Page 45 of Buy Back My Love

“Guess who was just in my house.”

“Who?”

“Van.”

Anika went quiet for a second. “Wait. Neighbor bae?”

“Girl.” I laughed. “Yes, Van.”

“What the hell he doing at your house?”

“He drove past while I was trying to get all these Amazon boxes inside and stopped to help me. Then he saw my TV still sitting on the floor, and now he done went back home to get his tools so he can mount it.”

“Oh, okay. Neighbor bae handy too.”

“Anika, I’m serious.” I started pacing around the kitchen. “Should I tell him don’t worry about it? I don’t need JB finding out some man was over here mounting my TV.”

“Girl, just lie and say you hired somebody to do it.”

I stopped pacing. “Anika.”

“What? How he gon’ know?”

“That’s not the point. I don’t want it looking like I’m doing something I’m not supposed to be doing.”

“Lee, the man is hanging a TV, not laying you across the bed. Let Neighbor Bae mount the damn TV and keep it moving.”

I laughed even though I was trying not to. “You are no help.”

“I’m plenty help. Your TV about to be on the wall, ain’t it?”

“Bye, Anika.”

She laughed. “Call me later.”

I hung up and set my phone on the island just as somebody knocked on the front door. Van hadn’t been gone long, but considering he lived right down the street, I guessed it didn’t take much time to drop Snoop off and grab what he needed.

When I opened the door, he was standing there with a tool bag in one hand and a drill in the other. “That was fast.”

“Told you I’d be right back.” He lifted the bag a little. “You still want me to do it?”

Anika’s words ran through my head again before I stepped aside. “You already came back with all that stuff. Might as well.”

Van laughed as he walked past me. “Sound like you doing me a favor now.”

“Don’t start.”

He carried everything over to the TV and got to work while I opened a couple of the Amazon boxes at the kitchen island. Every now and then he’d ask me for something or have me come look at where he planned to put the TV before he drilled into the wall, but for the most part, he seemed to know exactly what he was doing.

At one point, I looked over and caught him staring at the little level thing for what felt like forever. “Is it crooked?”

“No.”

“Then why you keep looking at it?”

“Because I want to make sure it stays not crooked.”

I laughed. “Okay, Mr. Handyman.”