Page 7 of Pulse of True Soulmates

“You damn right I’ll put your lil ass in this cart and your little dog too,” I confirmed with an arched brow.

She had me fucked up. She was tripping. The girl was just on the floor, almost passed out with a dog on her chest because she overheated from her POTS.

Whatever that shit is. Now she was talking about going in a rideshare.

She stopped walking to laugh hard. I smiled and was happy that she wasn’t offended by what I said to her.

That meant to me that she wasn’t overly sensitive about her condition and that she could take a joke.

I really would toss their asses in this cart though.

I tended to be a jester at times, and so were the people around me.

“You’re silly. I don’t think anyone has ever been threatened to be put in a shopping cart like a little kid. That’s a new one that I have to tell my best friend.” She mumbled the last part.

I let out a low chuckle. We stopped so I could put two cases of wine into the cart. I side-eyed the fuck out of her. Before I put these cases in the cart, there were already two cases of soda. “What are you getting all of this stuff for? If you’re having a party, I’m invited.”

Her head bucked back before she giggled. “How do you just invite yourself to an event that you don’t even know what it is?” Yeah, she had that look in her eyes. The he’s crazy, but I like it . “I’m throwing my daddy a surprise birthday party.”

“Oh, and it’s a surprise party! I’m definitely about to be all up and through there. Who’s cooking?” That was an important question.

She gawked at me for a second. “We have a caterer. She just doesn’t supply the beverages.” I gave her a knowing look. “Yes, she’s black.”

I threw my hands up. “I have nothing against the mayo-sapians. I rather support black businesses. I love Mexican, Cuban food too. Once a week, I have a Mexican night at my lounge, and I have some cooks come in for that night. They cook a mix of both cultures, and I have a live band. The Hispanic community comes in droves to support.”

She put her finger up. “First, mayo-sapians, really?” She shook her head. “Next, you own a lounge? That’s cool.”

Yeah, I had to slip that in there to let her know I wasn’t an average nigga out here in these Charlotte streets. “Yeah, Ink Vibing and Ink Vibing Again are mine. It’s a tattoo lounge; I’m a tat artist.”

Her feet halted, and her eyes lit up. “That is so cool. I only have one tattoo, but I want more. My best friend has a lot.” Her eyelids lowered a little. “Maybe I’ll let you do my next one.”

“I’d be honored to permanently put my ink work on your skin,” I flirted back. “What do you do for a living?”

“Oh, nothing as cool as you. I’m a data analyst for Meta,” she told me. “I work from home.”

The corners of my lips lifted with my cheeks. “From what I know about data analysts, they’re smart as hell and make good money. That’s what’s up.”

“Hey, babies.” My mother’s voice interrupted our conversation. “Are you feeling better, baby?”

Aeon smiled. “Yes, ma’am, I am. Thank you for being concerned.”

“Mama, tell me why this girl came here in a rideshare. She planned to go back home the same way with all this stuff,” I told my mama. My head tilted with my side-eye.

My mother’s face contorted. “Sweetheart, that’s not what’s going to happen today. Do you have everything that you need?”

Aeon glanced down in the cart. “All I need is two cases of water, then I’m done. I promise I’m alright to take a rideshare. I’m used to it, and most of the time, the drivers are really nice.”

My mother ignored her comment and waved her off.

“Let’s get your cases of water. Declan will take you and your fur baby home.

Come on.” My mother was the type that didn’t understand the word no.

That was partially my father’s fault. It was always whatever Princetta wanted, Princetta got.

My mother turned her cart around and walked smooth off toward the aisle that the water was on.

Aeon gave me that is she serious look. “Yeah, there’s no arguing with Princetta Phillips. Let’s go.”

After we finished shopping, Aeon gave me the address of where she lived.

I was thankful that I drove my Tahoe today.

My everyday vehicle of choice was my Charger.

If it was just my mother’s stuff, it would have fit in there.

With my mother’s stuff and Aeon’s, there was no way that it all would have fit with her and Midnite.

They talked the whole way to her house. I couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

Her place was nice. Aeon asked my mother if she wanted to come in for a drink.

She accepted the invitation happily. While I carried the things into her house, my eyes roamed around her place.

The television on her wall over the fireplace.

It looked like at least ninety inches. It took three trips to get all the beverage cases inside.

She and my mother sat comfortably at her dining room table with what looked like lemonade in front of them. “Thank you very much, Declan.” She peeked over at her dog that was laid out on the couch watching some cartoon on the television. “Midnite, say thank you for them bringing us home.”

Midnite climbed from the couch and went over to these buttons that were on the floor. I knew that they were those communication buttons, because I’d seen them on social media. He looked toward us before his paw hit a button. “Thank you.” He moved to another button. “Mama, food.”

“Ok, baby, I’ll feed you in just a minute.” She smiled after he pressed the “okay” button. That shit was cool to me. “Declan, do you want some lemonade?”

I accepted her offer before I sat at one of the free chairs at the dining room table. “How long did it take for you to train him? Those communicator buttons are cool.”

“Oh, I trained him on the buttons, and it took about six months. It’s an ongoing thing. For him to be my service dog, it took about two years. That is an ongoing thing as well. My parents paid for an organization to train him,” she told us.

My mother asked her how much the training cost. When she said twenty thousand dollars, I almost choked on the lemonade that I drank out of the cup. “Damn, it really cost that much? Yeah, I would have taught him to communicate with me too. He would hold all of my deepest secrets.”

They both laughed, but I was serious as fuck. I’d sit on my couch with a glass of Yak, he’d have a bowl of water, and we’d chop it the hell up. “Boy, shut up,” my mama said with a laugh. “Aeon, baby, we’re going to get out of your hair. Give Declan your phone number so we can check in with you.”

I tilted my head with tight eyes in my mama’s direction and sucked my teeth.

I couldn’t let Aeon know I wanted her number, so I had to act like my mama was doing too damn much.

Like I said, Princetta got what she wanted.

Aeon didn’t fuss with my mama; she just asked me for my phone.

She called herself from it once she put her number in.

We said our goodbyes, including Midnite, and we were on our way.

“I appreciate you, Mama.” We were on our way to her house. When we got there, I’d have a little bit of time to help her put this stuff up.

With a smirk, my mother said, “Oh, I already know. You will never be able to get anything past ya mama.” She was right. It’d been like that since I was a little boy. She was the best wing woman today.

A LITTLE TIME LATER . . .

“I told your ass to not get that shit on your foot. You wanted to think you were tough shit. Now you’re in here crying, about to pass the fuck out,” Derrick fussed at his wife.

You couldn’t do shit but laugh at his goofy ass.

He and his wife finally brought their asses in here for their matching tattoos.

The first day that they were supposed to come in, something came up that forced them to cancel.

After I finished their matching tattoos, Iesha decided that she wanted a foot tat to match her best friend, Leydi’s.

I warned her ass about the pain. She said that she could take it, but now her ass was in here crying.

“Shut the hell up, Derrick, before I get out of this seat and beat your ass,” she said through sniffles. “You get on my damn nerves. You gonna talk yourself right out of some pussy.”

When they got like this, all you could do was grin and bear it. I normally wore earbuds, but I wanted to talk to their ignorant asses today. “Aye, Iesha, my mama thinks your ass is pregnant.”

Derrick let out a hearty laugh. “I told her ass she was pregnant. That’s my boy for sure.”

“Ain’t nobody pregnant, Derrick.” She waved him off. “Why does she think that?”

When I told her it was because of those black forest cakes, she rolled her eyes.

Derrick shook his head, then said, “Her ass is in denial like a muthafucka. This dick knows when his pussy is pregnant. I’ll let her stay in denial though.

When that belly starts to grow, she’s gonna know something.

” His focus turned from her to me. “Aye, I was over Auntie’s house the other day, and she was talking about some girl named Aeon to Unc. ”

Leave it to my mama to tell my business.

“Man, Aeon is this chick we met a lil over a week ago in Sams. Her ass was in there laying on the floor with a damn dog on her chest. My mama made me stay with her until she was ready to get up. I did, then I helped her get the shit she needed, then we took her home.”

“Oh my God! Was she having a seizure?” Iesha asked. I knew she wanted to be included in the conversation so she would have something other than the pain to think about.