Chapter 8
EXODUS
The ringing of my phone snatched me out of my sleep.
With lazy eyes, I felt around the bed, looking for it until I found it under the pillow next to me.
Squinting, I looked up at the time. Eleven.
Fuck? I overslept. Shaking my head, I shifted my attention to the contact name.
Calvin. Clearing my throat, I tapped the phone icon to answer it.
“Yo?” I answered, sounding groggier than I would have liked.
Again, I shook my head.
Only reason I got a late start was because last night, I was on the phone with Sereia for hours.
Way past my bedtime. Time seemed to flow without me realizing it.
Shit moved so smooth that when she yawned one too many times, drawing my attention, I was hesitant about getting off.
I fucked with her. I fucked with her heavy because shit, I didn’t sit on the phone for hours.
I’d never done that. Not even as a young nigga.
I was on the move. Spent fifteen, twenty minutes tops on the phone.
Jada used to hate that shit too. Especially in the beginning.
She was one of those females who wanted to cake up on the phone all day.
I had shit to do. Still had shit to do but the shit I had to do didn’t seem to matter with Sereia in the equation.
“Good morning, Exodus. I catch you at a bad time?” Calvin asked.
I shook my head and rubbed my eyes. “Hell naw. What’s the word?”
“I got what you need. Emailing you now. It’s a large file so, you might need the hard drive for this one.”
“Anything useful?”
“That’s for you to decide,” he said with a soft chuckle. “I’ve got to say though… he lived one hell of a life.”
I sat up on side of the bed, slid my feet into my house shoes and walked off to head to my office for my MacBook.
Once I was inside, I sat at my desk, opened the laptop and clicked around until I was staring at the unopened email Calvin sent five minutes ago.
I told him I had it and that I would hit him up if I needed anything else.
We got off, and I pushed away from the desk to handle other business.
I had the file—its contents could wait. Since I had a late start to my day, everybody around this bitch was getting a quick breakfast.
Once I got the dogs together, I was close to saying fuck it, deciding not to eat yet.
But as soon as I pivoted to head back to my office, that little voice in my head said eat.
So… I listened. The voice… its never steered me wrong.
If I was being told to eat, it was time to eat.
What it really was about was slowing down.
I was anxious. Hell yeah I was. Anxious as hell to see who the fuck dawg was and what he was about.
But… the information… I had it. It wasn’t going anywhere.
Besides, I enjoyed slow mornings. Regardless of if a nigga got up late or not, I liked to take my time.
This shit with ol’ boy was just weighing on me.
I didn’t like it and needed to see if when I went through his file, something came to me.
But I sat.
After throwing some cereal and milk in a bowl, I sat, pulled my phone out and got into Natisha Raynor’s book.
Because the book was good as hell, I sat there reading for longer than I anticipated.
Cereal bowl had dried up and everything.
If it weren’t for Genny calling, I probably would have sat there another ten minutes or finished it.
“What up?” I answered, with a stretch.
“Thank you,” she said with a deep breath. “Thank you so much, bro.”
With dipped brows, I stood and headed to the office. “What for?”
She paused and whispered. “Sereia. Look… I don’t know where you found—”
“I told you. The Woods.”
“Oh yeah,” She paused. “Listen… she’s a blessing bro. On everything I love she is. Do you know what she’s been doing? Have you seen Mama?”
I laughed a little as I climbed the stairs. “What you mean? Yeah I’ve seen mama. What she on today?”
“Bro. I walked in and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw mama sitting on that couch. She looked,” she paused again. “Exodus, she looked like First Lady. You know she call her that? Didn’t you say she worked at coney? How she so good at this shit?”
I opened the office doors and walked inside.
I didn’t immediately respond to Genesis.
I knew why Sereia was so good at what she did.
It was purpose. Where she was today was where she was meant to be.
That’s what it was. You didn’t need experience for that.
So what she worked at coney? Coney was a pitstop.
Anybody else in my position—someone with little faith—they would have never listened.
They would have never hired Sereia, knowing she didn’t have a nursing background.
Especially not someone in my position. Someone who deeply cared for their mother.
And if I didn't come from a family who trusted my word… who knew I went to God about everything, they would have been slow to trust my judgement. Genesis was a little hesitant. She wanted me to go to a nursing company. But when I told her I was listening, she listened and despite her apprehension, relaxed a little. The call didn’t come as a surprise.
She could finally see what I saw. That Sereia was an angel—sent directly from God.
“What ma got on today?” I asked, instead of answering her question.
“Green,” she whispered, emotions heavy in her tone. “A green skirt set and that cream hat daddy used to love. The one with the orange feathers. She did her hair too, X. She got… mama got curls in her hair, Exodus. I—I should’ve done her hair. I should’ve dressed her—”
“Don’t do that,” I interrupted, sitting at the desk. “You did your best.”
“No I didn’t—”
“Genesis.”
She sniffled and went quiet for a couple of seconds before taking a deep breath. “I did my best.”
“Exactly. What they doin now?”
Any other time, I would have rushed Genny off the phone. Today especially since I had some information I had been dying to get my hands on. But nah. Genesis needed the call, so while I sifted through Jayceon’s file, I talked to my sister.
“She made her tea. She’s sitting in the living room, next to her, watching TV, laughing, talking to her.”
“They went on the walk?”
“I don’t know. I just got here. Exodus… what if—”
“—What if,” I interrupted, knowing exactly where she was headed.
What if moms came back.
What if she started to talk again.
What if she was lucid.
What if Sereia ‘fixed’ her.
I thought about it too. First day I noticed a couple changes, I thought about it.
I didn’t let it consume me though. I was a live in the present moment type of nigga and just wanted to take things a day at a time.
I didn’t like expectations, but hope? Hope was straight.
It was aight to have hope. Faith, honestly.
And that’s what we had. What we’d always had since the decline of moms’ health.
The way life was set up… with certain events leading to specific things… What if?
* * *
“What up, baby?” I said, answering Sereia’s call, getting into the car.
She paused. Baby might’ve caught her off guard. I didn’t mean it as a term of endearment. I just said it. Shit came out as smooth as butter, for real.
“I, um,” she paused. “Was wondering if First Lady had any allergies.”
“Hell naw. Clean as a whistle,” I told her, as I pulled my seat belt on. “Why? What you on?”
“I’m craving seafood pasta so… I’m going to make it. I was also wondering if,” she paused. “If we could go to the store instead of sending ol’ boy. He don’t know how to shop for real, and I want to get her out in public. I mean, if…if that’s okay with you.”
I shook my head, took a deep breath and started the engine. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Do what? Go to the store? I want to. I’m not—”
“Nah, not that,” I interrupted. “Be timid to ask me things, Sereia. You want to take my ma to the store. Cool. It’s been years since she’s been anywhere outside of the house besides appointments or whatever. I’m cool with it, baby. Don’t be scared to ask me shit. You hear me?”
She hesitated again. Baby had her stumped.
I smirked, deciding she’d be baby all of the time.
It wasn’t easy to stump Sereia. She might’ve been a little hesitant to ask to do shit where moms was concerned but her ass was fearless for the most part, speaking her mind.
The fact that one word kept catching her off guard was cute as hell to me.
She wasn’t as tough as she led on. At all.
I knew that from the jump though. She just had a couple walls to knock down.
“I hear you,” she mumbled. “Should I call Rocc? We’re ready.”
I pulled out of the driveway and swiped at a text message from Jada’s dumb ass. “Nah, don’t call Rocc. I’ll take y’all.” Gripping the steering wheel, I made a right out of the driveway, shifting my eyes to the time on the dash. “Give me two hours.”
“Alright.”
“If it weren’t for somebody keeping me on the jack all night, I would’ve been wrapping my day up by now,” I joked, smirk on my face.
She sucked her teeth. “I don’t recall it being like that. I vividly remember somebody sayin ‘why you tryin to get off’, every time I yawned and mentioned how late it was.”
Facts.
She didn’t lie.
Staying on was partially my fault. Partially her fault too because she had good conversation and her sleepy voice was sexy as hell.
Yeah, I was tweaking. Tripping for real.
Falling for girl like I didn't know any better. It was innocent though. Different from anything else I’d caught myself in.
I hadn’t had a ‘crush’ on a chick in a nice little minute.
A crush. Hell naw. This was some ol’ elementary, middle school type shit.
And instead of running away from it, pretending I didn’t feel what I felt, I leaned in.
Fuck it. The shit… it made me feel good. Made me feel alive.
“Yeah okay,” was all I could say, with a sly smirk on my face.
“Mmhmm. Let me get ready—