Page 21

Tayla

S itting in the house was not an option today.

Bryson and I needed some sunshine. I checked the weather app and saw it was warm and sunny, so we hit the road.

It was mid-morning, and the sun caressed my skin as I soaked in the rays.

I loved days like this when I could just be.

And today, that would be done outside the four walls I’d stared at for the last two months.

I understood Brice's concern about me staying inside until I was fully healed, but Nina wasn’t about to have me scared to come outside.

She should have made sure I was dead the first time.

I was The Lynx, and that just wasn’t how I operated.

“Tayla, you don’t trust me to drive your car?

Come on, be nice.” I told him I was finding it!

He wagged his finger a couple of times before he walked off.

To rub it in, I had been aimlessly using all his gas.

I trusted Brice with my life, but it was my heart that I was hesitant about.

After about forty minutes of driving around, I decided to call Jourdan.

We’d missed so much time in the last three years that I was ashamed of how we were now.

We still had things to work on, especially the trust, but we needed to move on.

I spoke into my AirPods and told it to call her.

“Hello,” she answered. I paused before responding because I hadn’t spoken to Jourdan in this capacity in over a year.

“Hey, JoJo,” I said, pausing again.

“Are you doing anything right now?” I asked.

“No, Angel and I are just sitting around the house.”

“Do you two want to grab lunch with me and Bryson?”

“Hell yeah, let’s go to the Retro Diner. Steph is always talking about their burgers, and you know I can always eat,” she quickly answered. I smiled because I could tell we were trying not to make things awkward.

“Ok, I’ll meet you there in thirty.”

“See you soon!” She returned. I hung up the call and continued driving, deciding to take the long route.

I never thought about how freeing it was not to have any hair until the wind was hitting my scalp.

I would probably never let it grow back.

Besides, I did not miss re-twisting them every two months.

I finally arrived downtown and found a parking spot near the diner.

I popped Bryson out of the back seat and pulled down the stroller’s wheels.

It was a Doona, a fancy car seat and stroller combo that Brice insisted I have.

I appreciated it now because if I had to lug Bryson in a carrier the two blocks to the diner I would have been pissed.

There weren’t many people out as I’d seen in previous times I’d been downtown. A Child’s Haven was close, but I typically went the other way during lunch. I glanced at the time to see that it was almost noon. I sped up my walk to beat the corporate lunch rush.

As I hoped, the booths hadn’t filled. I quickly found one where we could sit out of the way of people passing by.

I scootched into the booth facing the door to see Jourdan when she walked in.

A bell hung over it and rang whenever someone came in.

This was the first time that I’d been here.

It had the iconic steel-plated walls and red booth seating, and all the wait staff wore fifties-style uniforms and aprons, adding to the nostalgia.

“Good afternoon, Ma’am. Are you ready to order?” The waiter asked.

“If you could give me a few more moments, I’m waiting on a friend.”

“Sure thing,” he said after leaving two menus and walking off.

The bell ringing above the door caught my attention.

Jourdan was walking in. I stood and waved my hand to get her attention, and then she headed my way.

When she made it to the table, in a thoughtless act, we embraced each other, squeezing tight and letting the hug last longer than it should have. We finally separated and took a seat.

“You look cute. I can’t get over you and this new hair,” Jourdan said .

“Thank you. But girl, I literally just threw something on.” I wore a

simple high neck open back ribbed bodycon midi dress and a pair of Fendi FFold slides. I laughed when I looked at the baby because we both had the same stroller seat.

“So this is why Brice came home with this expensive ass stroller,” I said and laughed. She gave me a deadpan expression and head tilt before speaking.

“Girl, Stephon is insufferable regarding Angel, only the best for his baby girl. I ain’t mad at it though. I thought that I’d made him soft but for Angel his ass is Jello pudding,” she said and laughed. I gave her a smile of my own.

“Tayla, I know I apologized before about everything that happened, but I truly am sorry.”

“You want to make it up to me?” I asked and she nodded.

“Let me shoot you back.”

“Tayla Renae Young! I barely grazed you. How about I let you scratch me really hard until you draw blood?”

“Jourdan Nichelle Rockwell! Put your arm across the table,” I said, and stared her down in the most serious face I could conjure. After a moment, we both burst into laughter.

“I’m happy you’re here,” she said. The tone in which she spoke let me know that she wasn’t only talking about North Carolina. She was happy that I pulled through.

“Yeah, I’m here. I’m moving forward and not looking back, as long as you are,” I said as she held my hands across the table .

“Thank you. It’s more than I deserve, I love you,” she said and smiled.

“I love you, too,” I returned. Then we parted to look over the menu before the waiter approached to see if we were ready to order. Jourdan ordered the burger and fries she’d been craving, and I ordered two hot dogs and fries.

“So, back to this ‘job’ you were on. I told you to let someone glaze your already done biscuit, not knead a new one and bake it in your oven.” Her mouth fell open.

“I don’t think I ever told you, Brice asked him to marry me. I’d seen him before Brice presented him with the proposition. When I saw him, I just knew and didn’t object. The whole Stephon situation was clearly out of my control,” she said, shuddering her shoulders after she spoke.

“Obviously with your Doona Stroller!”

“Look who the hell is talking, miss, no girl. Brice is the homie!”

“The Brice situation was clearly out of my control.”

“Exactly, Doona twin,” she said and laughed. The waiter interrupted our laughter to bring us our meals. We said a quick prayer before digging in.

“There’s this woman who works at the hospital that I need to run up on,” I said after taking a few bites and a drink before continuing.

“A nurse. Ivy Smith. She was acting real out of pocket when Brice introduced us the other night. I almost snatched her FB thirty Brazilian body wave off her scalp,” I said .

“Not you remembering the color,” Jourdan said. I waved my hand.

“Only because it was pissing me off even more. Her hair was laid and I couldn’t bring myself to hate on a fly ass weave. But her ass… There’s something about her. Brice told me that he moved me from the hospital because someone had been drugging me.”

“You think it was her? See, this is my type of carrying on! Can we go after we leave here?”

“Go where?” Jourdan and I both jumped at Stephon’s voice. We were so into our conversation that we hadn’t realized he was there. Although I’d heard you wouldn't if he didn’t want you to.

“Damnit, Stephon. Wait, are you tracking me?” Jourdan chastised.

He ignored her and peeked inside the stroller at a sleeping Angel.

Then he pushed himself into the booth beside her.

Once he was settled, he leaned in and kissed her lips.

Until six weeks ago, I’d never seen Jourdan act this way around a man.

Jourdan was Brice in female form, as hard and cold as they came.

“Baby, don’t ask questions you already know the answer to,” he said and smirked Jourdan's way.

“Oop,” I said and laughed. Jourdan rolled her eyes but liked every bit of Stephon’s antics.

“Tay, you’re laughing, but Brice said once you finish eating bring your ass to the hospital so he can talk to you about driving his car. Your man Brice is not the same nigga as your best friend Brice,” Stephon said

The hell!

I hadn’t really thought about the differences, but there had definitely been a shift.

The tone in which he spoke to me was sure and loving.

There was a possession and reverence in his touch, and apparently, he was secretly keeping track of my whereabouts.

I found myself biting my lip and smiling at the revelation that I was finally his.

“So, Steph, tell me how you managed to tame a wild animal,” I said teasingly. Jourdan stuck up her middle finger, causing me to laugh.

“Easy, I let her ass believe I wasn’t,” he said. Jourdan reared back and hit Steph as hard as she could in the arm. He didn’t even flinch but grabbed her fist and kissed her knuckles. He stopped antagonizing her long enough to focus his attention on me. For a while, he only stared.

“I’m sorry for staring. I can’t believe you’re my sister, or the fact that I even have one.

The shit still trips me out a lil’ bit. I want to get to know you, and my mother does too.

Would you be up for having dinner with us?

It can be like our first family dinner,” he said and smiled.

It warmed my heart that he was trying to bring me into the fold.

Stephon was the perfect big brother. I also knew what he meant about tripping him out, because I often felt the same way.

It would have been nice not to have endured a childhood alone with Nina, even though we lived on separate coasts.

Who are you kidding, Tay? That ho didn’t even tell you that you had a father.

Those quick thoughts of Nina were enough to refocus my agenda, and that was that she still had to go .

“I’d love that. Please let me know a time and place, and we’ll be there. Can you two watch Breezy while I run to the hospital?” I asked.

“Yeah, you don’t even have to ask. He can ride with me,” Steph said. Jourdan had a pissed look on her face.

“Look what you did, Stephon. We were supposed to run up on a ho, and then here you come, busting up all the fun,” she said.

“Hmph, you two weren’t about to take Angel and Bryson to go do some bullshit. That was a no-go before you even thought about it, Baby,” Stephon said. When I stood to leave, so did he, hugging me. Then I leaned over to hug JoJo, whispering in her ear.

“I’ll call you with what I find out,” I told her, then leaned over to kiss Bryson on his forehead. I was definitely back on my bullshit. I didn’t care what my brother had to say about it. Brice, he’d better get beside me or end up behind me.