CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Going back to work after my three-day weekend felt like somebody had dropped me back into real life without warning.
One minute, I was riding horses, drinking champagne and getting spoiled by Jokah.
The next, I was standing in the break room in my scrubs, putting my lunch in the refrigerator while everybody minded my business instead of their own.
"I know damn well you ain't about to put that little container in there and walk away like we don't have questions."
I closed the refrigerator and turned around.
Jasmine was sitting at the table with two of my other coworkers, and all three of them were staring at me.
"What?"
"Don't what us."
I laughed and walked toward the table.
"I'm at work."
"So are we."
"Could've fooled me."
Jasmine leaned forward.
"Was that Hibachi Man on that horse with you?"
I immediately started smiling.
That was my first mistake.
"Oh, look at her face!"
"Girl, shut up."
"No. That man fed this entire office before you even agreed to go out with him. We are invested."
I grabbed my water bottle.
"Y'all are nosy."
"And grateful," Jasmine added. "Don't forget grateful."
I laughed.
"Yes. That was him."
"The same man who sent all that food?"
"Yes."
Jasmine picked up her phone.
"And now he's taking you horseback riding?"
"Mhm."
"Where y'all go next?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?"
"No. He doesn't tell me anything beforehand."
Jasmine stared at me.
"So this man just tells you what to wear and you get in the car?"
"Pretty much."
"Must be nice."
"It is."
The words came out before I could stop them.
Jasmine's mouth fell open.
"Oh, bitch."
"What?"
"You like him."
"I never said I didn't."
"No, this is different."
"How?"
She pointed at my face.
"Look at you."
I frowned.
"What am I looking like?"
"Happy."
That shut me up for a second.
I couldn't even argue with her.
I was happy.
Really fucking happy.
Jasmine smiled.
"Exactly."
"Whatever."
"No. Ain't no whatever. I've never seen you come in here smiling this damn much."
"Maybe I'm having a good morning."
"You've been having a good morning since Hibachi Man showed up."
I laughed.
"His name is Jokah."
"I know his name. He'll always be Hibachi Man to me."
"Y'all are ridiculous."
"And hungry. Tell him we said hey."
"Absolutely not."
"Why?"
"Because then he'll think y'all like him more than me."
Jasmine shrugged.
"He fed us."
I busted out laughing.
"Goodbye."
I grabbed my water and started toward the door.
"Wait!"
I turned around.
"What?"
"When are we meeting him?"
"Never."
"Kaior!"
"I have patients."
"You can't hide Hibachi Man forever!"
"I'm not hiding anybody!"
I walked into the hallway while they laughed behind me. My phone vibrated inside my pocket before I made it to the treatment room. I pulled it out and smiled when I saw Jokah's name on the screen.
Jokah: You eat?
Me: It's barely morning.
Jokah: That ain't what I asked.
Me: Yes.
Jokah: What?
Me: Why are you interrogating me?
Jokah: Because coffee ain't breakfast.
Me: I had a bagel.
Jokah: That's not breakfast either.
Me: According to who?
Jokah: Me.
Me: I'm at work. Go run one of your businesses or something.
Jokah: You dismissing me?
Me: Politely.
Jokah: Ain't shit polite about you.
Me: Bye, Jokah.
Jokah: Eat some real food.
I slipped my phone back into my pocket when I heard someone coming down the hallway. Jasmine appeared around the corner.
"Why are you standing here smiling at your phone?"
"I'm not."
"Was that Hibachi Man?"
"Go to work, Jasmine."
She laughed and kept walking.
"Tell my brother-in-law I said hey."
"Jasmine!"
She disappeared around the corner before I could say anything else. I shook my head and walked into the treatment room. These people were going to get on my damn nerves.
"Twenty-eights ain't fitting without us doing some work to it."
I looked over the estimate before sliding it back across the desk. "Did you tell him that?"
"Three times."
"And?"
"He still wants the twenty-eights."
I leaned back in my chair.
"Then make him sign off on it. When that shit start rubbing, I don't wanna hear nothing about nobody fucking his truck up."
"A’ight."
My manager grabbed the estimate and walked out of my office.
I had been at the shop for a little over an hour handling shit that had piled up over the weekend.
I didn't have to be there every day. That's what I paid people for.
But I still made it my business to show my face and make sure everything was running the way it was supposed to.
I wasn't putting my name on anything I didn't have control over.
I stood and walked out onto the showroom floor. The shop stayed busy. Two cars were waiting for tint, another was getting wrapped in the back, and one of my guys was showing a customer a wall of rims.
"Jokah."
I looked over. A woman standing near the display smiled at me. She was holding one of our invoices in her hand.
"You the owner?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Maybe you can help me."
I walked over.
"What's the problem?"
"No problem. I'm trying to decide between these two."
She pointed toward two sets of rims.
"Which ones you think?"
I looked at them.
"What you putting them on?"
"Range Rover."
"Black?"
"White."
"The ones on the left."
"See, that's what I said."
"Then why you need me?"
She laughed.
"I wanted the owner's opinion."
"You got it."
I started to walk away.
"Wait."
I stopped and looked back.
"That's it?"
"What else you need?"
Her smile widened.
"I don't know. The customer service could be a little friendlier."
"It could."
She waited and so did I. Her smile slowly changed when she realized I wasn't about to do anything else.
"Damn. You always this serious?"
"Most of the time."
"I bet I could make you smile."
"I doubt it."
She laughed.
"You don't even know what I was going to say."
"Don't need to."
Her eyes traveled over me before coming back to my face. "You fine, but you rude as hell."
"So, I been told."
"And that doesn't bother you?"
"No."
She stepped a little closer.
"Maybe I like rude."
"I got a woman."
She shrugged.
"And I have a man, so now what?"
I stared at her.
"Then both of y'all picked wrong."
Her smile disappeared fast.
"What?"
"If you standing in my business trying to fuck with me while you got a nigga at home, you picked the wrong man."
She blinked with those big ass lashes.
"And if he got a woman that'll walk up to another nigga and tell him she got a man like that's supposed to make shit better, he picked wrong too."
Her mouth opened, but I didn't give her time to respond.
"Your rims on the left."
I walked away.
"Goddamn."
I heard one of my employees laugh under his breath. I looked at him.
"You got something to do?"
"Yes, sir," he replied.
"Then do it."
I kept walking.
Poncho was coming through the front door when I reached my office. He looked past me toward the woman before looking at me.
"What you did?"
"Nothing."
"Why she look mad?"
"Ask her."
"Nah. I'm good."
He followed me into the office and closed the door behind him.
"Everything straight?"
"Yeah."
Poncho dropped into the chair across from my desk. "Oh. Detective Reynolds called."
I looked up.
"What he want?"
"He said call him when you get a minute."
I picked up my phone.
"He say what for?"
"Nah."
I found Reynolds's number and called him. He answered on the second ring.
"What's up?"
"You wanted me to call you."
"Your boy got picked up last night."
"Which one?"
He gave me the name.
"For what?"
"Stupid shit. Had a warrant he apparently forgot existed."
I leaned back in my chair.
"Anything attached to me?"
"No."
"Then why are you calling?"
"Because you pay me to call."
"Did anything change?"
"Not yet."
"Keep it that way."
"I'll let you know if anything does."
"Do that."
I ended the call and tossed my phone onto the desk.
Poncho looked at me. "We good?"
"Yeah."
"Cool."
He stood.
"You staying here?"
"For a little while."
"Aight. I'm finna run over to the other spot."
I nodded.
Poncho headed for the door before stopping.
"Oh, and your girlfriend out there still looking mad."
"Not my girlfriend."
"The rim lady."
"I know who you talking about."
He laughed.
"Cold-blooded."
"Close my door."
"A’ight, bruh. I’ll hit you later."
When he walked out, I looked down at the paperwork on my desk and went back to work.