Page 48 of Buy Back My Love

Leona gave me a look before turning her attention back to the menu. “I see chicken, steak, and rice. I’ll figure it out.”

“You eat sushi?”

Leona’s face answered before she did. “No.”

“You ever tried it?”

“No.”

“Then how you know you don’t like it?”

“Because I don’t want no raw fish.”

I laughed. “It ain’t all raw.”

“I still don’t want it.”

I shook my head. “Alright. Get the hibachi.”

She looked over the menu again. “That come with fried rice?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Now we talking.”

By the time we ordered, Leona had loosened up some. We talked about nothing important while we waited on our food, and I liked that I didn’t have to work hard to keep a conversation going with her. One minute she was telling me how somebody needed to do something about the potholes in our neighborhood, and the next she was complaining about how Mobile still felt like summer even though fall had already started.

She was funny too. Not in a way that felt like she was trying to be. Half the shit that came out of her mouth just caught me off guard.

When our food came, I picked up my chopsticks and looked across the table at her.

Leona immediately reached for her fork.

“You ain’t even gonna try?”

“Try what?”

I held up the chopsticks.

She looked at them and then at me. “I’m trying to eat, not pass a coordination test.”

“Come on. I’ll show you.”

“I’m good.” She picked up her fork and started eating. “You use them since it’s so easy.”

“I am.”

“Congratulations.”

I laughed and left her alone.

I liked Leona. That much was obvious. But she had a man, and she’d made sure I knew it. I wasn’t about to disrespect that just because I wanted to spend some time with her. As far as I was concerned, we were having lunch and getting to know each other.

Once we’d been eating for a little while, I realized there was still a lot I didn’t know about her. I knew she’d recently moved into the neighborhood, her mama could negotiate the price of damn near anything, and apparently her boyfriend drove trucks. That was about it.

“So what do you do?” I asked.

Leona stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth.