One of ‘em was from Pluto.
I opened it and let out a low laugh under my breath when I saw the meme she sent.
Reni shifted beside me and glanced over, her eyes catchin’ the name at the top of the screen.
“Why she textin’ you this late?” she asked, her tone calm but I heard that spice in it.
“That was hours ago mama,” I said, still smirkin’ at the phone. “I’m just now seein’ it.”
“Hours ago is still late,” she replied, lookin’ at me now. “I don’t get why she always textin’ you like you ain’t got a woman.”
I glanced over at her, already knowin’ what that was about.
I ain’t get defensive, and I ain’t raise my voice. I knew I hadn’t really brought her into my world the way I should’ve, so I couldn’t even blame her for feelin’ how she felt.
I leaned in and kissed the side of her face, my hand slidin’ over her waist.
“It ain’t like that,” I murmured. “She with my cousin. They married. They got the kids and all that. That’s just how she is… she cool. Like a homegirl.”
Reni made a face, not sayin’ nothin’ else, but I could tell she wasn’t fully feelin’ it.
I pulled her closer, my arm tight around her.
“Don’t do that shit,” I said low. “You good. I love you… for real.”
She stayed quiet, but she ain’t pull away either.
I rubbed her arm slow, then kissed her again.
“Next time we got somethin’ goin’ on, I’m bringin’ you,” I told her. “For real this time. I want you around so you can see everything how it really is.”
She looked at me for a second, then settled back into me without sayin’ nothin’.
I held her tight with my hand restin’ on her hip while her body relaxed against mine, and after a while, the room went quiet.
I kept her tucked in close, my chin restin’ near her head while we both drifted off, still wrapped up in each other.
Trill-Land, ’LoLux Estate
I sat out back with a cigarette burning slow between my fingers, just staring out at the garden like it had somethin’ to say back to me if I looked at it long enough.
The air felt different out here and was clean in a way I wasn’t used to, and the smell of the flowers mixed with the smoke in my lungs and the heat from the coffee in my hand had me sitting still longer than I usually would.
It had been a minute since I let myself just sit like this without thinking about what move I needed to make next or who I needed to deal with, and for the first time in a while, I ain’t feel like I was waiting on somethin’ to go wrong.
Trill-Land had a way of doing that though. It slowed shit down without making you soft, and I respected that. I ain’t comeout here expecting to get comfortable, but somewhere along the way, that’s exactly what happened.
Kay’Lo, Pressure, Renza, all of ‘em… they took me in without making it feel like I owed ‘em somethin’ for it, and that wasn’t no small thing. I had people I shared blood with who ain’t never moved like that for me, so I knew what it meant when I saw it.
I took a pull from the cigarette and let the smoke out slow while my eyes stayed on the flowers, but my mind didn’t stay there for long and ended up right back where it always went when I let it… straight to Harlow.
My jaw tightened without me meaning to, and I reached for my coffee, taking a sip like that was gon’ push the thought back where it came from, but it didn’t. It never did. Too much had happened for that shit to just fade out clean. Too much time, too much history, and too much damage that ain’t have no chance to heal right.
My phone buzzed on the table beside me, and I already knew it was Harlow before I even looked, but I still glanced down at the screen and saw her name popping up again.
I stared at the screen while it rang, letting it sit there like I had been doing all mornin’, because this wasn’t the first time she’d called and it damn sure wasn’t the second. She had been blowing my phone up like she forgot everything that happened, like she could just call enough times and I’d pick up and act like none of that shit mattered.
I ain’t answer the first call or the second one.
