Chapter 14 #3
“Yeah. Nysheca still getting high.”
“You ever tried to get her help?”
“Billion.”
“What?”
“You think I ain't tried?”
“I asked.”
“I done begged. Cussed. Threatened. Picked her up from places I shouldn't even know exist. Took her to Mama so Mama could cry and beg. Took her home with me. Let her sleep on my couch. Gave her money knowing I shouldn't.”
She shook her head.
“And every time I think maybe this the time she gets it, she disappears again,” she added.
“That gotta get old.”
“It gets exhausting.”
“Then stop.”
She laughed.
“See how easy that sound coming from somebody who ain't got a sister?”
“I got family.”
“Not Nysheca.”
“Thank God.”
She laughed for real.
“See, that's fucked up.”
“You said it.”
“I can say it. That's my sister.”
“I ain't say shit.”
“You thought it.”
“I definitely did.”
She smiled and looked away.
Then her face got serious again.
“I can't stop, though.”
“Why?”
“Because what if the one time I stop answering is the time she really needs me?”
I understood that more than she probably knew.
“So you just keep answering.”
“Yeah.”
“And taking care of your mama.”
“Yeah.”
“And working.”
“Yeah.”
“And now doing this.”
She looked at me.
“This ain't charity, sir. I'm getting paid very fucking well.”
“I didn't say you weren't.”
“Just reminding you.”
“You remind me every chance you get.”
“Two-fifty.”
I laughed.
“There it is.”
She smiled.
And for a minute, shit felt lighter. Too easy.
That was the first thing I noticed. Talking to Nyrobi wasn't supposed to feel easy.
She worked for us. She was our surrogate.
She was living in one of our houses because life had knocked her on her ass at the exact time, we had the ability to help.
That was it. But standing in that kitchen talking about shit I barely talked to my own wife about didn't feel like business.
That should've been my sign to leave. Instead, I stayed.
Nyrobi reached behind her for something on the counter.
Her hand hit the water bottle.
It tipped.
“Shit.”
We both reached for it.
My hand landed over hers. Nothing happened. Literally nothing. A hand on another hand. That was it. But neither one of us moved right away. Nyrobi looked down. Then up at me. I took my hand off hers.
She grabbed the bottle.
“Got it.”
“Clearly.”
My voice sounded different to my own ears.
She heard it too. I could tell. I should've stepped back then. She turned to put the bottle near the sink, and when she turned back around, I was closer than I realized. Or maybe she was. Either way, there wasn't much space between us anymore.
Her eyes came up to mine. And everything got real fucking quiet. I could hear the TV in the other room. The air kicking on. Some car passing outside. But neither one of us said anything.
Nyrobi's face had changed. The jokes were gone. That smart shit she always had waiting on the tip of her tongue wasn't there. She was just looking at me. Then her eyes dropped. Not far. Straight to my mouth.
I noticed.
And when her eyes came back up, she knew I noticed. Something shifted in her face so fast I almost missed it. Guilt. Then something else. Something I knew because I felt the same fucking thing standing there.
Attraction.
There wasn't no point lying to myself about it. Nyrobi was a beautiful woman. I'd known that. Knowing somebody looked good wasn't the same as wanting to do something about it.
I didn't.
But right then, with her standing close enough that I could smell whatever she'd put on after work, I became too aware of her. Her lips. Her eyes. How little she was compared to me.
The fact that if I moved even a little closer?—
I stepped back.
Immediately.
Nyrobi blinked like she had just come out of her own head.
“You should probably go.”
There was no attitude in it.
That made it worse.
“Yeah.”
I grabbed my keys from the counter. She moved to the other side of the kitchen. More space than she needed. I didn't say anything about it and neither did she. I headed toward the front.
I had almost made it out of the kitchen when she called my name.
“Billion.”
I stopped and turned around.
She looked like she wanted to say something.
“What?”
Her mouth opened.
Then closed.
“Tell Kaizleigh I took my medicine.”
I stared at her.
That wasn't what she'd been about to say.
We both knew it.
“I will.”
“And tell her stop worrying.”
“I'll try.”
Nyrobi nodded.
I walked out.
The second the front door closed behind me, I took a breath and stood there longer than I should've.
Nothing happened. I needed to remember that.
I hadn't touched her beyond accidentally putting my hand over hers.
Hadn't kissed her. Hadn't said anything disrespectful to my wife.
Nyrobi hadn't either. Nothing happened. But as I walked toward my truck, that didn't make me feel better.
Because for something that hadn't happened, I damn sure knew how close it had come to becoming something.
And the worst part was for those few seconds in that kitchen, I hadn't been thinking about Kaizleigh at all.