Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 131486 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131486 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 526(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
A wicked light in her dark eyes, she had added in an aside, “And sex. Whooo, chile, that man could lay some pipe.”
My lips twitch even as my heart pinches. You had to smile when Byrd was around.
“Mom!” Kassim rushes ahead of Josiah and Deja and gives me a tight hug. I thought that by ten, he would have grown beyond this unabashed love for his mama. Boys usually do around now, but his affection for me is still open and uninhibited, even in front of his friends. Maybe he saw me sad for so long, he’s afraid to withhold it from me.
“How was school?” I ask.
“Good.” Kassim squints up at Grits’s food truck menu. “Can I have ribs?”
“Oh, my God, with the ribs,” Deja says, but smiles at her brother. The smile dims when she meets my eyes. “Hey, Mom.”
“Deja, hey.” I hate this tension with her, but I can’t seem to fix it. “How was school?”
“Fine.” She shrugs. “The usual waste of time, I guess.”
I bite back the response that automatically rises to my lips.
“Good,” I say, not wanting to ruin the night before it starts. “And, Kassim, if you want ribs, I guess you can have them.”
“I thought you were gonna try something different tonight, Seem,” Josiah says, joining our little group huddled around the Grits truck.
Kassim’s expression turns pleading. “Can I change my mind? The ribs are the best thing.”
“Well, I, for one, appreciate the compliment.” Vashti laughs. “That’s my grandmama’s special sauce.”
“Grandma knew what she was doing,” Milky pipes in from behind the counter.
“Truck looks good,” Josiah says, turning his attention to my friends. “Hey, Hendrix. Soledad, belated happy birthday.”
They both practically simper under his attention. He does have that way of making you feel you and only you have somehow managed to coax out his reluctant charm.
“Everything okay back at the restaurant?” Josiah asks Vashti. Not me, but he already knows I’ve been focused on the event. I told him that myself, so it shouldn’t sting that he consults with her instead of me, the actual co-owner.
Shouldn’t, but does a little.
“Everything’s great,” Vashti answers, coming to stand beside Josiah. I wonder if I’m the only one who notices the way she looks at him, or if anyone else sees the longing her implacable exterior doesn’t manage to hide.
“I’ll still dash back over to the restaurant in a bit to double-check,” Vashti adds. “Make sure the dinner crowd’s going okay. Callile or I will be there all night.”
“Can I go over with you, V, since the truck doesn’t have the full menu?” Deja pleads with a warm smile, hands pressed together. “I want crab cakes.”
When was the last time Deja smiled at me that way? Tried to spend any time with me? I know they’re just walking to the restaurant together, but my jaw still aches with tension. Between finding out about Vashti dating my ex, playing games with my kids, and now winning my daughter over seemingly with barely any effort, I have to suppress my petty reflex.
“Of course.” Vashti’s smile broadens. “And we need to plan our Monopoly rematch.”
“You’re on!” Kassim nods, eyes lit up. His congeniality is only outpaced by his competitive spirit.
“We should teach them to play spades, Si,” Vashti says, affection in her smile, in the hand she rests on his arm.
She exudes the same easy intimacy I noticed last night. By the way Soledad and Hendrix dart glances from them to me, they must notice it too.
Great. Interrogation forthcoming.
Hendrix’s elbow to my side confirms it. When I look up, her eyebrows subtly lift, silently asking if I see this. I ignore her microexpression and decide I’ve endured enough of my ex-husband’s budding relationship for now.
“I’d better walk around some,” I say. “I should make sure the DJ is set up and ready to go.”
“There’s a DJ?” Soledad asks.
She may appear prim and proper and pinned up, but get a little sangria in her and put on some early two thous Backstreet Boys, and you got a party animal on your hands. I’ve borne witness.
“If he plays Tony! Toni! Toné!,” Hendrix says, “I warn you right now, dignity is out the door and crunk will be activated. ‘Feels Good’ is my party anthem.”
“Your anthem?” Josiah asks, humor bending the stern line of his mouth.
“Used to be ‘Step in the Name of Love.’” Hendrix tsks and shakes her head. “But R. Kelly ruined that, pervert genius.”
“And on that note,” I interject before my son’s quick mind starts digging for the specifics of the pied piper’s sins. “I’m gonna go.”
“We’ll come with,” Soledad says, pulling her phone from the slit pocket of her sundress. “I need to see if Edward’s gotten here with the girls yet.”
“I got my eye on the Blaxican food truck,” Hendrix says. “I’mma surrender to the sexual tension that’s been building between me and those collard green quesadillas ever since I got here.”