Five
FIVE
Holland
“I could barely sleep last night,” I said to Amy. “I got dressed and came back to the house this morning to explore more and do some cleaning. Filled up a few garbage bags with old papers and stuff from the kitchen cabinets.”
I kept looking out the front window. I was thinking about the guy I’d run into the evening before and wondered if I’d see him again.
“Aunt Goldie was a backup singer for a bunch of stars.” I let the curtains go. “I found pictures of her with all these famous people and newspaper clippings of shows.”
“That is amazing and insane all at the same time! I guess you got your beautiful voice from her,” Amy said.
People often told me I had a nice voice. It was no big deal to me—until now. “I guess,” I said, liking the idea of inheriting something from my biological family. I strolled around the square coffee table while talking to Amy. I couldn’t seem to keep still. “Then I ran into this man.”
“Oh! Do tell,” Amy said. I could picture her getting comfortable in her chair, ready to devour every detail. “Was he cute?”
I sat on the couch and folded my legs under me. The edges of my lips curled into a smile. “ F - i - n - e . And I wouldn’t mind running into him again,” I joked.
“Mm-hmm!” Amy muttered and then laughed. “I bet you wouldn’t. Tell me more.”
“There’s not much more to tell. It happened so fast. I ran out to get into the Uber and wham! We collided. The bag I was carrying dropped, everything fell out and started flying away in the breeze. He helped me gather the stuff. When he handed the papers to me, I swear I felt something when his fingers brushed against mine.”
“Oh, chile! Chemistry? You felt sensations ?” Amy squealed.
“Girl!” That one word was confirmation. A complete sentence. Amy and I melted into giggles.
“When are you heading back to Charleston?”
“Tomorrow morning. I changed the date for the movers to come so that I would have time to take care of things here and get back. The attorney told me there were some bank statements and other documents I needed to close some of my aunt’s accounts. He said the sooner I did it, the better. I have a little over a month before I start my new job. I’ll use that time to close out as much as possible and get this house on the market.”
“Are you sure you want to sell, Hollz?”
Amy’s question gave me pause. I thought about all the things I had found and the feeling I got walking through the same house that my mother walked through. “New York isn’t for me. It’s so far from home.”
“Nothing a bus, plane, or train ride couldn’t fix.”
“True, but I have my mind set on Charleston and they already have my security deposit. Ha!” I didn’t admit that something about the house was already pulling at my heartstrings.
“Hello! Hello!” A nasal, high-pitched voice sailed through the slightly opened window followed by a series of knocks. “Hello!” the voice said again. More knocks.
“Hold on, Amy.” I scrunched my nose. “Someone is at the door.” Puzzled, I tiptoed to the window, trying not to be seen.
“Girl, don’t you open that door. You’re in New York. It could be anybody.”
I peeked through the heavy drapes and saw only a portion of the small frame on the front porch.
“You still in there?” the woman asked.
I reared back from the window. Who was this woman and how did she know I was here in the first place?
“I’m Ms. Elsie,” she said, as if she’d heard my thoughts. “Goldie’s friend and neighbor. You Goldie’s family?” Ms. Elsie said my aunt’s name as if it had an a at the end, like we did down south.
I still hadn’t answered, but somehow, Ms. Elsie knew I could hear her. I figured I might as well open the door.
“One moment, please,” I finally said. Pretending not to be there wasn’t going to work.
“Who is it?” Amy whispered through the phone as if Ms. Elsie might hear her.
“Hold on!” I giggled.
“You’re gonna open the door?” Amy asked with incredulity.
“Yes. I’ll be fine. It’s an old woman.”
“Keep me on the phone in case she’s crazy. I can be your witness. Put me on speaker. Let’s do FaceTime so I can see her creepy ass.”
My giggles blossomed into full-blown laughter. I kept the sound low as I turned the lock and pulled the door back, revealing a petite woman in a black tracksuit with silver sequined panels down the sides. Even her tennis shoes sparkled. She topped off her look with bright eyes and a dazzling smile.
She was holding the door open as I unlocked the screen and stepped inside before I invited her.
“Oh. Hi!” I said, blinking. “H-how can I help you?”
Ms. Elsie walked in easily, like she’d done this all the time. I stepped aside, making space for her. We filled the small entryway.
“Hey, honey! I’m Ms. Elsie. I believe Goldie was your aunt, right?” She widened her eyes quizzically.
“Yes, ma’am. My great-aunt.” Despite this woman’s boldness, I remembered my manners. I only gave her a slight side-eye.
Ms. Elsie’s lips curled into a happy smile. She tilted her head to the side. “Oh, child.” She nodded. “Goldie would have been so thrilled to see your face.” She parked her hands on her hips and added, “And you look so much like your mama. Mm-hmm. Just as pretty too.”
Her words melted my side-eye and rigid posture. “You—you knew my mother?”
“I shole did, sugar. And your grandmother too. Me and Goldie moved in around the same time, almost fifty years ago. Both came up here from down south,” Ms. Elsie said proudly. “We grew to be the best of friends. I’d watch her place when she went out on tour. You know she was a singer, right?” I assumed the question was rhetorical because Ms. Elsie didn’t pause long enough for me to answer. “Your aunt was beautiful inside and out. Mm-hmm. Shoh was.” Ms. Elsie nodded, agreeing with herself. “She helped me with my kids after my husband died. We looked out for one another.”
Ms. Elsie stopped long enough to study me for a moment. She tilted her head. Her gaze was soft. Tears pooled in her eyes, which she quickly wiped away with worn, copper-skinned hands. “I know she would have done anything to be able to rest her eyes on your pretty face again,” she said.
“Thank you, Ms. Elsie.” I felt my eyes moisten. Several silent moments ticked by.
“Oh. Were you on the phone?” Ms. Elsie asked.
“Huh?”
Ms. Elsie pointed to the phone in my hand.
“Oh. Yes. One moment, please.” I lifted the phone to my ear. “Amy?” She was still there.
“Sounds like you’re safe, girl. Call me when she leaves, okay?”
“I will,” I promised, and ended the call.
I felt compelled to officially invite Ms. Elsie inside. I’d known her for five minutes, and I liked her already. She was sassy, but there was also a warmth about her. Plus, she’d whet my appetite with her comments about my mother, grandmother, and aunt. I was hungry to hear more of what she knew about my family.
“Please. Come in.” I turned and walked toward the couch.
Ms. Elsie followed behind. She sat, looked around, and rubbed the couch cushions beside her. She dragged in a breath and wrung her hands.
“Oh! I have a key,” she said. “I’ll bring it next time I come over. We kept keys to each other’s houses. I tried to keep the place tidy while she was in hospice. These old fingers and bones only allowed me to do so much.” Ms. Elsie splayed her fingers wide, then closed them into fists.
“I’m sure she appreciated that,” I said. And I did too. This place could have looked much worse when I arrived.
Ms. Elsie sighed again and looked around the living room. She was hurting. Pain flashed in her glistening eyes. She’d lost a close friend. I couldn’t imagine losing Amy.
“She would have done the same for me. The one room I couldn’t bring myself to go into was her bedroom.” She sniffled.
“Why?” I wanted to move closer to her—hug her. I stayed put on my side of the couch.
I needed to hear everything—anything this woman could tell me.
“That’s where I thought I almost lost her,” she said after a few raw moments. “We always went to church together. It was a Sunday morning. She wasn’t answering her phone. I called and called. When she didn’t answer, I searched for my key and came inside. I yelled her name a few times. I knew she was home. When I got to her room, I found her slumped halfway off the bed. Lord!” Ms. Elsie squeezed her eyes shut. She took a moment to collect herself. When she opened her eyes again, tears rolled down her cheeks.
“She went to the hospital that day and never came back home. Ended up in hospice a few weeks later. Stayed there until the Lord called her home three weeks ago.”
“Wow.” The word escaped in a breathy whisper. My heart crashed into my stomach and I winced at the thought of such a narrow miss. I had only been three weeks shy of meeting my aunt. Why hadn’t I searched for my family before? Why hadn’t I pressed Ma for more information? Why didn’t Aunt Goldie’s lawyers find me sooner?
I don’t know how long I sat there listening to Ms. Elsie. Her voice became distant even though she was right in front of me. The pounding of my heart and rampant thoughts trampling through my mind drowned out her words.
She paused, studying me for a moment. With a gentle touch, she placed her hand over mine. I nodded and she continued telling her story. I needed to hear all of it. Her considerate gesture showed that she knew the impact her words were having on me.
Ms. Elsie paused again. Patted my hand this time. “You okay, baby?” The way Ms. Elsie called me baby made me feel like she carried me in her loving arms.
“Yes. Please continue.”
After telling me about the day she found my aunt, she shared stories about their friendship. Those tales made my heart smile. I was getting to know my aunt through Ms. Elsie’s memories, imagining her pretty face as she came alive through her reminiscing.
The bright slivers of sunshine that beamed through the blinds when we first sat down turned into a yellow-orange haze. So much time had passed. I didn’t mind, though. Ms. Elsie’s stories were rich and colorful. Her favorite word was shit . She stretched the word into multiple syllables ending with a d instead of a t . Every single time she said shiiid , I giggled.
“When your aunt wasn’t singing, she was cooking. Let me tell you, baby.” Ms. Elsie hooted. “That woman cooked like she was feeding an entire army. Everybody loved her food. Most people thought she cooked that much just because she loved cooking, but I knew better.”
I drew closer to Ms. Elsie, wondering what she knew. She pursed her lips and nodded like she had a big secret.
“Her cooking brought people together. Made her feel like she had a family, but nothing could replace the family she’d lost, or the one she always wanted but never had.” Shaking her head and wagging her finger, she said, “Mm-mmm. Never could.”
My aunt had longed for family as deeply as I did.
Right in the middle of Ms. Elsie’s story, she placed her hand across her stomach and announced, “I’m hungry.” She stood and headed toward the door, marking our conversation’s abrupt end. I laughed, appreciating how no-nonsense elders were.
I didn’t know how old Ms. Elsie was, but if she was close in age to my aunt, that meant she was a spry and spunky eighty-something-year-old, just a few years older than my adoptive mother.
I walked Ms. Elsie out, taking two of the large garbage bags with me to throw in the trash can. She hugged me tight at the door and insisted we exchange cell phone numbers.
“I’ll keep watch over the house until you get back. Call me anytime, ya hear?” Ms. Elsie held my hand and smiled. “Okay, sugar. You let me know when you come back. I’ll cook you a nice meal.”
Smiling, I said, “I’ll be back in a few days.”
She passed through the gate in time to open her arms and embrace someone passing by on the street. He lifted her small frame in the air with one hand and held a basketball with the other.
“Boy, put me down,” she giggled.
Carefully, he set her back down like she was a porcelain doll.
She swatted him playfully and tugged on her sparkly jacket to straighten it out.
Watching them interact, I couldn’t help but smile. Assuming it was one of her grandsons, I looked closer and froze. It was the guy I’d bumped into the day before. Something electrifying shot through me. With eyes glued to his long, taut frame, I tensed and watched his muscles move under his smooth, nut-brown skin. His perfect face was framed by a freshly cut fade and divinely decorated with a neat goatee around the plumpest set of lips I’d ever seen on a man. He turned his head in my direction in what seemed like slow motion, giving me a full-on view of his gorgeous face, brooding eyes, and dimples so deep I could fill them with water and take a swim in them.
He looked finer today than he had yesterday. His white tank did nothing to hide the muscles that rose and fell like hills and valleys over his taut arms and chest. Black basketball shorts gave way to sculpted thighs, leading to equally sculpted calves. A slight sheen of sweat glistened across his forehead. My breath caught when he looked my way. Time continued to stretch, moving slowly as his sexy lips spread into an inviting smile, revealing a set of even, pearly white teeth. Resisting the urge to swoon, I wondered, was this how all New York men looked? Had I not been paying attention?
“Oh! Noble, baby. This here is Ms. Goldie’s great-niece. Ain’t she pretty?” Ms. Elsie said, mischief sparkling in her eyes.
Noble held his hand out. I stepped close enough for him to take my hand in his for a gentle shake. That electrical thing happened again. Did he feel that too?
“Your aunt was an amazing woman. Nice to meet you, uh…”
“Holland,” I finished for him. “Thank you. Nice to meet you too.”
That voice. Deep and sexy. His face. Chiseled and fine. Those eyes. Smoldering and penetrating. His…everything. Damn .
Realizing he still held my hand, I gently pulled away. His touch left me tingling.
“Well,” I said, wiping my clammy hands on my leggings. Thank you for a lovely talk, Ms. Elsie. I will definitely let you know when I get back. Good night.”
“You gonna let me know too?” His sultry voice should have been registered as a lethal weapon.
Was he flirting with me? “Are you flirting with me?” I asked in a high voice that I didn’t recognize.
“Maybe!” He raised one of those thick, beautiful brows, and winked. His perfect lips curled upward at the corners of his mouth. “Nice meeting you, Holland. Have a good night.”
“You too. Don’t hurt nobody, okay?” Nobody, as in me.
“Take care, Ms. Elsie.” He leaned his tall frame forward, kissed her on her forehead, and spun on the balls of his feet like he was on the basketball court.
“Behave yourself,” Ms. Elsie said. “Aw hell. It’s more fun when you don’t behave. Shiiid!” Her laugh was infectious.
Ms. Elsie took her time climbing her steps. I watched to make sure she made it inside. Noble watched too.
Once she was safely inside, he turned to me.
“So. Ms. Goldie was your aunt, huh?”
“Yeah.” The smile wasn’t planned. I couldn’t help myself.
“She was loved around here.” He tossed the basketball he was carrying into the yard next door.
“You live there?” I asked. “Next door?” I added, as if there didn’t offer enough clarity.
“Yeah. By the way, I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks.”
We quieted but no one moved. I wanted to reach out and touch his smooth brown skin.
“You moving in?” he asked.
“Me?” Immediately, I felt silly. Who else was he talking to? Something about him made me feel girly, knocked my reasonable thinking off-kilter. That had never happened before. “No. I plan to put the house on the market as soon as I get it cleaned out.”
“Too bad. It would have been nice to have you as a neighbor.”
“Is that you flirting again?” I asked, adding a little sass.
“Maybe.” His chuckle eased into a perfect smile. I avoided his eyes and tried not to stare at his lips. “I’d be happy to help you get it ready. Ms. Goldie probably wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Oh! Don’t worry. I’m sure you have plenty to do. I take it you knew my aunt well?”
He seemed lost in a fleeting nostalgic moment. “Yeah. She looked out for me. Treated me like her own grandson.”
“Then I should be saying sorry for your loss too.”
His eyes dimmed a bit. “We miss her around here.”
I smiled, fighting back a tinge of jealousy.
“May I?” he said, pointing to the stoop.
Confused, I didn’t know what he was referring to.
“Sanitation comes tomorrow.”
I stepped back as he opened the gate and sauntered past me. My eyes were pinned to the muscles maneuvering under his tank and I suddenly felt the urge to lick my lips. Noble picked up the two trash bags, put them in one of the large cans sitting beside the stoop, and carried them to the curb. I remembered Aunt Shirleen saying The kind of man who takes out the trash is the kind of man who will take good care of his woman , which never made much sense until now.
“I’ll bring them back in for you after sanitation comes in the morning and check to see what else you need help with. I’d be happy to help Ms. Goldie’s beautiful niece.”
Did he just call me beautiful? I blushed, feeling heat spread across my cheeks. “There you go flirting again. But thanks for offering. I should be fine though.”
Noble winked and flashed that sexy smile. “I’m right next door. Come to me for whatever you need,” he said, sending the flirtation meter off the charts, and I was here for it.
“Oh, you’re not even trying to hide it now,” I chided.
We both laughed.
“Seriously. Just knock on the door if you need anything,” he said. “I mean it.”
I dipped my head in appreciation. “Thanks.”
We studied each other openly for a few brief moments, letting the tension tornado between us. The interest was blatant on both sides and the banter was enticing.
“Have a good night, Holland.” I liked hearing my name on his lips.
“Good night,” I replied and whipped around. I jogged up the stoop, feeling his eyes on my back.
Not only was he sexy, he was accommodating. I already liked being in his presence, but nothing could come of our obvious attraction. My time here was limited. The work I had to do in the few short weeks I was scheduled to spend here didn’t allow enough time to get into any entanglements with the man next door, no matter how electrifying it felt to be near him.
Besides, this was my season to focus on myself.