Liana
“So, I’ll ask again. What did Odeal Jordan do, and how can I fix it?”
The bar was quiet enough that I could hear Steelo switching songs. Tyrese. Sweet Lady.
Between the music and Jaheim lingering in my thoughts, that soft little sense of comfort crept back in. The speed of it unsettled me a little.
This man was testing my patience and my resolve in the most serious way.
Part of me wanted to turn him out and send him right back wherever the hell he came from.
The problem was, The Bloom had always been neutral ground.
It didn’t matter if you were from here or passing through.
Once you walked through my doors, I made you feel like you belonged.
That was the nature of this place. It was also the nature of the woman running it.
New faces were my business, whether I asked for them or not.
This particular new face was making it difficult.
“Aye boo, come back to me,” he said, snapping his fingers in front of my face.
I caught his hand and held it.
“Did he send you?”
He removed my hand from his slowly and looked me in the eyes. “Nah. And I’d never do another nigga’s bidding. I’m simply making conversation.”
“Is that what this is?”
“What else would it be?”
He finally met my eyes head-on, the same way I’d been trying not to look at him since he walked through my door. I tilted my head and my hoops swung softly against my neck. I caught him noticing and looked away first.
Immediate regret.
Steelo picked that moment to switch songs. I was grateful for the excuse to move. I grabbed two glasses that didn’t need grabbing, carried them to the sink, then stood there with my back to him and my hands buried in warm water, doing my best to pull myself together.
Now J Holiday was wailing about how he couldn’t breathe. Jaheim’s singing down at the end of the bar made Esme howl.
I spun around.
He had his head tilted back, eyes closed, one hand on the bar, singing to my dog like she had requested it personally. Esme was sitting upright at his feet, her nose pointed at the ceiling, giving her full effort. Zero shame from either of them.
The laugh came out before I could stop it. The whole bar was laughing and clapping by the time they finished. I pressed my lips together and turned back to the sink, but it was too late, my shoulders were shaking from laughter.
“Ohh , the catch of the week came back , aye?” Roya said, appearing at my side from somewhere with her tray.
I pointed at her. “Why do you keep referring to this man as fish?”
“Girl, focus on what I’m saying to you. That’s a good man, Savannah.”
“You do realize he was literally not a good man in the movie.”
“LeeLee, he came back. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
“He didn’t pay his tab last night,” I said, removing the hundred-dollar bill from my shirt. “Anyway, don’t get any ideas.”
“It ain’t me you gotta worry about,” she said, laughing as Noeva walked in, loudly announcing herself.
“Bestie, did I miss the special today?” she said, removing her sunglasses and roaming the length of Jaheim, who was still being loved on by Esme. “Oh, hell yeah. Who is this little chocolate truffle?”
She extended her hand, but Jaheim looked at me instead. I clocked how much that small gesture affected me and tried to push past it.
“Noeva, Jaheim. Jaheim, Noeva. My best friend.”
He stood and extended his hand.
“Ohhh, you’re Beau’s cousin. He didn’t say you were fine as hell. Hating ass.”
Jaheim’s smile was bright and friendly, but this was getting worse by the minute. Noeva was not going to shut up about him and she had just walked in.
“Okay, enough. You didn’t miss the special. I’ll bring it to your table.”
“No thank you. I’ll sit right here and get to know our new friend. Jaheil, was it?”
“Jaheim.”
“You legal?”
Jaheim rubbed his jaw like he was reconsidering sitting at my bar before finally nodding.
“Good. Credit score? Baby mamas? Eww. Mama’s boy? You be doing that meth? Smile.”
“Noe, shut the hell up and leave this man alone. He’s in IT.”
“IT, uh huh.” She tilted her head, studying him harder. “So you Anonymous?”
Jaheim laughed under his breath.
“Nah,” he said easily. “Just employed.”
“Noeva, you gon scare him away. Don’t answer her crazy ass. How was your meal?”
“Delicious, I might need seconds.” He licked his lips, and I knew it wasn’t supposed to be sexual, but damn. The quick flick of his tongue had me gripping the edge of the bar.
“Where are you from, cowboy?”
“Alabama, but my parents were in the military, so we moved a lot until I was twelve. It’s why I need some slower shit.”
“Why Bloomington?”
“Beau put me on. He said Bloomington was the perfect in between. He wasn’t wrong.”
He smiled, the dimple showing up.
I turned away. He was a customer. A regular now, apparently, God help me, but still a customer. I had a business to run. Every conversation with him made my self-control feel slightly less dependable.
And another thing.
“You had a date last night,” I said, setting my glass in the rack. “You got your nerve flirting with me.”
His eyes held mine.
“You came in here looking for somebody else and now you’re on my barstool. That’s a lot of pivot for twenty-four hours.”
“She canceled. Her loss, our gain.”
“She canceled, not stood you up. There’s a difference. Maybe give Camille a fair shot before you redirect your energy.”
I meant it, and I didn’t mean it. We both knew which one was louder.
Because privately, between God and me and nobody else, Camille had to be out of her damn mind.
This man had shown up pressed and deliberate for a first date, and she had sent a text.
I had seen all manner of men in this bar, and Jaheim Harrison was not the kind you canceled on.
He was the kind you showed up early for.
He was the kind you told your girls about before you even walked through the door.
But that was not my business, and he was not my man, and I had a policy, I reminded myself.
“I hear you,” he said, unbothered. “But I don’t think that’s what you want.”
“And how would you know?”
“Body language doesn’t lie, Bloom. You digging me.”
“Opp,” Noeva said, giggling.
“Definitely not feeling you. You’ve been warned, tread lightly.”
He lifted his sleeve and showed me a scar that ran across his wrist and slightly up his arm. “Extension cord. I’ve always been hard-headed, baby.”
Jaheim stood, placed another hundred on the bar, and headed out. And like a fool, I watched.