Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“Don’t get caught in Lolo’s Fume,” Luna advised.
They knew me so well.
“Were you crying because you were angry?” Jessie asked suspiciously.
“And why was your bedroom door locked?” Luna put in.
I had to get them past this, and truthfully, if it was me on their side of my door, I’d be worried and want answers.
So I semi-shared, “I wasn’t big on him horning in and ruining our play. He wasn’t big on me making that play. When he got me home, we had words. They weren’t real nice words. I retreated to my room to wallow. I locked the door to make a point. Javi took my point and took off. The end.”
Jessie didn’t look like she was buying it.
Raye didn’t either.
“He’s into you and he’s a throwback to the Stone Age when it comes to women,” Luna wrongly assumed. “So I get that, a, he’s not a fan of you putting yourself in danger, even if you weren’t in danger. Throwbacks assess danger differently than we do in the current millennium.” Once she delivered that, she continued wrongly assuming. “And b, he wasn’t all that fired up about seeing you on a date, even if you weren’t on a real one.”
“I’m not sure he’s into me,” I continued to only semi-share.
“Oh please, not this again,” Luna replied.
This was an ongoing thing among me and my girls. They’d thought the sparks flew too when Javi and I met, and they wanted me to do something about it.
Naturally, considering Javi and my most recent past, I wasn’t going to discuss it, so I didn’t say anything.
But I was in a bad spot.
Javi was a member of our gang. He was Jessie’s brother’s best friend. He was at Mace and Stella’s Super Bowl party. He drank Guiness with us at the Dubliner on St. Patrick’s Day. He floated in Eric’s pool with a margarita at Eric and Jessie’s Memorial Day party. He regularly came into SC for coffees from Tex or one of Lucia’s fantastic lunch specials.
Specifically, Jess was pretty tight with him. He’d saved her brother. Got him back on his meds. Got him the therapy he needed.
I couldn’t tell them what he thought of me. They’d all be big-time pissed at him and it’d cause a huge thing.
I had to find a way to go back to how it used to be, with us circling each other, him avoiding me (now I knew why) and me avoiding him (now that might be easier…eventually).
They all thought he was the bee’s knees.
Because he was…to them.
“I’ve never seen you cry in the midst of a Fume,” Jessie noted.
“There’s a first time for everything,” I said.
“That must have been some convo,” Shanti observed, and now she was watching me skeptically as well.
But yeah.
Our convo was something.
“Hopefully, whatever it is will get you two to stop dancing around each other,” Luna stated. “That shit has to stop.”
“Says the pot to the kettle,” Raye replied.
Luna’s cheeks started to get pink.
“For the last time, there’s nothing going on between Knox and me,” she snapped.
“Girls, girls, let’s focus,” Shanti suggested. She looked at me. “You need more time for your snit or you wanna clean up so we can debrief?”
“I’m digging your commitment to the cause, my sister,” Luna said.
Shanti smiled at her.
“I’m over my snit,” I said. “I’ll just get rid of these falsies and heels, and I’ll be out. There’s a bottle of white in the fridge. Help yourselves.”
Jessie gave me one last, lingering look, so I shot her a fake sunny smile. Unfortunately, that made her look linger longer. Therefore, I skedaddled to the bathroom.
I took one look at my face and nearly passed out, glad I started crying after Javi left.
Sure, he clearly didn’t like me (at all), but no girl wants a man to see her with one false eyelash clinging on for dear life and rivers of mascara down her cheeks with puddles around her eyes.
I grabbed a cotton pad and my eye makeup remover and went to town on the damage.
Once I sorted that, I exited the bathroom, went to my bedroom, got rid of the dress and heels, put on a lounge outfit, nabbed my phone and walked to my living room.
Willow shoved a glass of wine in my hand before I’d cleared the galley kitchen area.
I could have kissed her.
The sight that met my eyes when I made my living area helped lighten my mood a little bit.
My girls were sprawled all over my furniture like they paid the rent.
I loved that.
I loved it that when I was in their spaces, I felt comfortable doing the same.
This was a home.
This was family.
Not worrying about finding a coaster before you put your drink down or taking your shoes off so you didn’t mess up the hardwood with your spiked heels or not curling your legs under you on the sofa so you could be comfortable because “feet don’t belong on furniture” (Hi, Mom!).