Chapter 6 Lily
I thought I was going to have to rush to get ready for dinner tonight with the girls, but I have a whole extra hour.
It’s crazy. I’ve never broken down a pop-up that fast before. Hell, I didn’t even break down that pop-up. Javonte did everything. Everything hard and heavy.
I have enough time to really put effort into my outfit and my hair, and I feel good as I leave my house.
The drive to The Sapphire is short.
I opt out of being picked up by Chance. It was cool for a bit, but now it’s just weird, being driven around when I’m capable. Plus, I didn’t want to be late or make everyone else late, but I could have tagged along with them.
It doesn’t matter. It gives me a chance to sit with everything that happened today. With Javonte popping up on me, helping, popping back up, and then leaving. He didn’t ask for anything. He didn’t even have a conversation with me.
I’m not sure what to do with that just yet.
The hostess takes me back to the private area where we always sit for our dinners.
Charisse and Porsche are already there, having drinks and eating some appetizers. I thought I was early, but I guess I wasn’t early enough.
They light up when they see me, and each of them hops up to give me a hug.
“Hey, girl!”
“How was today?”
“Busy/.”
“Didn’t you have a pop-up today? We really gotta get you a man so you don’t have to work anymore,” Porsche says.
I keep my eyes on her. “I don’t need a man for that.”
I don’t necessarily like my job, but I love my pop-ups, and I wouldn’t want a man to make me feel like I couldn’t do those anymore because he’s providing for me. I don’t do them for the money. It’s a passion project that I happen to make money off of.
“Um, no, thank you,” I say.
Now that I’m here, the food automatically arrives at the table. We never switch it up. We have our favorites, and the staff knows exactly what to bring us.
I’m not going to lie and say that having a rich man doesn’t have its perks, because obviously it does, a little bit. Charisse and Porsche have rich men who love them completely, who listen to them and hold their hearts like something precious. That’s what I’m looking for, rich or not.
And I’m not going to just settle for someone because he’s got money.
“You were at the Cartile Museum today, weren’t you?” Charisse asks.
“I was,” I tell her. “We did a beautiful landscape. Everyone left happy. It was a lot of fun the whole time. No perfectionists in the group either.”
Porsche laughs, and we all look at her because she’s the main perfectionist. When it comes to painting, she gets pissed if she messes up anything, as she calls it, even though there’s no messing up.
There’s just an alteration, a remix. It’s personalized when you add something that wasn’t in my picture, and I love seeing how people interpret it, how they incorporate what they think is a mistake into the original design and make it something that’s just theirs.
“Javonte showed up again,” I say.
“Again?” Porsche says, screwing her face up.
I try not to make a big deal out of it. It’s not a big deal. It’s just a fact.
“He came to paint?” Charisse asks.
“I thought so, but he was there early, before I got there, and he helped me unload the car and set up the room. He carried every table and every chair and helped me arrange everything.”
Charisse bites her lip, trying to hide her smile. Porsche frowns.
“He’s trying to get back with you, girl,” Porsche says.
I nod. “I know.”
“But you’re not going to let him back in, right? Because he’s a childish jerk. Let’s not forget.”
I exhale, not wanting to make a big deal out of this. I shouldn’t have brought it up, but it just came out.
“So he showed up before you and helped you load everything up and set up the whole room?” Charisse asks.
“Well... as he left, before everyone came in, he said he’d be back to help me break everything down.”
Charisse sucks in her breath like this is the craziest thing she’s heard all day.
“And did he?” Porsche asks.
“Yeah, he did. He came back and started folding up the chairs and breaking down the tables, and he took everything to my car.”
They stare at me, waiting for me to say more.
“But then what?” Porsche asks.
“Did y’all kiss?” Charisse adds.
I shake my head hard. “No. Not at all. And then he left.”
Charisse crosses her arms over her chest and leans back in her chair. Porsche tilts her head to the side.
“That don’t mean nothing,” Porsche says.
“Nothing at all. He’s just trying to do little small things to get back into your good graces.
Breaking down and setting up for a big man like him is nothing.
All he gave you was a little bit of time.
You need more than time from him. Don’t fall for it, girl. ”
Charisse slaps her arm. “Don’t be like that. Everybody starts somewhere. This is a start. If he’s consistent and if he’s thorough, then he can show you that he’s changed. Maybe he just needed some more time to be ready for you, and now he is.”
I shake my head. “Or maybe he just showed up one day and helped me move some tables.”
Porsche swats the air. “Exactly! Where was all this when you two were together?”
“Did he make it easier for you?”
This question makes me face Charisse. Her soft eyes and waiting teacher expression make me squirm.
“That’s not the point.” I stab at my salad with my fork.
“Lily.”
I sigh. “Yeah.”
“Don’t get soft now. You can’t confuse help with change.” Porsche waves her wine glass around.
“I’m not telling her to forgive him and jump back into a relationship, but she can recognize this is not the norm, and take it for what it is.”
“What it is is a ploy. He saw our girl doing good on her own without him. Thriving. And now he’s here to dull her shine...again.”
My eyes move between them as they go back and forth.
“I’m not about to sit here and analyze him. It was a one-time thing. That doesn’t mean he’s changed. He might’ve had nothing else to do today.”
Charisse smirks and looks at Porsche who looks up to the ceiling and shakes her head.
“We can change the subject.” Charisse sits up and claps. “Naya used the potty today.”
Porsche groans. “That’s cool and all, but I’m eating. I love my nieces, but I don’t want to know about their bodily functions.”
Charisse rolls her eyes at Porsche. I give her the side eye. She really needs to sit on some lady’s couch over the way she is about kids. She was awful to Charisse when she was pregnant, and she loves on the girls when she sees them, but she’s not that kind of auntie.
“That’s great! What about Sky?”
Charisse gives me a look, and I giggle. Sky refuses to do anything on anyone else’s schedule.
“She’s too much like her Aunt Porsche for her own good.”
Porsche grins. “That’s why she’s my favorite twin.”
“Porsche! You can’t have a favorite!”
Porsche shakes her head. “No, you can’t have a favorite. Sky is mine.”
They bicker back and forth. My mind wanders back to Javonte. He did make today easier. So much easier. And he didn’t want anything in return. He didn’t talk to me at all. He helped and left.
I reach for my cup and hold it in front of my mouth without taking a drink. I stare at my phone flipped screen down on the table.
I don’t want to text him. Not even to just say thank you.
Nothing’s changed ...but it doesn’t feel the same.