Big Girl Blitz (Curve #3)

Chapter 1

“Dates are just romantic interviews, and I don’t have the emotional bandwidth,” I explained to my best friends on a three-way call.

“What’s your plan to get back out there?” Aaliyah James questioned. “I don’t think you’re taking things seriously.”

“What?” I squawked. “What do you mean?”

“She means you need to stop automatically telling men you’re not interested and to leave you alone,” Nina Ford chimed in. “Whole time, you haven’t had sex with someone new in ten years!”

“Has it been that long?” Aaliyah gasped.

I groaned. “Don’t remind me.”

“I’m going to remind you until you fix it,” Nina joked. “I’m surprised you’re not hopping on the first big dick you see.”

“Because I’m feeling like I just might,” Aaliyah muttered.

We all laughed.

“I need a connection,” I reminded them. “I can’t just fuck a stranger.”

“Ah. Makes sense that you want to line up a boyfriend for summer,” Aaliyah mused.

My eyebrows shot up. “I did not say that.”

“You said you were gonna finally take your coochie out the plastic and use it,” Nina teased, causing me to chuckle. “I’ll keep my eye out for candidates so you can build your roster.”

“I never said I was building a roster either! All I said was that it would be nice to have sex again … someone I can call on whenever I need it.”

“I thought you were against a friend-with-benefits situation,” Aaliyah pointed out.

“Mainly because once I start talking football with men, they friendzone me.” Letting out a light laugh, I shook my head. “At this point in my life, a friend with benefits would be ideal. I don’t need the feelings. I just need the benefits.”

“So, you fucking friends now?” Nina quipped, ignoring the main point of what I’d said.

“You could also fuck your boyfriend or your husband-to-be,” Aaliyah offered.

I rolled my eyes. “Been there, done that, not interested in doing it again.”

“Not everybody is looking to settle down, Aaliyah,” Nina remarked. “Some of us like the streets.”

I laughed. “Speak for yourself!”

“I am,” Nina deadpanned.

For almost two of the five hours it took to get to Chance, Virginia, the three of us chatted on the phone, expediting my commute.

Located on the border between Virginia and North Carolina, my hometown was a sore spot for me.

And the closer I got to the exit, the more my energy shifted.

When I shared that with my best friends, Nina read us some of the vile comments on her most recent social media post.

“Nobody hates fat women more than men we never said we wanted and women we never viewed as competition,” I pointed out.

“That’s a fact.” Aaliyah laughed. “We don’t even be checking for them, and they be coming for us!”

“But as soon as I say, ‘His bulge is all balls, no meat,’ or ‘She’s not pretty; she’s just thin,’ I’m doing too much,” Nina responded. “Whole time, I’m not doing enough.”

We cracked up.

“I don’t know how you do it, Nina.” Aaliyah sighed. “You are strong, girl.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “Subjecting yourself to public scrutiny is brave.”

“I’m not worried about that bullshit,” Nina said dismissively.

“My reason for sharing is to make a point … People are going to say wild shit unprovoked. Don’t let anybody, especially not the random townspeople of Chance, get under your skin, Jazz.

They don’t matter. And if they don’t matter, they don’t get to have any kind of power over you. ”

I let out a deep breath and nodded even though they couldn’t see me.

“You’re right. I’ve just always hated being here.

You know that uncomfortable feeling of walking into a room and realizing everyone was just talking about you?

That’s how it feels here.” My stomach roiled as I took the exit to Chance.

“If it weren’t for my aunt…” I stopped talking abruptly as an incoming call beeped in. “Hey, I need to take this.”

I yelled my goodbye into the speaker before clicking over to answer the other line. “Hello?”

“Ms. Payne?” The soft, compassionate tone of my aunt’s nurse of three years instantly put me on high alert.

After taking a deep breath, I responded, “Yes? It’s me.”

“It’s Monica,” she introduced herself, even though I knew her voice and I had her number saved. She was a tall, wiry woman with a very distinct tone of voice.

“Hey, Monica,” I replied nervously. “Is everything okay?”

“Addison is resting right now. Can we talk?” she requested gently.

I gripped the steering wheel tightly. “Is everything okay with Aunt Addy?”

“Where are you?” Her voice was even, compassionate, and extremely different from the upbeat, chipper tone she’d had when I’d spoken to her last week.

“I’m about fifteen minutes away from the house.”

“I need you to meet me at the address that I just texted you instead.”

I swallowed hard. “Monica, what’s going on?”

“Your aunt is a fighter,” she answered. “We’ve had to discontinue hospice services three times because she’s bounced back. She is a strong woman.”

She paused, and I felt my heart in my throat during that silence.

“But…” she started again, “her circumstances have changed.”

When Aunt Addy had told me she’d gone to the hospital a few days ago, I figured it was related to her heart issues.

We didn’t talk long, but I noticed her words were slurred and assumed it was the medication.

I asked her if she needed me to come a few days earlier, and she said no.

Because of her battle with congestive heart failure for the last several years, everything about her hospital visit had felt routine.

She’d get checked out, maybe have an overnight stay, but it was never for very long.

So hearing Nurse Monica sound so pessimistic freaked me out.

I stopped at a red light. “How have things changed?” I asked, putting the address she’d given me into the GPS.

“She had a right-side stroke a few days ago. Those who have congestive heart failure are two to three times more likely to have one,” she explained.

“I don’t understand. She was doing all the things on her list. She was taking her meds, getting exercise, eating well.” I shook my head in confusion. “I thought things were going well.”

“She was doing well. But remember, heart failure means her heart isn’t pumping as it should…”

As she used medical jargon to explain what was going on, I stepped on the gas.

“She’s going to need more intensive care,” Monica continued.

“Her medical team just moved her to Stark Recovery Rehabilitation Center for at least the next couple of weeks. At least. The first three months are the most important for stroke recovery. She agreed to two weeks. She’s just getting settled in now before dinner. ”

My eyes watered as I nodded. “Okay.”

“Stark Recovery is strict, but it’s the best in the state. There are no overnight visitors, no outside food, no outside medical teams—”

“So you can’t be there?” I interrupted.

“I can but as a friend and a source of support. And she’s going to need a lot of support. I know she doesn’t like for people to see her when she’s going through it, but if you’re able to get her to agree to have visitors while she’s here, I believe it would help.”

Holding back tears, I made a left turn. “I can do that.”

“If anyone can convince her, you can. How long are you in town for?”

“A week,” I answered softly. “But if she’ll be in there for two, I’ll make arrangements for two weeks.”

“She’s been looking forward to your visit since spring break.”

I swiped at the tear that rolled down my cheek. “I’ve been looking forward to it, too.”

We said goodbye, and I took a breath.

I wasn’t fond of my hometown; in fact, I hated it.

But I loved my annual weeklong visits with my aunt.

We had always been close, but once I’d left Chance, our bond had become even tighter.

She was the only reason I returned. Over the years, I always worried about Aunt Addy’s health, but it had been a while since I’d been truly scared.

Trying my hardest to hold it together, I rolled my shoulders back and entered the rehab center praying. I went to the room number that Monica had texted me, and I froze. As I peeked through the cracked door to see my aunt, something inside me broke.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Addison Payne was my role model. She was my real-life inspiration.

She was the person who helped me see that there was a world outside of Chance.

She was the person who allowed me to be my full self.

She was the person I went to for advice.

She was my first best friend. As much as I loved my parents, my aunt was my everything.

So nothing could’ve prepared me to see her like that.

Looking small in that hospital bed, she had tubes and wires coming from under her gown. She was too young to have endured so much. Squeezing my eyes shut, I reminded myself of the words she’d instilled in me since she got sick three years ago.

We have faith in God’s plan, and we don’t let fear control us, she would say.

She had overcome everything that had hit her in her lifetime, so I was going to have faith that she’d come out of this, too. I took a deep breath and plastered a smile on my face.

“This is niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice,” I remarked as I walked into the spacious hospital-style room. The bay window with the view of the courtyard caught my eye immediately. “I see they put you in a suite!”

Aunt Addison sucked her teeth, amused. “Jazmyn, stop.”

My jaw dropped, feigning shock. “What?”

“The view and the TV don’t change where I’m at.”

The slight slur in her words pained me.

My smile faltered as I made my way to her bedside. “But it helps.”

She laughed lightly. “Yeah, it helps. But I’d rather be home.” Sighing, she reached out for me with her right arm. As soon as her bony fingers gripped my hand, she continued. “I’m happy to see you.”

“I’m happy to see you, too.” I choked back the emotion welling up inside me. “You know I can’t start my summer without seeing my aunt Addy.”