Page 31 of A Little Kissing Between Friends

Was this how she was with everyone?

That last question pulled me up short. I had a lot of places to go today, and there was not one of them. I tossed the covers off of me and walked into the bathroom to start the shower and empty my bladder while the water came to temperature. When I stepped under the hot spray, I let the water wash over me while I took a minute to unscramble my thoughts. There were things I knew for a fact, and things I was assuming. I needed to make sure I didn’t get them mixed up just because I was trying to figure it out alone.

Except, that was the fucking point.

It’s all fine and well to try to keep an open mind, but the bottom line was that I shouldn’t have been figuring that out on my own. Poppa should have been here when I woke up. Hell, she should have woke me up before she left, even if it was just to say goodbye and that she’d talk to me later.

But she didn’t.

One thing I hated above all was confusion.

By the time I’d dried off, moisturized, and dressed in a jersey dress I’d left at Poppa’s forever ago, an hour had passed and I still hadn’t heard from Poppa. I gathered up my clothes from the night before, snagged the bottle of water from the nightstand, and left the room. I was met with empty silence as soon as I crossed the threshold of the bedroom, which killed any lingering hope that maybe Poppa was just out in the living room watching a movie, or in the kitchen cooking something that was magically devoid of scent. Still, I walked through the house, checking each room to be certain.

After confirming that I was alone, I opened the door to the garage and immediately huffed a humorless chuckle. My car wasn’t inside of the small room. Closing the door, I sighed and left out through the front door. There was no need to worry about locking it, because Poppa could lock it remotely and would surely do so once the doorbell camera alerted her to my departure. My car sat in the driveway. I didn’t know how to feel about that. Poppa only moved my car out of her garage when she knew she wouldn’t be back before I was ready to leave. I usually found it thoughtful, since I had no way to close her garage after leaving her house, but today, it just confused me further.

Where was she?

Why wouldn’t she tell me that she was leaving?

And why didn’t she want to be here when I woke up?

The only person who could answer those questions was Poppa, which meant I needed to find her. For a brief moment, I was annoyed at myself for not being one of those clingy friends who continuously shared my location, because it would be so easy to just tap an app on my phone and pinpoint her exact whereabouts.

You could just call her.

I blinked at that logic whispered from the back of my mind, and then immediately shook my head.

Nah. I needed to see her face when I talked to her. She could say anything to me over the phone, but she couldn’t hide her expressions when she spoke. My stomach rumbled, reminding me how long it had been since I’d eaten. I downed the bottle of water and set my GPS for my favorite coffee shop. As soon as I backed out of the driveway, I instructed my Bluetooth to call Nana Cherry. It rang twice before she answered.

“Mommy!”

Hearing Amani’s sweet voice instantly brought a smile to my face.

“Good morning, my baby. Did you enjoy the movie and ice cream last night?”

“I did, Mommy! It was so fun! And Nana Cherry let me get two ice creams!”

His exuberance made me laugh. My mood was lifted just by witnessing his innocent joy. I had a brief reprieve from being pissed that my bestie had dipped on me after a night of carnality. Instead, I was grinning from ear to ear while talking to my favorite boy in the world.

“Ooh! That sounds pretty awesome. Are you ready for me to pick you up?”

“Ummm...”

Amani dragged the word out so long that I wondered if he forgot what I’d asked him.

“Dang, ’Mani.” I pouted. “You been gone for a week and you still not ready to come home?”

His giggle was so precious, I smiled through my pout.

“Hold on, Mommy,” he instructed.

The sounds of shuffling hit my ears, and then Nana Cherry came on the line.

“Good morning, baby.”

“Morning, Nana Cherry.”

“You not on the way to take my baby, are you? We were just about to head out to service, and you know how much he enjoys children’s church.”