better be able to take it. Secondly, you need to be reminded about how this all started. Let me give you the run down, since your memory is real short right about now.”
“Go on and drive. We have things to do and this isn’t the time for this.”
“It’s the right time for it because I say it’s the right time for it. Stop interrupting me. You’re just delaying the inevitable. I met you in the process of trying to handle my father’s affairs. I was very unhappy about the circumstances and yet, I see this sexy, gorgeous Black girl with some of the most luscious lips and beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen. We didn’t start out on the right foot. You held your own with me, stood up for yourself, and still remained a fucking lady. That’s a tall order. You even showed me a bit of kindness. I decided, secretly of course, that I might want to get to know you better. You sparked my interest with the way you carried yourself, the way you spoke, just about everything about you. Time passed and we ended up really hitting it off, connecting. So much so, we’re now officially together,” he hooked his fingers in the universal gesture of quotes. “I’m in a damn relationship. Went to bed single, woke up with a lover. You’re my girl.”
“That’s the first I’ve heard of this. It seems you would’ve told me first,” she stated flatly, though he didn’t miss the flash in her eyes and the curl of her lips into a twitchy smile.
“You know that’s exactly what we are and what we’re doing. We’re not second graders – there’s no need for me to write it down on a piece of paper with crayon, asking you to be my girlfriend. It is what it is.”
She smirked, crossing her arms and pretending not to care.
“You’re not the type of woman to just sleep with anyone who comes your way, and I’m not the kinda man to let just anyone get this close to me,” he continued. “We’re invested in each other. Now, back to the situation.” He took a deep breath. “I keep talking about me, my family, my shop, my son, my ex, my mother, what I like to do and what pisses me off, right? I open up to you and trust me, that’s not my forte. I feel like most people are on a need-to-know basis when it comes to my family and private life, but then when I put your feet to the same fire you lit for me, s’mores and all, you want to run off and retreat.”
“I didn’t—”
“No. We’re done with this, Lauren. Ya hear me?!” He took another hard drag of his cigarette. “You’re wasting precious time.” He checked the time on his watch then glanced out the window at the sky. “Nehemiah and I were a lot alike, weren’t we? Just admit it.” He turned back towards her.
He was met with pursed lips and eyes that sheened with moisture. The silence of her words unsaid softened the music, the buzzing of the bugs flitting about outside, and the beat of his heart. All that could be heard was her pain. Raw and loud.
“Yes.” She took a deep breath, exhaled, then looked down.
He turned the engine off and rested against the driver’s seat. Closing his eyes for a spell, he gave her a minute, hoping she’d continue. Hoping she’d stop hiding and let him see what he always knew was there.
“You two are a lot alike. It’s almost uncanny. Only difference is, he was Black and had no children. He wasn’t into bikes, either.” She shrugged. “But that’s a minor detail. Nehemiah and I met when he came into the store I worked at to fix the computer systems. Our cash registers kept going down. I didn’t have my own bookstore at the time. I was a manager at Posman Books and—”
“Over there on Ponce De Leon Avenue. Yeah, I’ve seen it.”
She nodded.
“It was one of many bookstores I worked at, mainly to help train people, coordinate book signings by authors and celebrities, manage the establishment, help with local book club meetings, things like that. So anyway, he came in one day, and he was mad… just like you had been, but it wasn’t because of me. He’d just been having a bad day and was tired. He said when he saw me that day, all his anger went away.” She fiddled with her cuticles.