Page 40 of A Little Kissing Between Friends

“I understand,” Jackie said. “I’ll do better next time.”

I nodded and tried to hurry her to the door so that I could maybe catch Jucee before she was all the way gone.

“You’re not gon’ introduce me to your friend?”

My daddy’s words stopped me in my tracks. Frustration rose up in me. He had to know that I wanted to try and speak with Jucee. He had to.

“Oh, my bad.” I pulled Jackie over to him. Still standing, he held out a hand to Jackie.

She giggled as she grabbed it and shook.

“This is Jackie. Jackie, this is Marvin Thomas. He was bass player and lead songwriter for The Still Waters.”

Daddy waved a hand at me. “Oh, she’s too young to know about that old group.”

Jackie just giggled harder, making my eye twitch.

“I’m actually twenty-eight.”

Daddy gave her an indulgent smile. “Just a baby. You’re younger than my youngest child.”

Rolling my eyes, I smirked. He was quiet, but one thing for sure was my daddy could charm anyone.

“You don’t look old enough to have kids my age!”

At that I snorted. My daddy might’ve been bald, but he had more salt than pepper in his beard. While his skin was beautifully moisturized and cared for, his sienna skin was wrinkled with signs of aging. I know that it was normal to tell older people they didn’t look old, but for some reason it annoyed me coming out of Jackie’s mouth.

Or maybe I was just annoyed by her in general.

And...if I were being honest, it was probably because I didn’t really like her, but she kept my mind off of Jucee.

That was a terrible thought, and acknowledging it only made me more annoyed, so I shoved that to the back of my mind and hustled Jackie out the door, glaring at my daddy over my shoulder as he called out goodbye. I’d be having words with his instigating ass when I returned. Jackie chatted to herself about how sweet he was and how cool it was that I worked with pioneers from a time before me, and I just stayed silent. It was preferable that she thought he was just an older musician that I was working with and not my actual father. For some reason, I got the feeling that she would read too much into meeting my daddy, and I didn’t need that additional drama. It was bad enough that I was essentially using her.

I walked her to a red VW Beetle and pulled her into a brief hug that hopefully said “goodbye.” When I tried to step back, she gripped the sides of my shirt and kept me close.

“When am I going to see you again?” Dropping her chin, she blinked at me from under long lashes. There was no denying how attractive Jackie was, and ordinarily, this little move would’ve had me biting my lip and giving her a concrete date and hour.

Unfortunately for her, this wasn’t an ordinary time.

“Uh...”

“What about tomorrow?”

I was off my game. This was a level-one question in the game of finessing, and I should’ve had three different responses ready to hit her with, yet I couldn’t think straight. My eyes searched the parking spaces up and down the strip, praying Jucee was still around. Jackie squeezed my sides, bringing my attention back to her.

“That’s fine,” I finally said, not even entirely sure what I’d agreed to but fully aware that the desperate way I was searching for my friend was out of line. I needed to focus on Jackie if I wanted things with Jucee to go back to normal.

Pleased with my answer, Jackie hugged me and climbed into her car. I waved her off and headed back into the studio. I found my daddy sitting at the table, an open container of loaded baked potato casserole in front of him. Ignoring him, I grabbed my phone off the counter and called Jucee. It rang six times before I hung up and called again. It went to voicemail.

Okay.

I took a breath and calmed myself before I started getting heated. It was possible that she was calling me back at the same time that I was calling and that was why it had gone straight to voicemail. That’s all. She hadn’t blocked me or anything.

After convincing myself that everything was cool, I turned to join my father at the table.

“What is this?” I asked, sliding into the seat across from him.

“The lunch Juleesa brought with intention to eat with you.” I twisted my lips to the side as he leveled me with a gaze.