reason she can’t see what Slim is hiding? How the fuck could she miss what was right in front of her?
“What the fuck Kenny got you cleaning houses for anyways? Tell him to make more money,” I blurt.
She widens her eyes and raises her finger at me before I can take it all back. “What do I look like not having my own? There’s only one man I trust with my all, and you know that.”
She pushes her finger into my lip.
I feel like I’m ten and full of preteen hormones again where just the thought of upsetting Faye feels like somebody took my head in their hands and smashed it.
“Yeah…I know.” I pull my mouth away from her finger.
“Arnez rubbing off on you?”
I snort, shaking my head. “No, ma’am.”
“Uh-huh. I only have room in my heart for two smart-mouthed babies—not a third. Especially not the one who takes care of me the best.” She drops her hand, pushing it against my sore stomach. “Go get my gas, and if you see Lovie, tell her to come out of there. She’s got her F&S cleaning shirt on. She ain’t hard to miss.”
I swallow the “Yeah, I know” that almost comes out while backing away then turning around.
I take long strides toward Lucky’s entrance where DeRay holds the door open for every person that walks up. His dingy white tee hangs in a tattered heap against his body and he smiles a snaggle-toothed smile as soon as I walk up.
“What you looking for, Pup?” he asks.
“That pretty girl you opened the door for not too long ago. You remember what she looked like, right?”
He brings his shaky hand to his forehead and salutes. “Got her drawn in my head.”
“You ain’t try to steal her, did you?”
