my tea. But shit. She’s beginning to sound like me. And it appeared that we both had the same problem. A bitch. But my problem I was going to kill. I wasn’t sure whether Tasha was thinking about taking such drastic measures. I was just hoping that she was just letting go of some steam. She set my cup of tea on the table. I took a sip. “Ewwwww. You got any honey?”
“Jaz, where do you think you’re at?” She went to the cabinet and came back with a honey bear.
“Thank you. Now, tell me about the fire. For real, I can’t even tell that y’all had one. Look at these beautiful floors! And that sofa . . . I love it.”
“Well, it wasn’t really a fire on the inside, that’s why. Just smoke and water damage. Because of the sprinkler system and fire-resistant insulation, the fire was contained to the outside for the most part.”
“For the most part my ass! You got all new stuff. I like new stuff.” I tried to look at the bright side. They had a new red leather sectional that was to die for. It could seat at least fourteen people comfortably. A huge, dumb ass flat screen on the wall. The kitchen was painted a bright blue with stainless steel appliances and decorated with black granite counter tops. The floors were a beautiful light gray wood that was very different. The house had a new look with the same drama. I snickered at the thought. Tasha looked at me as if to say, “What the fuck is so funny?” I switched up and asked, “Were you scared?”
“Girl . . .”
I listened intently and smoked away as Tasha told me what had happened that night. I was grateful that no one was hurt. That was a blessing. Thank goodness Aunt Marva was as nosy as she was. If she hadn’t spotted the guy lurking around outside, they would have been stuck inside and possibly sucked up into a flaming fire. We then sat in silence, each of us momentarily lost in thought, the only sounds were her occasional sniffs, me stirring my tea, and the faint hum of the freezer. The blunt was gone. I was fucked up.
We heard someone at the door, and we looked at each other. Tasha started wiping her eyes and fixing herself up. I assumed she thought it was her husband coming in. I had a front-row seat for the fight. “Too late. You look like you were crying,” I told her. I thought she was going to get up and go running to the door, but she didn’t. She just sat there, and to our surprise, it wasn’t Trae. In walked Kyra. I looked her over and she had on this short ass Versace aqua dress that said easy access.
“Jaz! What are you doing here?” She kissed Tasha on the cheek and then came around the table to give me a hug.
“I came to check on you. You got Tasha worried half to death. You leave, don’t tell anyone where you are going. You don’t call nobody, no text, no nothing. Kyra, that ain’t right. Where were you?” I scolded her as if I was her mother.
“Awww. Tasha, I’m sorry.” She went back around the table to hug Tasha.
“Kyra, where were you? Why didn’t you call?” Tasha pushed her away. She was clearly agitated with our girl.
Kyra grabbed a chair and sat down next to Tasha. “I went to go see Rick.”
“Rick!” We both yelled at the same time.
Then Tasha said, “Bitch, you could have called, left a note or something. How could you up and leave your daughter like that?”
“Stop it! Stop yelling at me!” Kyra put both hands over her ears. “I know. I know. And I’m sorry, Tasha. He wasn’t returning my calls. I was trying to be patient, but my patience ran out. I had to go see him. I’m sorry.” She paused. “But shit, I’m grown. Y’all don’t ring my phone before you go see your man.” She looked at us sideways.
I threw up my hands and backed off, thinking that was the flip-personality shit Tasha was talking about. I knew Tasha was getting ready to dig into that ass.
“Kyra, you have a child here! Have you forgotten? A parent does not just up and leave to go to another state without making sure her responsibility is safe and secure. I’m thinking something happened to you. And when your daughter asked me where