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“Yeah.” I drifted.
“I miss him.”
“I do, too.”
We went silent after that. I gave Ryleigh her sandwich and fruit as Shameek texted away on his phone. Once she was done, I packed her up some snacks and kissed her on her cheek, letting her know that I would see her in a few weeks and she could dress her dolls up with as many outfits as she liked. As I walked them to the door, Shameek stopped.
“You good?”
I sighed. “Here we go.”
“I asked one damn question.”
“And I know where it’s going.”
“It ain’t goin’ nowhere. You straight?”
“Yes, Shameek. I’m straight.”
He opened the door and helped Ryleigh on the golf cart. Ryleigh waved bye, and I blew her a kiss as Shameek punched the gas, taking off out the gate and towards his parents’ house.
By the time I was finished going through emails, it was after five, and I had managed to talk myself out of going to Royal Flush at least three times. There was nothing for me to do there. The operations manager had already sent me the numbers from the night before, payroll had been approved, and one of the managers had called to let me know the liquor delivery came without issues. I had hired more people to take some of the weight off me, yet I was still learning how to let them do their job without me micromanaging. I closed my laptop and reached for my phone. Lloyd’s message was still sitting in my text thread unanswered.
Lloyd: I’m starting to think you’re avoiding paying your legal fees.
I had to laugh because he was still stuck on that lunch or dinner date since I signed those damn papers. Every time he would mention it, I found a reason to push it off. Some of my excuses were legitimate. The truth was, I didn’t know how I felt about sitting across from another man at dinner. He could call it friendly all he wanted, but I wasn’t stupid. I knew how things could look. It made me feel guilty. Then, I thought about how Jaharee was constantly pushing the get your life back on me. I mean, if the man wanted a damn steak in exchange for all the shit he has helped me with, that’s the least I could do.
Me: Are you busy tonight?
His response came in less than a minute.
Lloyd: Depends on who’s asking
Me: Never mind.
My phone started ringing immediately.
“You give up entirely too fast. What happened to persistence?”
“I’ll never have persistence for a man. Are you free or not?”
“I can be.”
“It’s a yes or no.”
“I’m free, Kyenna. What time?”
“Does seven-thirty work?”
“Seven-thirty is fine. I can come by and pick you up.”
“No. I’ll meet you.”
“I figured you would say that.”
“So why say it?”
“Courtesy.”
