Chapter 9
I popped up out of my sleep, feeling like I was seconds away from puking.
Tossing the covers off my legs, I barely made it to the bathroom in time before that was exactly what happened.
I didn’t know how long I remained hovering over the bowl, vomiting until there was nothing left.
When I finally sat back on my heels, I felt completely empty, clammy, and lightheaded.
I used the back of my hand to wipe the sweat from my forehead.
Standing slowly, I flushed the toilet, then began to brush my teeth at the sink.
My feet shuffled back to Port’s room, where I’d stayed the night, only to find the bed was empty.
I noticed my robe and slippers I’d bypassed on my race to the bathroom.
There was a tiny, folded piece of paper on top of my robe.
I will be back
Xoxo, Perfect
I twisted my lips to the side, wondering where he’d disappeared to.
I still wasn’t feeling well, so I went to the kitchen to grab a ginger ale to hopefully settle my stomach.
As I leaned against the counter, a thought crossed my mind.
“No . . .” I paused with the soda midair as reality smashed into me, knocking all the air from my lungs.
I placed the ginger ale on the counter and rushed to find my phone.
I sat on the edge of my bed, seeing a text from my first client of the day, telling me that he was on the way.
I bypassed it and went into the health app on my phone.
All the air was sucked from the room as I noticed the notification at the top.
I tossed the phone on the bed and allowed my head to fall into my hands.
My thoughts were literally all over the place, and the only thing to bring me back down to earth was my client calling to tell me he was outside.
I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror, trying to get myself together, but this was a lot. Even worse, I couldn’t get to the bottom of things until I was done working for the day. I had five clients lined up, one after the other.
I focused on evening out my breathing while quickly dressing in a two-piece set. My hair was brushed into a bun, and I slicked my edges as best as I could in the limited amount of time I had. When I rushed out the back door, I saw Ralph leaning against the shed on his phone.
“My apologies for the wait,” I said in a quick breath while opening the shop for the day.
I typically would’ve already had everything set up before my first client of the day, but everything was out of whack.
Perfect was MIA and had left that ominous note saying he would be back.
Not to mention, I still wasn’t feeling like myself.
“It’s all good, Rock.” He took a seat in my chair while I turned on my gospel playlist. I couldn’t start my day without it. After the morning I had, I could use a little help from the Lord to get me through with my sanity in check.
After a few deep breaths to center myself, I got started on Ralph’s cut.
He wanted me to clean him up, so he was out of my chair in no time and on the way to his first showing of the day.
He was a renowned real estate agent in the city who didn’t play about keeping himself up.
I saw him damn near every week like clockwork.
Not long after Ralph pulled out of my driveway, I saw Tyshawn pulling along the curb.
When his door opened, a cloud of smoke lifted into the air.
I smiled because if he was going to do one thing, it was blow him some Mary Jane.
I was pissed that I wouldn’t be able to hit whatever blunt he offered because I really needed it.
The rest of my day went on just the same, and around four in the afternoon, I was finally closing down shop. I pulled my phone from my pocket and went right to my messages. Opening my thread with Perfect, I checked to see if he’d texted me, but nope he still hadn’t.
It was unlike him to go all day without checking in with me, so I was becoming worried.
In the month he was here, we’d developed a routine pretty quickly.
It wasn’t even forced; we just seemed to notice how one moved and adjusted accordingly.
Basically, even though it had only been a month, his absence was crippling.
He had become my safety net, the safest place I’d ever had with a man, and because of that, I was forgetting how I operated before he came into my life.
Going into the house, I grabbed my keys to run an errand.
I was so in my head that I didn’t even listen to music while I drove.
There was a CVS up the block, so I went and made it back to the house in under twenty minutes.
I waved at my neighbor Ms. Laila, who was tending to her rose garden.
She spent most of her time out there, tending to her flowers.
I often sat on my porch, just watching her wallow in her peace.
After I let myself in, I raced to the bathroom.
There wasn’t any time to waste, so I ripped open the package, then took a seat on the toilet.
I got distracted when my phone rang. I rushed through what I was doing, hoping it was Perfect.
I frowned when I saw it was my childhood friend Armani. I couldn’t even talk to her right now.
Standing in front of the sink, I washed my hands and studied myself in the mirror. I looked flushed and had sweated out my edges. I giggled at how nappy they looked, then dried my hands, leaving the bathroom behind. Before I knew it, I was wrapped up in my favorite blanket in the middle of my bed.
When I opened my eyes again, the sun was creeping above the horizon.
I reached for my phone and saw that it was around seven in the morning.
I didn’t know how I slept through the night like that, but I had.
Sitting up, I stretched my arms over my head and noticed I still had no missed notifications from Port.
Quickly unraveling myself from the cocoon I was in, I went to check his bedroom, only to find it empty.
My heart sank to my toes as I started to think the worst. I found myself out on the porch, hoping to find some answers about his absence out there, but I plopped down in my rocking chair without a clue if he was dead or alive.
Me:
Hey, just checking on you since you didn’t come home last night. Just let me know you’re okay.
I hugged my phone to my chest and sighed. The sound of a door slamming drew my attention to the next door. Like clockwork, Ms. Laila was coming outside to work on her garden. I knew it was the thing she looked forward to every morning. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Good morning, Ms. Lai,” I called out to her. Standing quickly, I moved toward the fence. She had the brightest smile on her face as she came over to meet me.
“Good morning, sweetheart. It’s a lovely morning, huh?”
I nodded. “Yeah, it feels good out here, but I’m sure it’s going to be too hot to breathe once the sun is high in the sky.”
“Oh yeah, that’s why I’m starting early today. Need to get these roses trimmed and to pull up some roots.”
“Well, don’t let me keep you from it. Have a good day.” I started to back away when a question crossed my mind. Since Ms. Lai was up early, I wondered if she saw Perfect leave yesterday. “Hey, Ms. Lai, have you seen the man who’s been living with me?”
She shook her head. “Not since he left with that older lady yesterday morning.”
I frowned, wondering what woman that could have been. I knew for a fact Perfect didn’t talk to his mother, so who could’ve come to get him, and why hadn’t he come back? I had a million questions without one clue on what the answers were. “Okay, well, thank you. See you later.”
Instead of returning to the porch, I headed inside. I figured a hot shower would help me feel better. Leaning against the counter, I went into my thread with Perfect again.
Me:
I don’t know what’s going on with you but ignoring me is pissing me off! Where the fuck are you? I need to talk to you. It’s important!
I placed my phone face down on the counter and picked up the test I’d abandoned yesterday because I was too afraid to look at the results. I swear, it was like I forgot how to breathe when I saw the two lines confirming what I was afraid of. I was pregnant with Perfect’s baby.