Chapter 3 #2
He grabbed the bottom of his shirt and used it to wipe his forehead, briefly exposing the hard muscles of his stomach before letting it drop again. I caught myself staring before he reached for his water, looking tired, dirty, and entirely too damn good.
“I’m ‘bout to go grab somethin’ to eat,” he said. “Y’all good?”
My mother looked between us. “Perfect. Solace was just about to go to Greene’s. Y’all can go together.”
I looked at her, but she was already busy with the hooks like she hadn’t just created the first opportunity Smoke and I had been given to be completely alone since I came home.
We’d talked plenty over the last two days, but there had always been somebody else within earshot.
The thought of sitting beside him in a car with nothing but eight years of history between us made me nervous in a way I hadn’t expected.
Smoke shrugged and looked at me. “You ready?”
“I, uh… I can just use FastDash for delivery.”
Smoke looked at me. “Greene’s two blocks away.”
“I know where it is.”
“Then why the fuck would you wait for delivery? Come on.” He headed for the door before I could come up with another excuse.
I looked at my mother, and the smile on her face told me she knew exactly why I’d suddenly become interested in delivery. “Stop doing that.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Mhm…”
Smoke was already a few steps ahead of me, so I caught up and fell into step beside him.
For the first half block, neither of us said anything.
It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but this was the first time since I’d come home that Smoke and I had been alone without my mother, his crew, or somebody else nearby.
I’d spent years trying not to think about what being alone with him used to feel like, and now I was walking beside him like eight years hadn’t passed.
Smoke glanced over at me. “L.A. turn yo’ ass into a mouse now?”
I looked at him. “You haven’t exactly been talking either.”
“I ain’t the one actin’ nervous as fuck.”
“I’m not nervous.”
“Aight.”
The way he said it made me look at him again. “What does that mean?”
“It means aight, Lace.”
I shook my head and kept walking. “You’re still irritating.” I tried not to smile, but he caught it anyway.
Thankfully, Greene’s came into view before he could say anything else.
The place looked almost exactly the same inside, with the same green booths, black-and-white tile, and handwritten specials board near the kitchen.
The lunch crowd filled most of the tables, and the smell of fried chicken, onions, and hot grease hit me before the door even closed behind us.
Somebody had old-school R&B playing low behind the counter, mixing with conversations, laughter, and the occasional shout from the kitchen.
Smoke barely made it five feet before two dudes sitting near the front called his name.
He stopped to dap them up, exchanged a few words, and kept moving like it was something he did all the time.
Another man lifted his chin at him from a booth, and Smoke returned it as we made our way toward the counter.
I was still looking around when I spotted the owner’s wife, Miss Diane, behind the register, and a second later, she saw Smoke.
“Hey, baby.”
“What’s up, Miss Diane?”
“Ya usual?”
“Nah, give me the spicy chicken sandwich today and truffle fries.”
Then she looked at me, and her eyes widened. “Oh, my word! Solace?”
I smiled because there was no escaping it now. “Hi, Miss Diane.”
She came around the counter and hugged me before holding me at arm’s length. “Look atcha! It’s so good to see ya, baby.”
“It’s good to see you too.”
Her eyes moved from me to Smoke, and the smile on her face changed just enough for me to catch it. He chuckled beside me, and I looked at him, rolling my eyes. “You’re enjoying this a little too much.”
“Might be.”
“Asshole.”
Miss Diane shook her head. “Lord, y’all ain’t changed.”
That quieted both of us. I looked up at the menu even though I’d known most of it by heart since I was a kid. “I’ll have the spicy turkey club.”
“Sweet potato fries, baby?”
I smiled. “You remember?”
“Chile, ya ordered the same thing every Saturday for years.”
Smoke leaned against the counter. “She ain’t change that much.”
I looked over at him and found him already watching me, so I looked away before I could think too hard about it. I told Miss Diane my mother’s order, and she told us to sit wherever. “Oh, uh… I…” I stammered, and she sucked her teeth.
“I said take a seat. Ya order will be up in a minute, baby.”
I was grown enough, but not dumb enough, to go back and forth with her, so Smoke and I grabbed a booth near the back. For the first few minutes, we kept the conversation on the diner and the festival until Smoke’s phone rang.
He looked at the screen before answering. “What’s up?” He listened for a few seconds before rubbing a hand over his beard. “I told you I gotchu. I’m eatin’ right now.” Whoever was on the other end kept talking, and he shook his head before he hung up, setting his phone on the table.
“Work?” I asked, trying to sound casual.
Smoke looked at me. “Nah. Booty call.”
I stared at him until he laughed. “Fuck you. I was being polite.”
“Don’t start doin’ that now.”
“Doing what?”
“Bein’ all polite and shit.”
I smiled despite myself. “I’ve always been polite.”
The look he gave me said otherwise, but our food came before he could argue.
We ate quietly for a few minutes, and for once, sitting across from Smoke didn’t feel weird.
I got comfortable enough to reach over and take one of his fries without even thinking about it.
Smoke looked down at his plate and then back at me, and I stopped with the fry halfway to my mouth.
“Sorry.”
He didn’t say anything, so I ate it anyway. A few seconds later, he pushed his plate a little closer to the middle of the table. “You always order the wrong fries,” he grumbled, shaking his head.
I smiled as I reached for another one. “Guess you’re right. I haven’t changed that much.”
His eyes stayed on me for a second before he picked up his sandwich. Neither of us said anything else about it, but we didn’t need to. Just then my phone buzzed with a text from my mother.
I showed Smoke, and we both burst out laughing. “Damn,” he shook his head. “She act like we crossed state lines.”
“I swear she thinks I came home to be her personal assistant.”
“You did.”
“No, the hell I didn’t.”
“What you come home for, Lacey?”
The question caught me off guard, and the look in his eyes grew intense. I quickly looked down at my sandwich and exhaled a deep sigh. “I just… needed a break from the city.”
“From what exactly?”
“Everything.” His eyes dropped toward my left hand, and I put it beneath the table. “Stop doing that.”
He took a drink. “Doin’ what?”
“You keep looking at my damn hand.”
“Hard not to notice that big ass ring ain’t there no more.” I looked at him skeptically, and he nodded. “You know damn well people told me shit I ain’t give a fuck hearin’ ‘bout. You know Bellhaven.”
I did know Bellhaven, which meant I knew people had probably told him about my engagement and the wedding I’d been planning.
He’d likely heard more about Tyler and the life I was building with him than he’d ever wanted to know.
Sitting across from Smoke and realizing he’d known I was supposed to marry somebody else felt strange, especially when there had been a time when I’d been sure he would be the man I married.
I looked down at my plate and moved one of my fries through the ketchup before I finally answered him. “We ended things.”
Smoke’s tone of voice didn’t change. “When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“You good?”
“Yeah,” I said, looking toward the window. “He didn’t do anything terrible. Tyler is a good man.” I wasn’t sure why I needed him to understand that.
“I ain’t ask you all that,” he frowned, and I turned to see him picking up another fry.
I took another bite of my sandwich while Smoke reached for his drink. A group of dudes near the front started laughing loud enough to carry across the restaurant, and somebody behind the counter called out an order number over the music and conversations filling Greene’s.
“You have somebody?” I asked.
Smoke stopped with his cup near his mouth and looked across the table at me. “What?”
“A girlfriend.” I picked up one of my sweet potato fries and dipped it into the ketchup, trying to make the question sound as casual as I wanted it to be.
“Nah.” He took a drink and set his cup down before going back to his sandwich.
I chewed for a few seconds before asking, “Are you seeing somebody?”
Smoke looked up again, this time with a little more interest. “Why?”
“I’m making conversation.”
“That’s what we doin’, Solace?”
“Yes, Sherrod. We’re sitting here eating lunch. People usually talk when they do that.”
He wiped his mouth with a napkin, and a small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth. “I ain’t got no girl, Lacey.”
Before I could point out that he still hadn’t answered my second question, Miss Diane called somebody’s name from behind the counter.
Two women squeezed past our booth on their way out, and Smoke shifted his legs farther underneath the table to give them room.
I took another bite of my sandwich and decided not to ask again.
He knew exactly what I’d asked, and the fact that he’d answered everything except that part told me enough.
I reached for another fry while Smoke went back to eating.
I didn’t have any right to ask who he slept with or how many women had been in his life since I left, but that didn’t stop my mind from going there.
I hated how easily I could picture another woman sitting across from him at this same booth or waiting for him at home after work, and I hated even more that I cared.
By the time we finished eating, Greene’s had gotten even busier, so we grabbed Mama’s food from Miss Diane, said our goodbyes, and headed back down Main Street toward the diner. We made it almost a block before he looked over at me.