“Niggaaaa! That’s you?” Josiah asked, bobbing his head in the direction of Tegan’s shop.
“I knew it! I told y’all it would only be a matter of time before he made his move,” Raque declared, laughing as she shook her head and applied base around a client’s edges.
“Come on, New York. Say it ain’t so? Youmoving in on my woman?” Monte whined.
“Nigga, you don’t have a woman; and if you did, I’m certain it wouldn’t be her. Besides, I’m not moving in on anyone, just doing a kind deed.”
“Ms. Buns might be that ‘good woman’ that you’re looking for after all,” Mia observed.
I chuckled, lowered my head, and walked out of the shop with Tegan’s order in hand. I jogged across the street and checked the front door. It was locked, and although they hadbuilder’s paper over the windows, I could see through a tiny rip in the paper. There were several people moving around and working inside.
I headed to the rear of the shop in hopes that the back door would be open. I was certain the contractors were having to go in and out while they were working. Just as I approached the back door, a couple of contractors stepped outside and propped the door open while they went to grab some items from their work van. I used that as my opportunity to slip inside.
As I rounded the corner, I heard someone arguing, so I stayed out of sight so that I could observe. Tegan was beautiful; there was no other way to describe her. Her wild mass of coppery-red hair hung in long curls around her face, her shoulders, and down her back. Fire sparked from upturned, bright eyes the color of cognac and framed by extremely long, natural lashes.
Although she listened to the man attentively, anger and disagreement radiated from those full, downturned lips and the nostrils of her short, Nubian nose flared with indignation.
Freckles dotted almost every visible portion of her rich, chestnut-brown skin, and they were especially clustered around her nose and those high cheekbones. She lifted one thick eyebrow as he said something, and I realized that was her warning that she was about to check him.
She was beautiful, feisty, and passionate, but so alluring and sweet at the same time. I wondered how all those emotions, all those feelings could be packed into a tiny frame that couldn’t be any more than five feet and five inches, and maybe 130 or 135 pounds, max.
Her sexy body held her curves well, and I couldn’t help but lick my lips as my eyes scanned over every part of her beautiful body.
“This is so unfair. It’s like you want to see me fail. You’re employed by the city to protect the citizens and the business owners,” Tegan argued in her soft voice.
I took in the man who she was speaking with, Evan Thomas, a nerdy, glasses-wearing, wanna-be-cool environmental health specialist.
“I am on your side, Ms. Ingram.”
“No, you’re not. Not when you weren’t supposed to be here for another four days. Please come back on the date it was originally scheduled, and I’m certain that everything will be completed in that time.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Ingram. My schedule is packed, and I had to get you in while I could.”
“When can you come back?”
“Not for another three weeks.”
“But my launch is next week.”
“Sorry about your luck. You’re not ready, and I can’t pass you.”
Evan and I went to high school together, and he’d always run behind me and some of the other guys. He had continued to follow me all these years later whenever he saw me. He commented on all my social media posts, and he dropped in the shop as often as he could. I looked out for him and was cool with him whenever I could be, unless he was doing too much in the moment.
He was doing too much in the moment. I stepped from behind a wall where they hadn’t been able to see me.
“Aye, Ev. Let me holler at you for a sec.”
Evan smiled when he saw me, and replied, “Harlem, my man! What are you doing here?”
“I’m just dropping by to bring my friend here some breakfast to get her day going right. She’s a vital part of the community, and we’re excited to have her here.”
Tegan’s angry frown turned into a confused one when she spotted me, and then it turned into a wary smile when she spotted the bag and the coffee cup in my hand.
“Here you go, beautiful. I hope this makes your morning just a little bit brighter.”
I didn’t wait for her to say anything. I just bobbed my head toward the wall I had been hiding behind, and Evan followed.
“What’s the issue? Why can’t she get her permit today?”
