Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 124320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124320 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 622(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
“So sorry to have inconvenienced you. How can I help?”
“You got any Sriracha sauce? I’m out.”
I nod toward the cabinet over the stove. “Up there, and Noah probably didn’t answer if you tried to call. When he and my mom get on the phone, it’s like a rerun of The Golden Girls.”
“Don’t I know it.” Mona chuckles and goes on her tiptoes to reach the spicy sauce. “Folks will start arriving around seven.”
“Need help setting up?”
“Nah. I’m keeping it basic. Just a few friends, some ribs, hot dogs, steaks, fried chicken, potato salad, watermelon, catfish—”
“Mona,” I laugh, interrupting her long list of menu items. “That doesn’t sound exactly basic. I’ll bring wine and some fresh vegetables.”
“Thanks, and Kimba confirmed she’s coming.” Mona’s smooth skin crinkles at the corners of her eyes with an excited smile. “The Three’s Company crew together again.”
My ears prick and my muscles tighten at the news. I lean against the counter and fold my arms, going for casual and vaguely interested. “Oh, yeah? Cool.”
“Right?” Mona hops up onto the countertop and leans back on her palms. “What do you think about Barry?”
“Barry? Barry like Barry Burrows, the math teacher from school?”
“Yeah. I was thinking about introducing him to Kimba.”
“What?” I choke and cough. “Why?”
“Kimba’s young and beautiful and successful. She may be too busy to stop and smell the testosterone. As her friend—”
“Who literally hasn’t seen her in twenty-four years and has no idea what she wants in a guy…but go on.”
“People don’t change that much.”
“Yeah, they actually do from age thirteen to thirty-seven.”
“I think she and Barry could be cute together.”
“Cute?” I grimace and shake my head. “Kimba’s not cute, and any guy she would be cute with is all wrong.”
“You’re not saying that because he’s white, are you? Barry is literally and figuratively invited to the cookout.”
“Pretty sure I would be the last to disqualify someone based on them being a different race.”
“Oh, yeah.” Mona grins and grimaces. “True.”
“And I’m aware of Barry’s level of wokeness. I did hire the man.”
“I bet Kimba likes her some woke white dick.”
“Could you not do that thing where you forget I’m a grown man and say inappropriate things to me?”
Also avoid things that make me feel like the Hulk inside, like mentioning Kimba and someone else’s dick in the same sentence.
The possessiveness is irrational. Kimba and I haven’t been in each other’s lives since middle school. I have no claim on her, but the feelings that never got the chance to fully develop are still there. I felt it Saturday.
Did Kimba feel it, too?
“Sorry.” Mona laughs, obviously unrepentant. “Let me rephrase for your grown man sensibilities. What I meant to say is I think Kimba has had many, um…experiences, and would not be white boy averse.”
What about biracial Jewish boys? Think she’s into those?
“He doesn’t seem like her type.” I clear my throat. “Besides, she might already be in a relationship.” Okay, so I’m fishing.
“She’s not.”
“How do you know?” Now I’m probing.
“I asked her on the phone.”
“She called? You didn’t say she called.”
“Sorry, nosy. She texted me to say she was coming and I called her to scream about it. We got to talking. Turns out we’re both in a drought.”
“Drought?”
“Dick drought. She’s running through batteries fast as I am.”
“Dammit, Mona. I do not need to know how often you…” I glance over at Noah, who literally just said “oy vey” to my mother. “…do that.”
And the mental image of Kimba masturbating will not be easy to shake.
Well, fuck.
Make that a cold shower for at least one of the Stern men.
“Well, she’s doing that a lot, too.” Mona laughs. “And even if she and Barry just hook up while she’s here, it could—”
“No.” The word storms from my mouth before I have time to think about it.
Mona tips her head, a frown puckering above puzzled eyes. “You’re not like doing some weird, half-paternal, half-fraternal slut shaming thing, are you? Because Kimba will not appreciate that.”
“Fraternal?” Hardly. “No, I just think…” I think what? That if Kimba’s gonna fuck anyone on vacation it should be me?
“I hate we missed our formative sex years together,” Mona says, tapping the heels of her Chucks against the counter. “The three of us, I mean. I can just see Kimba and me talking about our first time and you rolling your eyes and covering your ears.”
Considering the huge crush I had on Kimba back then, I would have died inside. “Yeah, well, you hooking her up with Barry won’t make up for it.”
“You never know.” She hops down from the countertop and grabs the sauce she came to borrow. “She went off to make that big name for herself, but the man for her could have been right here back home in Atlanta.”
In a way, we both left this city to find ourselves. As much as I hated leaving Kimba, I found myself overseas. Kimba had to leave the city to carve out a space for herself, out from under the shadow of her family’s name. Now we’re both back where it all began. Where we began. I’m here to stay, but she’s not. What are the odds of her coming back to town when Aiko and I just broke up? When I’m, for the first time in a decade, free to pursue her.