CHAPTER 19
Phoenix
Straight to voice mail for the tenth damn time!
She had to come home at some point. What the fuck she give me a key for? To sit around and wait on her? This time I left the message, “Ebony, where are you? It’s ten o’clock. I’ve been at your place since the set ended. You have to go to work tomorrow. Call me back. It’s important.” How was I supposed to manage her when I couldn’t keep track of where she was?
I hadn’t heard from Dev. That was unusual. Texted her, You out with Mercedes or Trés? Didn’t want to lie about where I was. Hope she didn’t ask. She might be with my girl.
Opening Ebony’s kitchen cabinet, there was a box of microwave plain popcorn. No salt. No butter. I put that back. Checked the refrigerator. Fresh-cut pineapples, red grapes, raspberries, blueberries, pomegranate juice, and water. Ice cream, popsicles, and ice in the freezer.
Waiting on Ebony to get home, I’d sat at the dining table, scrolled through her social media pages while eating a bowl of fruit. Drank most of her juice. Sat on her couch, turned on the television, flipped through channels. Got bored. Should go home. Wasn’t ready to.
Went into Ebony’s downstairs guest bedroom. She’d changed the scheme. Lots of pink, white, and purple. Same colors as Nya’s room. It was too late to tell my baby girl good night. Surely didn’t want to speak with my mother.
Started going through the closet to see if anything looked different. Nope. Trotted upstairs, took another shower to pass time. Was hoping to do this with Ebony, not by myself. Got dressed, went downstairs, sat on the sofa, and called my boy Marvin.
“Hey, man. Where you at? Home?” he said, then laughed.
“That shit ain’t funny, man. I’m at Goldie’s.”
“Nigga, that’s your home away from home. You got access now.”
Putting the television on mute, I frowned, started flipping channels. “Why the fuck she gave me a key and she ain’t here?”
“Give it back, man. You’re going to get your feelings hurt.”
“Just say it, man.” All this delay of whatever he knew, I had to hear.
“I just left the Cheesecake Factory. Goldie was sitting at the bar tossing back a few with some suave old ass white dude.”
“Say what?”
“My bad. He was probably a fan or some shit. They might still be there. Hey, man, I gotta get up early for work. I’ma hit you up tomorrow.”
Well, I wasn’t a fan. I was her man. I’d bragged about being on set but I hadn’t told Marvin or the fellas I was managing Ebony. Hadn’t seen my boys going on two weeks. Who was she with? Some old muthafucka? I got in my car, drove to Lenox Square, turned off my car. I sat for a moment. What was I doing? I was not chasing her.
If I’ma deal with this bullshit, I might as well head home to Dev.