Chapter 2
Sleep was for people who had time to waste. That was not Paisley. In fact, she hadn’t had a second of time to waste for the past twelve years. After the fiasco in the courtroom, the judges immediately moved to exonerate Kydrick, but further investigation had to take place first.
It only took a couple of hours for Thomas to crack under his simmering rage. When that happened, the police officers who were interrogating him were surprised to find the calm white man who had worked with them so well over the past several years was capable of harming them. If Thomas had been a Black man, he would have been handcuffed and maybe even beaten. But in that room, Thomas was able to freely jump over the table, past the half eaten burgers and fries, and choke one of the officers damn near unconscious while breaking the other officer’s hand for trying to interfere. The switch happened too quickly, and it took a full minute to restrain Thomas.
What made him snap? Pressure. All that built up pressure from twelve years, probably longer, of lying and forcing people to lie for him. The facade had finally slipped, and after going through both Annie and Thomas’s phones, it didn’t take long for the courts to rule Kydrick a free man.
That all took place over the course of a couple of days, and Paisley hadn’t slept a wink the entire time. If she wasn’t holed up in her office working with Steven to expedite things, she was home, cleaning and making sure she had everything ready for what was destined to happen at this point. Even in the few moments of quiet she experienced, nerves, anxiety, and excitement twisted knots in her stomach, not allowing for space to sleep.
Kydrick is coming home . The thought swirled around her mind, grounding her and causing her to spin out of control all at the same time. She wouldn’t allow it to fill her with relief just yet, though. Not until she saw him walk through the doors of the prison, which would be any minute.
The vibrating of her phone startled her, causing her to stop pacing in front of her light blue BMW truck. She fished her phone out of the pocket of her gray sweats and noticed it was her sister calling, who was probably at her parents’ house and surrounded by the rest of her family. With a loud sigh, she swiped her thumb across the screen and answered.
“Yes, Tiana?”
“Are you guys home yet?” she asked, excitement oozing through the phone.
“I told you I would let you know when we’re home. I really need you guys to stop calling me. It’s making me anxious.”
Paisley squinted her eyes up at the sun as she tilted her head back, enjoying the oddly nice weather on this autumn day. Normally, it was at least twenty degrees cooler at this time of year, but God definitely knew Kydrick deserved to come home on the perfect day. That made her smile, but it faded when Paisley heard Nasir grumbling in the background.
“I told you to leave her alone.”
“Shut up, dummy,” Tiana snapped.
From there, Paisley tuned them out as she often did. Thirty seconds later, while they were still bickering, she hung up on them and put her phone on DND. She should have done it as soon as she woke up that morning, knowing what today brought, but she didn’t want to be cruel to her family. They cared about Kydrick, too, but at this point, they stressed her out too much to care about their feelings.
Her nerves were already bad, and she felt like she might cry at any moment. She only thanked God that the press hadn’t caught wind that he would be released today. They would have been camped out here right along with her, and that would have caused her anxiety to skyrocket.
Turning to toss her phone through the open window of her car, she leaned in and reached for her sunglasses in the holder on the ceiling of the truck. Before she could grab them, a deep voice behind her startled her.
“Paisley Pooh.”
She whirled around. At the same time, tears brimmed her eyes and fell. She only caught a glimpse of Kydrick standing before her before she was in his arms. She wasn’t sure if he had picked her up or if she jumped into his arms. Whatever it was, she was securely held up against his chest as she sobbed.
Twelve years. Twelve long years. And it all boiled down to this moment. Paisley held onto him as if her life depended on it. Her legs wrapped around his waist, and he held her up with one arm sitting under her thighs and one around her middle. It occurred to her that they had never hugged like this in the past. It also occurred to her that this was an unusual circumstance. It wasn’t every day a person was released from prison after being exonerated for a crime they never committed.
Emotions flowed through them. Just as Paisley sniffled and allowed tears to fall, Kydrick did the same. No words were sufficient to describe the feelings passing between them at the moment. Paisley didn’t want to stay there too long though. In fact, she wanted to get Kydrick far away, so reluctantly, she pulled away from him and smiled through her tears.
“Let’s get out of here, yeah?”
Kydrick’s jaw clenched as he nodded, letting her down slowly so she could stand on her feet. With kind eyes peering up at him, she reached for his cheeks and wiped his tears. He allowed her to do so for a couple of seconds before capturing her hand and placing a kiss on her knuckles.
“Let’s go.”
Kydrick grew to be a man of few words. Paisley didn’t blame him, and even now, though he didn’t say much, she understood how he felt and what he needed at that moment. He didn’t have to talk to her. She’d known him too long, and words were their lazy way of communicating. If she paid attention to his facial expression and his body language, she knew all she needed to know. He had always been the same with her… Janelle, too, way back then.
After squeezing his hand one last time, she turned to reach for the car door handle, but Kydrick beat her to it and opened the door for her. Once she was tucked safely inside, she wiped her remaining tears and checked her reflection in the mirror tucked into the sun visor. By the time she finished, Kydrick was in the car with his seat belt on. Paisley grabbed her sunglasses from their compartment and put them on before starting the car and pulling out of her spot.
She glanced over at Kydrick and admired the gray Nike Tech outfit she’d gotten him with the fresh pair of white Air Max shoes. He looked good despite being fresh out of prison, but the scowl on his face made her think he was anything but happy to finally be free.
“You okay?” she whispered, her voice hoarse from unshed tears.
It took everything in her not to let the fresh ones fall from her eyes. She would save that for when she was alone. It wasn’t that the space between her and Kydrick wasn’t safe to show emotions. The day was about him , though, and she wanted to keep her own emotions in check so he could safely feel all his . For years, she’d coached herself on how to allow Kydrick to do and feel as he pleased on the day of his release.
He pulled his gaze from the window and looked at her profile. His eyes stayed there for several long seconds before he said, “Thank you for coming to get me,” completely ignoring her question.
She squirmed, but her brows pulled together at his words.
“There is literally nothing else I would rather do right now, Kyd. You knew there was nothing that could have kept me from doing this. You know that, right?” Her eyes flickered over to him before she focused back on the road.
“It just seemed like the right thing to say, so I’ll say it again, and I just want you to accept it, aight? Thank you. Not just for today, but for everything. You the only one that did that time with me.” His voice caught, and it took him a few seconds to finish. “Thank you.”
The only thing Paisley could do was nod. If she spoke, she would pour her heart out to Kydrick so he understood why she needed to be by his side through this whole ordeal. She couldn’t do that, though, because though something new had grown between them over the past twelve years, it was like an unspoken rule that they didn’t speak about it. They didn’t name the feelings. Paisley feared losing the only friend she had if she put the words out into the world, so she clamped her mouth shut and let the silence do the talking for her.
After ten minutes of driving in what turned into a very comfortable silence, Paisley broke it.
“What do you want to do first, Kyd? I was thinking we could go to Sazón, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted that to be your first meal. I planned to cook tonight…”
She allowed her words to trail off because she knew she was about to ramble. She’d thought long and hard about what to feed Kydrick after he got out, and she always came back to Sazón. It was their childhood favorite. Kydrick, Janelle, and Paisley used to go there after spending long days at the beach and scrounging up enough money from their parents to buy the feast a fiesta taco pack, which consisted of a variety of twenty tacos. It was their tradition for many years before everything changed, and she thought it might be nice for him to come home to something familiar.
She stopped at a red light and glanced over at Kydrick to see him already looking at her with a toothless grin plastered on his face.
“You cook?”
The question caught Paisley so off guard that she snorted. “Of course, I cook. You know who my mama is. She made sure all her kids knew how to throw down in the kitchen.”
Kydrick nodded slowly. “Yeah, Mama Whitaker always knew her way around the kitchen.” After staying silent for a beat, he said, “Sazón sounds good, Pooh.”
Paisley beamed as she got off the exit to take them to the Mexican restaurant. When they pulled into the parking lot, Kydrick wasted no time getting out of the car before she could even cut it off. His long legs made quick work of rounding the truck, and he opened her door before she could even touch the handle. She wondered when he had become such a gentleman. He had been before, but not to this extent. He was still young and learning back then.
She slowly got out of the truck and watched as Kydrick stretched and breathed in the fresh air deeply. While she looked up at him, she got lost in the mere mass of him. He’d grown from the lanky teen with a few muscles here and there. Now, he was tall and imposing with muscles that couldn’t be missed even through his zip-up hoodie.
“You good?” he asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Swallowing, she smiled up at him and nodded. “It’s just surreal that you’re here right now.”
He nodded. “Yeah, I know. You actually mind if we get this food to go?”
She watched as his eyes surveyed the parking lot before nodding vigorously.
“Oh, of course, Kyd. I should have thought of that. I can’t believe I didn’t think of that?—”
“Aye, man. Chill with all that. It’s all good. I ain’t even think about getting the shit to go until we got here. We’re good. You’re good.”
Paisley let out a deep breath as stubborn tears teased the back of her eyelids. She had planned meticulously to make this day perfect for Kydrick. For years, she formulated his release day, manifesting that it would happen, eventually. Now that it was here, she kicked herself for not considering that he might not feel comfortable being in the public eye.
“Okay,” she finally whispered, avoiding his eyes. For some reason, she felt like she failed him. “Do you want to stay in the car while I order?”
He looked at her, his thick brows pulling in. “Have you lost your mind, woman? I want to be wherever you are.”
He pushed her golden-brown hair behind her shoulder and caressed her cheek. His words hung between them. The only reason they broke out of the trance they seemed to have with one another was because Kydrick’s stomach growled. Startled, Paisley jumped slightly before her eyes grew wide.
“Come on,” she said, grabbing his hand. “Let’s go get you some food.”
Inside the restaurant, the smell of sizzling meats and fresh tortillas met their nostrils, causing Kydrick to groan. Paisley giggled, stopping at the counter and looking up at the menu.
“Feast a fiesta taco box for sure. Anything else you want?” She looked back at Kydrick, who had his eyes trained on her, looking sad.
“What’s wrong?” she asked in alarm.
Kydrick shook his head. “It’s nostalgic being in here. I… I ain’t really think the shit would affect me…”
“Kyd, go to the car. Go ahead. I got this. Just let me know what else you want.”
Everything in Paisley wanted to take care of Kydrick. She wanted to make sure he was as comfortable as possible since that hadn’t been anyone else’s priority since he went to prison. She was his only friend—his family. She would have his back through this transition, just as she had while he was on the inside.
He shook his head. “Nah, just get whatever. You know I’m going to eat. I’m alright.”
Paisley chewed on her lip nervously before turning back to the menu and mentally making her selections. When she was ready, she stepped closer to the counter and greeted the lady standing there before placing her order.
After she paid, she turned and saw Kydrick standing up against the wall next to the door and watching the few people dining in the small space. Sazón wasn’t fancy, and it could be considered fast food, but it was authentic fast food. Whatever those cooks did in the back of the restaurant, they for sure did that . Everyone in Ellwood knew it was the best place for tacos, and normally it was a lot more crowded than this, but it was a Monday afternoon, so there were only a few people milling about. Later, though, it would be busy and crowded like it used to be when they came here as kids.
When his eyes landed on her, he tilted his head back and said, “Come here.”
His deep voice caused her to blush, and she timidly walked over to him, suddenly self-conscious of her sweats and yellow tight-fitted crop top shirt. She wondered if she should have dressed up a bit more, but then remembered it was just Kydrick. He had seen her during her awkward junior high phase where she was going through puberty. Surely, this was a step up.
When she was in arm’s length of him, he pulled her into him by her waist, causing her to settle into his arms. They stood like that the entire time they waited for their order. He breathed her scent in and rubbed her back slowly, amazed that he actually had someone else this close to him. It had been so long since he had a simple hug. During visiting hours, they didn’t allow for touching, and his love language was physical touch with anyone he loved. This right here was everything to him. He felt himself being replenished and revived by the minute simply by her presence.
“Order 562.”
Paisley pulled away and looked up at him sheepishly before glancing back at the worker who called out their number.
“That’s us.”
She made a move to grab the two large bags that now sat on the red counter, but Kydrick stopped her.
“I got it.”
She watched as he swaggered over to the counter and grabbed the bags. She trailed behind him and grabbed the two horchatas she ordered before they made their way out of the restaurant.
Once the food was secured in the back seat, Paisley pulled out of the parking lot while Kydrick put their straws into their drinks. He took a long sip and sighed contentedly.
“I swear it’s really the little things I missed the most. I could drink three of these a day—breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
Paisley smiled. “I think we can make that happen. I get my caramel latte every morning, and you can get your horchata.”
“That’s a bet.” Kydrick nodded, feeling a little lighter now that he had his first taste of freedom in the form of the sweet, cinnamon drink.