CHAPTER TWELVE

 

Ahmalee

 

“What the heck is tabouli?” I ask.

Sonji and Jamie look at me like I asked them to give me a kidney.

“What?” I ask. “I seriously don’t know what it is.”

“You are so not cultured,” Sonji says. “You need to get out more, girl.”

Jamie says, “Hmph. That’ll be hard to do since she got that man laid up in that house.”

“Okay, ladies, let’s get this out of the way because I am not about to spend dinner discussing Cain with y’all. He does not stay in my house, Jamie. He lives in the camper in the backyard. Any more questions so we can wrap this up?”

“Nope,” Sonji says. “I’m not taking the bait.”

“Nah, no more questions from me,” Jamie says. “At least not at the moment.”

“Good. Now, somebody tell me what tabouli is?”

Sonji says, “It’s like a little salad of chopped parsley, tomatoes, mint and wheat, all tossed together with olive oil, lemon juice and salt and pepper.”

“No lettuce?”

“Nope.”

“Then, I’ll pass. The roast beef gyro with fries looks good. I’m ‘bout to keep this real simple.”

“I’m having the lamb gyro,” Jamie says.

“Me, too,” Sonji adds.

We order and then get drinks. Jamie says, “So, me and Sonji were talking about—you know—this being around the time your parents passed and all. How are you feeling?”

“I feel okay. I was a mess earlier in the week, but—”

I had Cain there to help me with that.

I wasn’t about to tell them that. I say, “I’m okay. It’s hard to relive. I feel like they just left me here. Alone. It’s just me. I have no siblings. I think it would be easier to take if I had siblings—you know—someone to share the burden with.”

Sonji says, “Yeah. That’s true. When you have siblings, you have that automatic support team who are there for you no matter what.”

“Yeah, even if you want to slap them into next year sometimes,” Jamie adds.

I grin.

“But I’m fine, ladies. Oh, Jamie, I called that customer back. She ordered twenty-four, four-ounce Soothe My Soul candles.”

“Goodness,” Sonji says. “See, that’s why you need to teach us how to make those candles, Ahmalee. You’re not going to be able to do those all by yourself.”

“I have to. People are expecting the candles to be made by me.”

“Not necessarily,” Jamie says. “Like, when I walk into McDonald’s I don’t expect the CEO to be back there flipping burgers and dropping fries.”

“Not the same, Jamie.”

“It kinda is. You’re the owner and the business is expanding. It’s probably time to delegate some of this work to somebody else.”

“I’ll think about it.”

The food comes. We start eating. It’s phenomenal. Everyone’s quiet. Out of nowhere, Sonji says, “I wasn’t going to say anything, but Khalid proposed last night.”

“What?” I ask, excited. My eyes immediately go to her hand, in search of a ring. I don’t see one.

“Congratulations!” Jamie says. “At least somebody ‘round here can get a man to commit. Am I right, Ahmalee. Am I right?”

I grin and avoid her slap-hands moment. What I look like? They know all about my first relationship with the cheater. That’s all I’ll call him. The cheater.

“Oh, my goodness! Congratulations, Sonji,” I tell her. I’m all excited and cheery, but I still want to know where the ring is.

Sonji scratches her head. “Yeah, um…not so fast, y’all. I said no.”

Chick almost made me choke on my roast beef. “You say what?”

“I couldn’t do it. I love Khalid, but in that moment, something came over me and made me want to reconsider. Like, marriage is for life.”

“No, freakin’ duh!” Jamie said. “Some of us will kill to have a man propose and you got one swinging from your nips and you told him no? Have you lost your mind? Are you hearing this, Ahmalee?”

“I’m sure she has an explanation, Jamie.”

Sonji chews on her lip for a moment. She says, “It’s like, is Khalid the one? Am I supposed to spend the rest of my life with him? This is a big decision. I can’t get it wrong.”

“I understand your reluctance, Sonji,” I say, “But you’ve been with Khalid for what? Seven years? And he was your high school sweetheart, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Has he ever hurt you?”

“No.”

“Cheated on you?”

“No. He’s like the model boyfriend.”

“Then there’s nothing else to think about.”

“Exactly,” Jamie says. “I should come across this table and sock you one.”

Sonji laughs.

“It’s okay to be scared, but if you love this man and you know he loves you, there shouldn’t be anything stopping you from living your life. You better go get your man and stop playing, girl.”

“You’re right. I feel so bad now.” She grabs her purse and says, “I need to go, y’all. I gotta talk to him.”

“By all means, go bright eyes,” Jamie says.

When Sonji leaves, Jamie looks at me and says, “Welp, it’s just you and me now, chick, unless you running back home to your man, too.”

Ignoring her, I resume eating, then glance around the restaurant. It’s packed tonight. I imagine it’s like this every Thursday.

Jamie takes a sip of her drink. She says, “I hope Sonji didn’t break the poor fella’s heart too bad. You know how fragile men are. They’ll pretend they got everything under control—like nothing bothers them—when in reality women are stronger.”

“I am not having that debate,” I tell her.

“Ain’t nothing to debate. Billy sits around the house and complains nonstop. Thought I was supposed to be the one who nags, but noo. He’s got me beat, honey.”

“The problem with that is, Billy doesn’t have any ambition—not to mention when you first met him, you didn’t take the time to get to know him.”

“Oh, you’re one to talk…”

I attempt to hide a smile, but it presents itself. “It’s different with Cain, Jamie. He’s trying to get back on his feet, and he’s not my man. You’ve already told me that all Billy does is sit around the house smoking weed and drinking Coronas.”

She chuckles then toward the end of laughter, says, “I gotta get him out of my house.”

“Good luck with that.”

“I don’t need luck. I know how to handle his type. I just need a strategy. In the meantime, you need to figure out how you’re going to handle it when it’s time to put Cain out.”

“Again, he doesn’t live in my house.”

“So? He lives behind your house. How long will he be there? Did you give him a time frame?”

“No.”

“So, he can stay as long as he wants to, then?”

The answer is yes. Cain can stay for as long as he wants, but I’ve already peeped something about Cain – he’s a hard worker and I know he won’t be with me for much longer. He may have fallen, but he’s not one of those people who don’t get back up. He’s getting up, one day at a time. It’s only a matter of time before he moves on.