Page 11 of Spending Forever With You

I nodded while my mind went back to that day. Callie had told me about Jimmy passing and all I wanted to do in that moment was be near him. But of course I couldn’t do that.

I mean your ass could’ve at least paid your respects the proper fucking way, Holli, instead of hiding.

I should’ve, but nope, my ass hid in the back in a gotdamn disguise, quietly sneaking in and out. I did get a glimpse of Luke and his cousin Kay though. My heart broke for both.

Jimmy was the best grandfather to Luke. Shit, even me.

“Yeah, but I was in and out. Said a quick prayer for Jimmy’s homegoing and left the same way I came, quiet and unnoticed.” I said.

“Why didn’t you give your condolences to De⁠—"

“Uht uht. We still don’t say that shit. The topic of conversation doesn’t change anything.” I cut Johnni off who decided to chime in mid-chew.

“And why not? Come on, Hollis. This situation deserves an exception to your rule of no contact. If you say Jimmy was an influential factor in Deacon’s life, not saying his name is crazy as hell. Not to mention, saying I’m sorry for your loss or condolences shouldn’t be that hard. I mean, you took your ass to the damn funeral.” Johnni pushed again, and this time when his name left her lips, my heart skipped like it always did when I’d first met his ass all those years ago.

Ugh, I hate that nigga.

Well, I wanted to. Especially enough to not still be affected by his fucking name.

“Again, I went to pay my respects to Jimmy, not to see his ugly ass grandson. Besides, I sent flowers and a card through Kay, so they at least know I got the news.”

“Heffa, wait a minute now. Ain’t no reason to be sitting here lying. Not liking Deacon is one thing, but that man is fine as hell. But I am proud of you for doing the bare minimum,” Mickey said, with Johnni agreeing with a nod.

“I’m telling BK you in here lusting over another woman’s trash and his ugly ass is something. But back to what I was saying, when I was there, I noticed Shepherd Rowe and his wife weren’t sitting next to each other. As badly as I wanted to dig and get that on camera, I couldn’t. Omar giving me the big ass cash advance along with the offer of the office and quarterly raises got my mind so far gone that I was about to act up at a fucking funeral.”

I hated the itch to pull my damn phone out at Jimmy’s funeral just to get another key part to this fucking story I didn’t even want.

“Well, I’m glad you found some couth about your raggedy ass. A funeral, Hollis? You set your boundaries in hell when it comes to finding the dirt. Don’t let money and space cloud your judgment on keeping some morals intact.” Johnni said, slurping her shake. I groaned because this was the ruthless part of my job that had me doing whatever whenever to get some tea on the story.

“I’m still trying to understand why you took his piece. You don’t even want to acknowledge the existence of his best friend he is always around on and off the field. Maybe you should tell Omar you can’t do this one,” Mickey said while I stood so I could lay a sleeping Minnie in her playpen. While I pondered my response, the sound of my phone ringing had me going for it to see Callie calling me.

I hit the button to accept the call, putting her on speaker.

“Hey Holli, what are you doing?”

“With the girls at Mickey’s house. Why? What’s up?”

“So, Derek is going to put some food on the grill and Granny agreed to make her seafood pasta salad and poor man’s baked beans. Uncle Ellis is doing sweets and fruit.”

“Ooh, what’s the occasion?”

“Cami requested BBQ chicken, and you know that man won’t ever tell her no, so I decided to just make it a family kickback. Ooh, invite the girls too; the more the merrier. I’m in The Marketplace right now getting the meat and sides.”

Just like me, Callie forever found any excuse to throw or host a party, no matter the size.

“They can hear you, you’re on speaker. And ooh, hell yeah. I’ll even stop and get some bottles. Are we thinking wine or liquor?” Before Callie could even respond, I jumped in again. “Both. You’re right.”

We laughed together.

“Exactly! And yes, your ass has to come over early to help me. Love you.”

“Love you too,” I said, ending the call. I put my attention back on Johnni and Mickey looking at me while shaking their heads.

“Callie said it’s a kickback type of day and the menu is BBQ, as you heard.”

“Any excuse for a party, I’m here for it and the food,” Johnni said, rubbing her stomach which had me snickering.

“Yes, you know we love a kickback.”