“Welcome home, G.”
“Thank you. This joint is nasty,” Pierre walked slowly around the car inspecting it.
“Yeah, it is. Wonder bought it and wrapped it for me. It was a surprise.”
“Damn, she doing it like that?”
I opened the car door. “Yeap. Shorty is doing her thing. She has people calling her almost daily begging her to squeeze them in, willing to pay whatever.”
“Damn.”
“I know right. Normally, she’s adamant about not spending more than seven hours at the shop in a day, but when someone offered to pay her $1,500 over her price, she stayed at the shop until almost midnight.”
“And I know you were sitting right up there with her.”
“And the fuck was,” I bobbed my head. “You already know how I’m coming behind Wonder.”
“I can dig it. Lesson muhfuckin’ learned over this way. Thinking a woman won’t get tired of your shit and leave you alone for real is the worst thing a man can do. Nina dropped me like a bad habit, but it was only after she’d given me a hundred chances. I can’t even be mad at her for real. If it’s not about the kids, I’m not gon’ bother her. I’m about to find a new roster and leave her the fuck alone. I put that on my mama.”
“That’s the smartest thing you ever said,” I chuckled. “Lift the arm rest and get the blunt out. I already have some rolled.” I knew more than anything, Pierre would be ready to smoke.
I’m going to spend the evening with my kids, then I’m going to get some pussy. Tomorrow is all about my kids and the next day. Monday, it’s back to the grind though. Tell me we got some jobs lined up that I can get in on.”
“Yeah, there’s a request to put together a bookshelf, one to put together a desk, and one to mount a television. Those are all one man jobs. You can have them.”
“Thank you, man. I appreciate that for real.”
“It’s no problem. I need to start working on this next book for real. As soon as it’s published, I’m going to start audio production. Those checks be lovely as fuck, and it’s extra income for me to tuck away. I still gotta get used to this legal money. There can be good months, but there can be slow months too. I already know this wedding is going to set me back some racks.”
From my peripheral, I could see Pierre whip his head in my direction. “Wedding? What wedding?”
“I’m proposing to Wonder, G. I already have the ring. I just have to decide when. Valentine’s Day is in a week, but I low key feel like that shit is cliché. I should probably do it a day or two before, so she doesn’t suspect it. Or maybe wait until after.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with doing it the cliché way, but it’s up to you. Congratulations my nigga. ‘Bout time your old ass settles down,” he jested.
“Nigga, I’ve been settled down. Since me and Wonder made it official, I haven’t so much as breathed on another woman. All marriage will do is change our titles. I been all about her though. For sure.”
“I know, and I’m truly happy for you. You had a front row seat to my bullshit. Please don’t make the same mistakes that I made.”
“That’s probably the realest advice you ever gave me,” I laughed as he lit the blunt.
“I doubt I’ll meet another person like Nina in this lifetime, so until then, fuck it, we ball.”
All I could do was laugh. I knew Pierre was dead serious. Everyone that knew him knew he didn’t play about Nina, but that didn’t stop him from playingwithher. One too many times,he did what he wanted and was confident that if she found out about his indiscretions, she’d take him back. Shorty fooled that ass. They weren’t even married for six months before he fucked up, and she left his ass. Nina filed for divorce faster than a muhfucka could blink.
“Back to the proposal,” Pierre sucked weed smoke into his lungs. “You doing a big thing with friends and family?”
His question made me scrub a hand down my face because I genuinely had no clue. Before Wonder, public displays of affection were something I’d never done and was willing to bet I never would. With her, it came as naturally as breathing. I didn’t mind proposing to her in front of the people we rocked with, but that was a lot of pressure. Pressure to do shit right and not make myself look dumb as hell.
“I’m not even sure.”
Pierre’s head bobbed before he hit the blunt again. “I just want you to know even though I’m sure you already do, I’m good. I know Nina and Wonder are close. If Nina doesn’t want to see my face it’s cool. But don’t think that if I see her, I’m gon’ act an ass and shit. I’m really over that.”
“That’s good to know. You want something to eat?”
“Man, hell yeah!”
I decided to focus on where Pierre wanted to get food from. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted Wonder to be my wife. Life had changed so much for me, and it got overwhelming at times. I went from being a fuck up that didn’t care about fucking up to having two kids and a woman I’d square up with satan about. Some days, I didn’t even recognize my damn self. I knew everything would play out like it was supposed to. Things had been good for me thus far and hopefully, it would remain that way.
