She chuckled too. “Yeah. I was hoping. But then everything went left.”
“You can’t prepare for what you don’t expect.”
“I probably should’ve expected fireworks on Juneteenth, though. It’s black people’s Independence Day.”
“Stop purposely looking for fault with yourself. You were concentrating on the hurdle of being in a wide-open space with a lot of people.” I tried to fight it, but the yawn slipped out.
She gave me the sad face. “You’re tired. Don’t feel like you have to stay up and entertain me. You can go to sleep. Just having you next to me will help keep my nervous system calm.”
“You need sleep, E. Slide over here by me.”
She moved closer to me, giving me her back. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her closer until we were touching—back to chest.
“Do you have to get up early?” she asked. “You don’t teach self-defense on Sundays, do you?”
“Nah, I go to church.”
“You go to church?”
I had to snicker. “Is that shocking?”
“For some of the Braveheart brothers? Definitely. For you? Not so much. What time is service?”
“Nine o’clock in the morning.”
“Would you mind if I went with you?”
She surprised me with that question. “Uh, the only thing is that every week after church, I stop by and see Teagan.”
I couldn’t see her face when she spoke, because her back was to me, but her voice gave away the fact that she thought she overstepped or something. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I don’t want to infringe on your time with Teagan.”
“I could drop you back off here before I swing by the cemetery,” I offered, because I wasn’t ready to share that part of my life with anybody. There was no way I could take another woman with me to visit Teagan. Especially not one that I wanted to . . . shit, I didn’t know.
“Or I could just drive myself.”
“That would be crazy, E. If you wanna go, we can ride together. Like I said, I’ll just bring you home after church.”
Lying in the bed with Eastley while talking about Teagan helped my dick stay soft. Two hours later, Eastley was fastasleep. I was wide awake, trying to figure out how to reconcile my feelings for Teagan with the fact that I was drawn to Eastley.
When the alarm from my phone cut through the remnants of sleep, I opened my eyes slowly. I wasn’t sure when I’d drifted off, but it definitely didn’t feel like I’d gotten much sleep. Still, I was greeted with the sun’s bright rays in the form of a smile from Eastley. We had separated our bodies from one another at some point during the night, because she was on the opposite side of the bed.
“I slept straight through,” she told me, the smile never wavering. “After everything that happened yesterday, I never expected that.”
“No nightmares?”
“Nah.” Her head shook back and forth. “No nightmares.”
“That’s what’s up.” I yawned and stretched.
“I’m going to get ready for church.” She climbed out of bed.
I watched her go, then headed for the bathroom to begin my own morning routine.
My plan had been to drop Eastley back off at the house after church, but she had other ideas. Before we could even make it to my truck, Asia came tearing into the church’s parking lot. Eastley had given me a sweet smile and a quick wave before she ditched me which, honestly, made me feel some type of way. Then my eyes landed on the bouquet of flowers for Teagan, and I had to wonder if they made her feel some type of way.
Choosing not to dwell on that thought, I followed my routine and stopped by the cemetery. I cleaned off Teagan’s headstone,though there weren’t many errant leaves or much debris. I replaced the prior week’s flowers, then told her how much I loved and missed her.
Instead of driving home, I headed out to the unincorporated area of the county where my father, Quincy Bishop, lived. When I pulled onto his property, he was sitting on his porch, kind of like he was waiting for me.
