36/Danielle
It was Wednesday night.
Chance had been over every night for the last four weeks.
Now, I know he was my man, and it was sweet that he wanted to spend all his free time with me, but I was starting to itch for an opportunity to fart without him sitting two feet away asking what smelled funny.
I'd made dinner, then we moved to my bedroom where we enjoyed some quality grown-folk time. Afterward, we spent the rest of the evening stretched across the bed watching television.
When Chance got up to get us something to drink, I curled deeper beneath the sheets.
His cell phone vibrated on the nightstand. At first, I ignored it. Then I thought better of it. Chance always said he had nothing to hide. I reached over and answered it.
“Hello?”
“Is Jaycee there?” a woman asked, her tone loaded with attitude.
My eyebrow rose.
“Jaycee?”
“That's what I said.”
Oh no. She wasn't about to get smart with me. “You have the wrong number.”
She sucked her teeth.
“Wrong number? This is the same number I called last week.”
“Sorry, but this is my man's phone, and his name ain't Jaycee.”
I hung up.
Five seconds later, the phone rang again.
“Hello?”
“Is Jaycee there?”
Now I had an attitude. “I just told you there ain't nobody here by that name.”
The woman mumbled something under her breath and disconnected.
I was putting the phone back on the nightstand when Chance walked into the room carrying two bottles of water. The second he saw me holding his phone, he nearly dropped one.
“Yo, baby girl, what’re you doing?”
“I was answering your phone. But it was a wrong number. Some woman was looking for Jay-Z or C or somebody.”
He frowned for a second before laughing. “Jay-Z? They definitely had the wrong number. Hell, I wish I was him.”
Then he grinned.
“Although I gotta say my woman finer than his.”
I couldn't help smiling at that.
Chance handed me a bottle of water, opened his, and sat beside me. For a minute he was quiet. Whenever Chance got quiet, it usually meant he was thinking.
“Yo, baby girl, check this out.”
The look on his face told me he was serious. “What?”
I shifted closer.
“Yo man trying to hold it down in these streets, and I don't want you involved in all that.”
Okay.
I could understand that.
“I don't want you answering my phone. Most of them calls is business. My clients hear some strange voice answer, they might hang up.”
Judging by the look on my face, he must've realized that explanation wasn't going over too well because he quickly kept talking.
“Like the female that just called. She was probably one of my customers. She heard your voice and made up a fake name to cover it up.”
When he put it that way...
He actually had a point.
“You understand, baby?” He stared at me until I nodded. “If I wasn't using that phone for business, you could answer it all day long and it wouldn't matter.”
I thought about it for a second. “Sounds to me like you need two phones.”
His face lit up. “You right.”
Chance pointed at me. “That's exactly what I need. One phone for business and one for personal.”
I nodded and he smiled.
“How about you put me on your plan? Then you can answer the personal phone anytime you want. Hell, I'll even let you record the voicemail greeting.”
I grinned.
Yep.
That sounded like an excellent idea. Matter of fact, I'd make the greeting myself. Something that let every woman calling know exactly who Chance belonged to.
His phone vibrated again.
My eyes immediately darted toward it. Just checking to see if that same heifer was calling back.
Chance picked it up. “Speak to me.”
Whatever the person said made him smile.
“Chill out. That was my girl.”
Then he covered the phone and looked at me.
“See? Didn't I tell you? Just business, baby. Yo man trying to hold it down.”
He stood. “I'ma take this in the other room.”
I nodded and watched him leave.
Honestly, I felt proud.
My man was in demand.
And if he was really out here doing the damn thing like he said he was, I figured a shopping trip this weekend was only right.
A successful man deserved a woman who looked successful standing next to him.