Chapter 10
S M O K E
By the time I got to City Council Square Saturday morning, somebody had already parked a catering van where one of our work trucks needed to be, two vendors were arguing over the same spot, and Darius was standing in the middle of Main Street looking like he was two seconds away from telling everybody to go the fuck home.
Finishing my blunt, I tossed the roach out the window before pulling my truck as far over as I could.
Getting out with my phone pressed to my ear, I said, “Nah, move the whole thing. I don’t give a fuck what they told you yesterday.
We need access to that side ‘til we finish securin’ everything.
” I ended the call and shoved my phone into my pocket while Darius walked toward me.
“This shit been stupid since I got here,” he said. “Mike over by the park tryna fix one of them signs, Shawn helpin’ wit’ the stage, and the lady wit’ the candles been askin’ for you every five minutes.”
“What the fuck she need me for?”
“Some shit.” Darius laughed while I headed toward the square, tired as fuck.
I hadn’t slept worth a damn. I had gone upstairs after Solace left, checked on Keyana, showered again because I could still smell Solace on my fucking skin, then spent most of the night staring at the ceiling.
I hadn’t called her, and I damn sure hadn’t texted her.
After the way shit went down between us last night, I already knew neither one of us had anything good to say yet.
What bothered me was knowing Lace was leaving Bellhaven, and this time she’d be leaving with shit fucked up between us.
I pushed all that shit out of my head and went to work.
The next couple hours didn’t give me much time to think about anything anyway.
Every time I handled one problem, somebody found another one.
One of the temporary railings near the stage was loose.
A food vendor needed more power than they told anybody they needed.
Somebody had blocked the loading area behind Main Street.
Tanya called from the hardware store because three different vendors had come in looking for extension cords, zip ties, and shit they should’ve bought before Friday morning.
I sent Byron over with what we had, got Mike off the sign long enough to help Shawn with the stage, and told Darius to stop answering questions from anybody who wasn’t paying us.
Bellhaven had been doing the Fall Festival for as long as I could remember, and every year people still acted surprised when the whole damn town showed up.
My phone rang again while I was checking one of the tents near the square. I looked down and saw Keyana’s name. “What’s up?”
“You busy?”
“Yeah. What you need?”
She hesitated long enough for me to know she wanted more than whatever she had called about. “Can I go to the movies after school? Kayla’s aunt can bring us.”
“You ain’t got practice for this pep rally shit?”
“Not ‘til the mornin’. Whoop whoop!” She hollered into the phone. I was proud of her ass, so I told her to have fun at the movies and be safe. Keyana got quiet before she asked, “You and Solace okay?”
I rubbed my hand over my beard and looked across the square. “Everything straight, Key. Don’t worry ‘bout that.”
“Okay.”
She didn’t sound like she believed that shit, but I wasn’t about to explain what happened between me and Lace to my seventeen-year-old sister. “Get back to learnin’ shit.” That got a small laugh out of her before she hung up, and I put my phone away.
The festival officially opened later that morning, and Main Street filled up quick.
People had tents lined up on both sides of the street, selling everything from food and clothes to candles, jewelry, paintings, and shit I didn’t even know people in Bellhaven made.
Music came from the stage in City Council Square, kids ran around with painted faces, and the smell of fried food followed you damn near everywhere you went.
Cole Hardware had a tent close to the square, but Tanya had that shit handled.
She had the assigned volunteers passing out little bags with store shit in them and answering questions while I moved around checking on everything Cole Construction had helped set up.
I couldn’t make it ten feet without somebody stopping me.
Mr. Daniels caught me near the hardware tent and spent five minutes telling me about a porch he wanted redone before winter. Miss Diane hugged me, asked why I hadn’t been in Greene’s in a few days, then told me I looked tired before I could answer.
One of the city council members pulled me over to introduce me to somebody interested in having us bid on a commercial renovation after the holidays.
Two kids I knew from around town ran up asking if I had any more candy at the hardware tent like I personally stocked the shit. It was busy, but it was good.
Loretta called me not long after the lunch crowd started and told me one of the outlets near the front counter wasn’t working. I told her I would send somebody. She told me to stop being lazy and come look at it myself. Of course, I hung up on her ass but stopped by anyway.
The line outside Loretta’s damn near reached the next storefront.
I stood there looking at the place for a second before I went inside because we had spent weeks tearing that mahfucka apart and putting it back together.
Seeing it packed made every long ass day and every complaint from Loretta’s ass worth it.
People filled every booth, the counter was packed, and somebody had already moved two extra tables near the front just to fit more people. Loretta was walking around smiling and checking on everybody like she had personally invented the restaurant business.
“Smoke!” somebody called as soon as I stepped inside.
I spoke to a few people as I made my way toward the counter, but my attention went to Solace behind the counter with Loretta.
She had her hair pulled back and was wearing jeans, a fitted long-sleeved shirt, and an apron tied around her waist. She was carrying two plates when she looked up and saw me.
Her eyes stayed on mine for about a second before she looked away and kept moving.
I stood there watching her ass longer than I needed to before Loretta stepped in front of me. “You plannin’ on fixin’ my outlet or standin’ there lookin’ stupid?”
I looked down at her. “I shoulda sent Darius’s ass.”
Loretta smiled and pointed toward the counter. “I knew you would come.”
I shook my head and walked around the counter. I checked the outlet and found the problem fast to get the fuck up out of there. Solace came around the corner while I was standing near the kitchen entrance. There wasn’t enough room for both of us to pass without one of us moving.
She finally looked at me and huffed. “Excuse me.”
That was all I got. I stepped aside and let her walk past me, but my eyes followed her ass anyway.
She had on a black hoodie, black leggings, and the bedazzled Crocs I bought her at the outlet mall.
She looked comfortable as fuck while them damn leggings had her ass poking out something serious.
Mad or not, I was still a nigga with eyes.
I watched her for another second before turning back around.
Loretta saw the whole shit from behind the counter and wisely kept her mouth shut.
Darius was outside talking to Anthony when I came back toward the square.
My brother had a tray loaded with soul food in one hand and a drink in the other like he hadn’t eaten in three days.
“You ain’t got no job today?” I asked.
Anthony looked at me while chewing. “It’s the weekend.”
“Fuck that gotta do wit’ employment?”
“Bro, let the boy live,” Darius laughed and I shook my head as I kept walking.
The rest of the afternoon went smoother.
Once everything was up and running, I finally had time to eat and enjoy some of the shit going on around me.
I grabbed a plate from one of the barbecue vendors and sat near the hardware tent until I finished it.
An older dude named Mrs. Curtis stopped while I was throwing my plate away.
She was cool with my mother back in the day and used to give me little jobs when I was a teenager.
“Been lookin’ ‘round at all this festival shit y’all did,” she said. “You doin’ good, Sherrod.”
“I’m tryin’.”
“No, baby. You doin’ the damn thing.” She laughed, slapping my shoulder before walking away, leaving me watching Denisha stroll by.
She was walking with three other women I recognized.
Two of them had kids with them, and one was pushing a stroller while another little boy walked beside them carrying a bag of popcorn almost as big as he was.
I had fucked with Denisha off and on for almost a year, knowing what she looked like out of clothes.
This was the first time I looked at her and thought about the fact that she was pregnant now.
She was laughing at something one of her friends said, holding a cup in one hand and a shopping bag in the other.
Still, all I could think was that my child might be growing inside of her.
Denisha eventually looked across the street and spotted me.
She said something to her friends before walking over. “Hey.”
“What’s up?”
She looked around. “Big turnout this year so far. The fest is lit.”
“Yeah, it’s cool.”
She took a sip from her cup and looked at me again. “So apparently I missed some things while I was gone.”
I already knew Bellhaven had been running its fucking mouth. “What you heard?”
“That you been seen ‘round town wit’ somebody everybody seems to remember.”
I shook my head. “These nosy mahfuckas need hobbies.”
Denisha laughed. “This is Bellhaven. Gossip is the hobby.” I chuckled because I couldn’t argue with that shit. Her smile faded some. “You okay?”
“I’m straight.”
“You don’t look straight.”
“I’m good, D.”
Denisha rolled her eyes. “You’re so mean.”
“You knew that before you fucked wit’ me.”