by J. Nichole
“If you change your mind, you know how to reach me.” Noah leans in for a hug before I walk into Eva’s house. His cologne lingering on my shirt, I stand against the door and inhale before walking into the living room. Eva is planted on the couch, her head against a pillow and her eyes shut tight.
I nudge her shoulder so she isn’t frightened by my presence when she wakes in the middle of the night. “What are you doing here?” she manages to ask after blinking her eyes open.
Not wanting to explain the interaction with Noah, yet, I just tell her that I decided sleeping in one day of my vacation seemed like a good idea. I just hope Reece will cooperate with me in the morning and stay sleep for a couple of extra hours tomorrow.
Eva laughs and says, “I’ve been wishing that for the past seven years.” She looks at me with a smirk as she gets up from the couch. “Good luck.”
Chapter 4
Noah
There aren’t many days in the bank when I don’t see someone I know from childhood. Most of the people who knew me as an athlete, see me now and are surprised that I’d have a professional career that doesn’t involve a ball. To not give any of our customers a reason to doubt my abilities, between processing paperwork I stroll through the lobby to speak to customers in line, and to check on the bankers.
With Christmas a few days away, the bank has been busy. Many of our older customers still don’t trust online banking, and are more comfortable giving their grandbaby’s cash money.
When I see Mrs. Roberts across the lobby, I’m sure she’s like many of the older customers grabbing cash for gifts. Possibly. I wave at her and when her smile turns into a tight line, I walk over to her to make sure she’s good. “Mrs. Roberts, everything okay?”
She cocks her head and she says, “You tell me.” I look at the customers nearby then back to her. “You came to my house last night to pick up my daughter.” Before she can finish I already know where this is headed. Kai didn’t return home last night. I’d think Kai would call her mama and inform her of her change of plans, but then again, she’s grown and probably flexing her muscle.
“Yes ma’am, we had a nice time.” I watch her face loosen up. “And I got her safely back to Eva’s house.” She watches me almost as if she doesn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. “Anything I can help you with today?” She shakes her head as her spot in line approaches the counter.
I continue greeting other customers in the lobby before returning to my office to send a necessary text.
* * *
Noah: Saw your mom, she thought you stayed over at my place.
* * *
I would have preferred Mrs. Roberts’ assumption of our night out. One that ended with Kai staying at my house. Instead I got friend boxed. Kai has always been cool, and now that she’s grown, she’s sexy as fuck. If she can’t get over the Shiloh situation though, then it is what it is. I’ll be stuck watching her stroll around town.
Moving my phone to my pocket, I continue with my stack of paperwork to process loans and open new accounts. A knock on my door interrupts my steady flow. “Yes,” I say to our newest teller, Dana.
“Mr. Jacobs, I was helping a customer who inquired about a deceased family member’s bank account, and asked why the processing was taking so long to release the remaining funds.”
“Is she a beneficiary listed on the family member’s account?” I ask, slightly frustrated that we have to go over these details that are clearly items covered during new hire training. She smiles coyly before apologizing for interrupting me.
Because interruptions come in droves, my cell vibrates against my leg.
* * *
Kai: Sorry about that. Had to be super awkward.
* * *
I burst out laughing at the attached meme, of a woman hiding behind her hands.
* * *
Noah: It was cool, I told her I was Shiloh’s ex. No chances of you ever being at my house overnight.
* * *
I’m sure I could go back and forth with Kai all day, but it’s almost closing time and I need to get on the court to work out all my sexual frustrations.
Kai
Asking to be dropped off at Eva’s house was a win for uninterrupted sleep this morning, and an epic fail for being stranded at the house. All day. Then when Noah told me my mama was checking him at the bank, it was the cereal without milk.
Thinking of cereal and no milk, I ravished the kitchen today, going through half a carton of eggs, while I attempted making a perfect omelette for Reece. Lucky for us, the kitchen is well stocked and I was able to pull together a sandwich, chips, and a cookie for lunch. Now, boredom is kicking in, and we are standing in the kitchen rummaging for a mid-day snack.
The living room is plagued with toys of all sorts, baby dolls, Legos, craft paper, beads and string. I should tell Reece to pick up her mess, but I’m the auntie. Spoil them and leave them is the number one rule of a good auntie.
“If I had my car, I could take us to get ice cream.” Reece’s eyes light up, and I’m sure ice cream will be in our future if she has anything to do with it.
“Where is your car?” she asks while sitting across from me at the kitchen counter. Of course she would come at me with the hard questions as my stomach rumbles loudly.
The more time I spend with Reece the more I’m learning that my answers have to be crafted just right. A bad response could lead us down a rabbit hole of follow-up questions. Her line of questioning makes me thankful that the kids I teach are of the knowledge is annoying age, and not the knowledge is like candy age. “I left it at Granny’s house so Grandaddy could make sure it’s running properly.” I take a deep breath as I wait for her follow-up question.
“How’d you get here?” she asks with her hand on her chin. I’m sure she’s running all the possible scenarios through her head. When the front door opens I nearly jump out of my seat to meet Eva at the door.
“Eva, glad you’re home.” She looks at me and smiles when Reece runs into her arms.
Tonight I convinced Eva to have a lady’s night in, minus the crumb snatcher. Shiloh is even taking a night off from her husband to join us. “Are you ready to go to Granny’s house?” Eva asks Reece.
“Yeah, and maybe Auntie Kai can pick up her car.” Reece smiles at me before running up the stairs.
On our way to drop Reece off at my parents’ house we grab food from the grocery store hot bar. Gone are the days of feeding Reece fast food. When she learned what types of food were unhealthy she vowed them off because she didn’t want to be in the hospital like her daddy. Instead we indulge ourselves at the hot bar when we can’t make a home cooked meal work.
Bags in hand, we walk through the house and I speak to my dad who is plopped in front of the tv. “Coming to get your car little girl?” he says in response. My dad isn’t the one for beating around the bush. I don’t even bother answering him. I eye Eva who is giving him instructions, like he hasn’t watched Reece on numerous occasions. “You forget I helped raise the two of you.” All the while he still hasn’t moved his glance from the tv.
Because we plan to drink heavily tonight I need to grab clothes for tonight and tomorrow. The sound of Aretha Franklin is softly playing when I pass my mom’s craft room. After her grand gesture to check Noah today at the bank, I’m almost tempted to keep on walking but I’ll never hear the end of it if I do.
“What are you making, Ma?” I look over her shoulder at the sewing pattern she has laid out beside her. Her eyeglasses sit at the end of her nose, and I pray the day never comes where I’ll be that old lady.
“Whenever Reece comes over we make her baby dolls a new outfit. I have to prep the curves for her and let her sew the straight edges.” She smiles as the needle threads through the fabric. I hum the chorus of “Respect” before my mom asks, “How was your night out last night?”
“It was nice catching up with Noah. We shared all of our memories from high school.” I walk to the door and add, “And he caught
me up on all he’s been doing since then.”
Mama mumbles, “Remember why you moved here.” How could I forget? I spent eight hours with her today. And it’s not like I can’t multitask. If putting my love life on hold was a requirement, I may have opted out of this move. Dismissing Mama like I did my dad, I walk out of the room to gather my things.
“See you later, Ma,” I say on my way back downstairs. Eva makes eye contact with me and I nod, letting her know it’s time to get out of here. The bottle of wine waiting on us is going to be everything I need.
Shiloh is waiting in her car when we arrive. I knock on the window snapping her out of the trance of scrolling through her social media account. “Kai,” she yells when she steps out of her car. Shiloh, much thicker than she was in high school, now rocks a pair of glasses and her hair curly around her face. If I didn’t know her so well, I may not recognize her from her petite days at Baxter High. Back then she wore her hair straight with bangs she could never keep at the right length.
“Shy, you ready for this?” I ask as we move towards the house with Eva close behind us. She nods her head and winks. There are a few places we could have gone around town to accomplish this lady’s night lush fest we are about to have, one of them being Bar Baxter, but instead we’d rather drink as much as we want and crash without worrying about how we are getting home.
“Girl, I’ve been out shopping all day trying to find this gift for Dorian.” She shoves her phone in my face and I’m looking at this model rocking a black coat with gold buttons. “He was so specific about this particular jacket. I should have known when he showed me a few weeks back it was some sort of exclusive shit that wouldn’t just be at Macy’s.” Rolling her eyes, she tucks her phone into her pocket and grabs a glass I’ve poured her, full of my rum cocktail.
Eva laughs and I can only imagine she’s thinking of the gifts she would have been buying for Lawrence if he were still with us. It pains me to think of how she’ll handle all the different holidays, anniversaries, and birthdays.
Our plates are overflowing with snacks, those I picked up from the store and those that Shiloh insisted on bringing. “The movie is ready,” Eva says from the living room. Shiloh and I join her with our plates and drinks in tow. Our first movie we are watching is This Christmas. Eva has always had an obsession with Laz Alonso. Since we’ve all seen the movie before, we can still chat.
Eva wastes no time getting to the bottom of my reason for staying over last night. With a chip in her hand she looks at me and says, “Now that I’m fully awake, I’m calling all types of bullshit on your excuse of being over here last night.” Taking a bite of her chip, not even waiting till the remnants are down her throat, she adds. “Especially when I saw that your car wasn’t here this morning.” She side eyes me.
“I was out, and instead of going back home I just got dropped off over here.” Shiloh bursts out laughing.
“Wait.” Shiloh raises her hand in the air. “I’m with Eva. Your story sounds suspect. Who were you with?”
Not wanting to disclose my outing with Noah, ‘cause obviously it was just that, an outing. I won’t even classify it as a date. It couldn’t have been a date. Yeah he’s sexy as all get out now that he’s grown into his body, has that mature man face, but he’s still and always will be Shy’s ex. I take a deep breath prolonging my response. “Noah,” I say without looking at either Eva or Shiloh.
“Noah Jacobs?” she asks. “Like from high school?” I look at her thinking her description of him would have certainly been more like ‘Noah Jacobs? My ex?’ and when it isn’t, I’m mildly surprised. Does she not remember all those dates they went on? Dragging me around town to be with him? Making me entertain whoever he brought along? “I haven’t seen him in a minute. How is he?”
Now she and Eva both are waiting for me to fill them in on Noah’s memoirs. I opt out of taking them down memory lane to give them details on what he’s been up to, and say, “He’s good.” With a gulp of my rum cocktail I look at my cup and take the opportunity to get a refill. “Y’all need more?”
Eva hands me her glass and Shy says, “No, heffa. I want you to sit your butt down and tell me how you and Noah, my ex”— and there it is. The rest of her words fall flat. She does realize he’s her ex, I knew she wouldn’t have forgotten him. Taking her glass back and grabbing mine, Eva stands to go to the kitchen eyeing me the whole way.
“I bumped into him at the mall when I was there with Reece. And last night was definitely not like a date.” At least not from my standpoint. “We grabbed dinner, and then he dropped me off here.”
“But last I heard he’s a bank manager, no baby mama drama, looking better than he did when I was checking for him. Why wasn’t it a date? I mean, ol’ fuckboy from Virginia wasn’t strong enough to stick out a long distance relationship. So you too, Kai boo, are single.” She ends her rant taking a swig of her drink. Looking at her, I realize I’m putting more stock into him being her ex, and that Shy couldn’t care less.
“Shit. With that description, if you aren’t looking to date him then you can have him swing my way.” My mouth drops and I stare at Eva. “What? I’m in my thirties, not my nineties. I’m not ready, yet, but eventually I’ll start dating again.” She rolls her eyes at me and stops talking when she hears Laz’s character.
For the rest of the night, there’s no more discussion about me and Shy’s ex, and although she seems unbothered, my thoughts wonder off to Noah and what it would be like bringing him around. How would we even explain him to Dorian? To that, I take another sip.
Chapter 5
Noah
The gym does its job of relieving me of my sexual tension. It’s been months since it’s been this bad. When I broke up with my ex, I stayed in the gym every day. Especially the days when my mind would wander back to that thang between her legs. If it wasn’t for her constant nagging about taking things to the next level we would still be together. We were only together for a year, but she was ready for the ring. At times, too ready.
I was good at fighting the urge until I saw Kai in the mall. Now, here I am working my body to exhaustion again. And she hasn’t even given me a kiss. Hell, she may never give me a kiss. With that thought I run harder down the court throwing the ball against the backboard.
“Damn dude, you good?” Boris says from behind me. Half out of breath, he bends over resting his hands on his knees. “You ran down the court like someone was chasing your ass. Had me running now and thinking later.”
Dribbling the ball I nod my head then joke, “You just need to work on your cardio.”
He stands up and snatches the ball from me. “Naw, I know what you’re doing. Think I forgot what happened when you and Nevaeh broke up?” Shaking my head, I run to the other side of the court, with him close behind me. “On the way out we could look in on that hip hop aerobics class, you know they always have some thots in there.” Boris hasn’t changed since high school. This dude has always been a thirst trap. I thought his girlfriend of three years would calm him down, but nope, he’s still out here on a constant prowl. But the difference between his girl and my ex, is that his doesn’t nag him.
If I could pull a girl tonight, I could take her on a date tomorrow, see where it could lead. Still doesn’t do anything for me today. Like last time, if I continue to let this tension build, I’ll end up wearing my body down with exhaustion though. I look at Boris staring at me intently, waiting for me to accept his invite into playerville. Hesitantly, I say, “Let’s go.” Boris fist bumps me and grabs his gym bag, wrapping his towel around his neck.
He’s right, hip-hop aerobics is where it’s at. If for nothing else, watching these girls bounce their ass around the floor is better than being at a club waiting for a dance. When I spot one girl, not doing as much as the rest, I know exactly who I’ll invite out on a date. I nudge Boris and tell him, “That one over there with the pink tank top and curly hair.” He nods his head.
As the class lets out the ladies disperse, so
me leaving quickly, others staying behind to chat. The lady I had my eye on leaves quickly, but not before I can get her attention. “Excuse me,” I say. Then words fail me, because I’m not Boris. I don’t want to tell her I was watching through the fishbowl, and I love the way your ass bounced while you exercised. Instead I lead with, “I’m Noah.”
She smiles and says, “Hi, Noah. I’m Dionna.” She continues walking and I ask if I can walk her out. I look behind me and see Boris talking to another lady and I’m not worried about leaving him behind. “Sure.”
“I saw you coming out of class, and thought I’d ask if you had plans tomorrow night.” She looks at me out of the corner of her eye, and I feel like I’ll be back here running my ass up and down the court instead of taking her out tomorrow night. “Too forward?” I ask when she doesn’t respond.
She hunches her shoulders. “How about I give you my number, and just hit me up tonight with what you had in mind.” I rummage through my gym bag to grab my phone and she rattles off her number. “I’ll talk to you later.” She opens her car door and climbs in.
I look down at my phone and repeat, “Dionna. What plans will we have for Dionna?” Running a few aisles over I hop in my car and think of a possible date. Since it’s almost Christmas, maybe she’ll be up for the light exhibit. I haven’t been in years, but it’s a nice ride through the park. Before that, we can grab something at the seafood restaurant nearby. Now that I have a plan, I turn up my music and enjoy the ride home.
Walking through my front door, I smell an unfamiliar smell. My apartment isn’t a total bachelor’s pad, but usually I smell my cologne or the apple cinnamon plug-ins I keep all around the house. Now, I smell something lighter, fruitier. Then I smirk when I realize, it’s Kai’s scent probably lingering from last night. I inhale, getting a good whiff as I throw my gym bag in the closet.