Page 62

DAVINA

Deke’s away game after we made up proved all the naysayers wrong.

It was one of his best games yet, and suddenly the commentators were trying to figure out how he’d made such a strong comeback.

Truth is, he’d never lost his touch; it was just his gloomy heart that’d weighed him down. I promised him I would never do that to him again—walk away, leave him alone. This time, I was here to stay, and unless he gave me a reason to leave, I wasn’t going anywhere.

Three weeks had passed since I’d gone to Deke’s condo, but we made a way to see each other every weekend. It was that third week when I realized it would be a full year since Lewis died.

One full year.

I couldn’t believe it.

I expected to feel completely broken and torn up when I saw the reminder in my calendar, but I wasn’t. For once I was okay. I cried (of course I did), but after pulling myself together, I called my mom and Octavia and asked them to come to Charlotte for the weekend to honor him.

On November 2, my house was full of familiar faces. Tish had come with Lorenzo; my sister, brother, and mother were there, as well as a few of Lew’s old friends and football teammates from college. And though I didn’t want to, I invited Gloria. She still wasn’t happy with me, but she lowered her pride just a notch to make an appearance.

We took turns going around the room and sharing our favorite memories of Lewis, then we ate a cake with his face on it. It was a nice night.

I was sure Deke would’ve come, too, but he had a game in Houston. He called me as soon as he got home, but by that time, it was nearing midnight and everyone was gone except Mama, Octavia, and Abe.

“I’m sorry I missed it,” Deke said as I threw plastic cups in the trash.

“Deke, it’s fine,” I assured him.

“I bet it was nice.”

I studied his face on the screen and how his eyes turned away. “I think you should do something like that for your brother.”

“Yeah. I should. I’ll tell my sisters about it.” He set his phone down to pour himself a bowl of Cocoa Puffs. That was his treat after every game, and hearing the cereal clink in the bowl always made me smile.

“My mom wants me to come to her place for Thanksgiving,” he said, pouring the milk.

“That’s a good thing, right?”

He propped the phone up on something so I could see him straight on. “No. She invited my dad.”

My brows drew together, confused. “What’s wrong with that?”

“I despise that motherfucker,” he said, then shoveled a big scoop into his mouth.

“Why?”

After he chewed, he asked, “Do you wanna know the whole story over the phone or in person?”

“I think in person would be better, but now I’ll be wondering why you hate him until the next time I see you,” I said, laughing, and he gave me a closed-lip smile.

“It won’t be long until I see you again.”

“Vina?” I looked to find the voice, and it was Abe standing in his pajamas and rubbing his eyes.

“Hey, Abe. What’s wrong?”

“I can hear you talking,” he informed me, then moseyed around me to take a cup out of one of the cupboards. He filled it with water and gulped some down. He glanced at my phone and did a double take before leaning in and narrowing his eyes.

“Is that Deke Bishop?” he asked, and I could see his face light up, even though he avoided mine.

“It is.” I laughed. “Would you like to speak to him?”

“No, no.” Abe backed away, excited but nervous.

“Is that King Abe?” Deke asked, and for the first time that day, Abe connected his eyes with mine. It was brief, but still something.

“He knows my name? H-how does he know my name?”

I moved closer, wrapping an arm around him. “I told him all about you. He signed a basketball for you, by the way. All I have to do is pick it up.”

“No way.” Abe grinned a little, and I dropped a kiss on his cheek. He peeled out of my arm to finish his water, set the cup down, and said, “I’m going back to bed.” On his way, he mumbled under his breath, “That’s Deke Bishop. He knows my name. Deke Bishop knows my name.”

“Cute kid,” Deke chuckled.

“Yeah. He’s the best. And so freaking smart.”

“You should bring him to one of the games.”

“I’m sure he wants to go to one, but he’s sensitive to a lot of noise. He gets overstimulated very fast, so being surrounded by loud crowds and buzzers wouldn’t work.”

“I can get you box seats,” he offered.

“Aw, Deke. You don’t have to do that. Plus, knowing Abe, if he ever did build up the courage to go, he’d want to be front and center.”

“Hmm. Well, maybe I can figure something out.”

“We watched some of your game earlier.”

“Yeah?” He quirked a brow. “Like what you saw?”

“You just love going for threes, don’t you?”

“Where do you think most of my points come from?” he asked, grinning. Then he yawned right after.

“Get some sleep, Bishop.”

“But I wanna sleep with you,” he returned.

“Maybe this weekend?”

“Yeah. This weekend for sure.”

And sure enough, he was in Charlotte for the weekend, and for the first time I let him visit my house. It was weird having this giant man in my home. There were still pictures of Lew on the walls, and it wasn’t as impressive as his condo.

I’d held off on inviting him to my place for a while, but the hotels were getting stale, and our relationship was past that now.

“So, this is Davina the Divine’s real domain.”

“I swear you have a name for everything!” I said as he walked to the living room.

“What?” He smiled over his shoulder. “I can’t help it.”

He walked toward one of the shelves, studying the images in their frames. I stood by the island counter, watching as he picked one of them up. It was a picture of me and Lew at Niagara Falls. I loved that picture, because it was captured randomly by a photographer on the boat. Lew was looking at me like I was the only girl in this world, his face soft, eyes low. I was cheesing hard, not even realizing he was looking at me.

“He loved you. I can tell,” Deke said, glancing at me. I walked toward him as he set the picture on the shelf again.

“If this is weird for you or anything, we can go somewhere else,” I said.

“It’s not weird to me, D. I’ve always wanted to see your place. Is it weird to you?”

I hesitated. “A little ... but I’ll get used to it.”

“I don’t think you should hide him,” Deke said. “He was a part of your life for years. No one can take that away. Not even me.”

I pressed my lips as he took my hands. “I’m glad you understand. I mean, one day I will put most of the pictures somewhere else, along with the boxes full of his clothes and hats and stuff. Just not right now. I don’t think I’m ready.”

Deke smiled down at me. “Take all the time you need.”