“Will do. Goodnight.”
“Night, fine ass girl.”
I waited until her headlights disappeared before heading back inside. I’d spent years believing my wants were my needs. Now, for the first time, I had to rethink what that looked like for my future.
CHAPTER 14
What I Want Vs. Who I Need
MEHKI
Afew days had passed, and I found myself needing to go silent on everyone just to think. I buried myself in everything business, completing HVAC contracts, finishing up projects at the new flip, and meeting with realtors to prepare for a sale. Not one day went by when Key didn’t cross my mind. And not that I was trying to avoid her. A person needed to be actively seeking you out for you to avoid them, and Key hadn’t hit my phone once since the night she left my crib and let me know she made it home safe.
I wasn’t surprised. Key wasn’t about to make first contact, definitely not after we had sex. I hadn’t known her long, and I knew that for a fact. But no matter how bad I wanted to hear her voice, there was some shit I was still working out in my head after our last conversation.
Have you considered everything you need?
That question had been lingering in my head ever since she asked it, and I still hadn’t come up with a solid answer. So, I turned to work. If there was anything I always had the answers for, it was my businesses. And even through the influx of emails, invoices, job site walkthroughs, and duct work, I still found myself wondering what that fine ass girl was up to.
“Aye, boss. Boss.”
I blinked, realizing that one of the crew members had called out to me twice. We were standing outside of the house, debating whether to go with a wooden door or frosted in the front.
“Yeah?”
“You straight?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“Aight.” He nodded, skeptical. “So, what we doing?”
“Both. Frosted with wood trim.”
“Fire. We’ll get right on it.”
“Preciate y’all. I’ma head out. If y’all need me, hit me.”
“Aight.”
I climbed into my truck and reversed out of the driveway. The house was near perfect, and we were ahead of schedule with the flip. Normally, when I was close to completing a project, I had a sense of accomplishment. Today, I didn’t feel present, and that was a foreign feeling to me.
As I drove, my personal phone rang in the cupholder. Baby. I picked up the phone and hit the lock button to silence the call. A second later, a text came through that my Bluetooth read through the car speaker.
Baby: I don’t know what your issue is, but you didn’t start pulling disappearing acts until you met this Key person. If there’s an issue, I’d rather you talk to me about it than do this, Mehki. We’re better than that.
I couldn’t even be mad at Karima for coming at me the way she did. I’d been ducking her and Ju. This was her second time texting after many calls, while Ju only called twice and texted once to call her once I was ready. And I planned to. Just not today.
I needed some advice, and then the thought hit me out of nowhere. Who would know my situation better than my parents? I made a detour and headed to their house. If there was one person I could unpack this with, it would be my father.
The drive to my parents’ house took a little over forty-five minutes with me having taken the long route just to give myself some time to figure out what questions I wanted to ask. I didn’t want to ask questions that would be closed ended. I needed answers that wouldn’t leave me more confused than I felt now. I drove onto the quiet block and parked my car on the street. I usually stopped to get my mother flowers before I visited, but this was an emergency.
Getting out of the car, I barely made it onto the porch before the front door swung open, and my mother stood there in her linen pant set, not looking a day over 65.
“Well, would you looka here? My son done realized that his mama would love more than a weekly FaceTime call. I thought you forgot where we live, boo.”
I smiled, pulling her off her feet into a hug.
“You know, ever since you got old enough to do that shit, I’m still not used to it.” She laughed, hitting my back playfully. “Put me down, boy.”
