When Ki couldn’t wake Ed the following morning, she went in to open the store herself. She took advantage of the time to make good on the promise she had made the night before.
“Hello?”
“Hey, babe!” Ki exclaimed. She leaned back in the black leather chair in Ed’s office.
“What’s going on?! I miss you…”
“You know how we do down here. I got this lady and that lady. And yo, your girl just cut that skank loose.”
“Wait, hold up, Ed got rid of precious Tay Tay? Oh, hell no!”
“Girl, she caught her doin’ the do. In their bed.”
“Awww, shit now!”
“That’s why I’m callin. Whatchu got goin’ on these days? You got a store you workin’ at?”
“Things are kinda tight for me right now. What’s this got to do with Ed’s break up?”
“You know Taylor was managing the store. I know Ed could use your help now. She can’t do all of this on her own. Taylor was a lousy girlfriend, but she handled her biz when it came to the store. She knew her shit.”
“Yeah, but she’s not as good as me. I’ll be there tonight, kid.” She hung up the phone and looked around her at the other women. This had been Day 5 for her in this shelter. She had been evicted from her apartment and didn’t know anyone well enough in NYC to ask for help. She was down to her last $20 and had been praying that something would come through. Thank you God, she thought to herself.
She hit the familiar speed dial number on her phone. “Mom, you know how you said I could always come home? I need your help.”
“There will be a ticket waiting for you at the airport. All you had to do was ask. I love you, Ash.”
Ed was pulled out of a deep sleep, by the persistent ringing of the door bell. She held her head and rubbed her eyes as she took the never ending steps down to the main floor. She flung the door open without looking to see who stood behind it.
“What?” She growled.
“Baby, you look like shit.” She opened her eyes when she heard Taylor’s voice.
“What the fuck do you want?”
“To talk.” She pushed her way passed a hung over Ed. “I brought coffee.” She emptied the contents of a paper bag on the kitchen counter. “I figured you would need it.”
Ed took the peace gesture and sat down in the dark brown club chair that faced away from the kitchen, her back turned from Taylor’s face. She didn’t want to see the pleading in her blue eyes.
“There is absolutely nothing you can say that will make this better. You’re wasting your breath.” Two seconds later, she could smell Taylor next to her.
“But baby, we’ve been together too long to let one mistake steal our future.”
“You should have thought about that before you decided to taste the redhead. Let’s just be real, Taylor. This isn’t the first time, just the first time I could prove it. You’ve gotten a little careless, huh?”
“It was just this one time. Babe. I promise.”
“I promise…I’m not doing this with you. I don’t want to hear another word of this bull-“ Ed’s phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hey, baybee! How you doin’?” It was Ash.
“Hey, babe. I been missing you.” Ed ignored the daggers being thrown by Taylor. A huge smile always decorated her face whenever she interacted with Ash.
“Well, I’m going to fix that. What are you doing in about 3 hours?”
“You tell me. What am I going to be doing?”
“We haven’t been broken up 12 hours and already you on to the next bitch? You ain’t ‘bout shit, Ed!” Taylor screamed before exiting the house by slamming the front door.
Ash started laughing. “Why didn’t you tell me you had company?”
“That wasn’t company that was bad memories. So tell me, what am I doing?”
“Picking your girl up from the airport?”
“Oh, hell, yeah! How long are you staying?”
“Indefinitely? I talked to Ki this morning, she said you might have a job for me.”
“Why didn’t I think of that? You gotta stay here. It’ll be just like college. Oh, hell, yeah…Babe, you just made my day.”
Taylor entered the store and made a beeline to Dae. She was greeted with a bright smile. “Can I help you?”
“Don’t smile at me, bitch. I’m gonna get your black ass for this shit.”
“I don’t understand. Did I do something?” Dae played stupid.
“And who is this…This trick that she’s already messin with? They were on the phone flirting right in front of me.”
“How am I supposed to know?” Dae saw a few people standing around the counter. “Some of us have to work…Excuse me.” Dae helped the waiting customers, but continued to wonder who this mystery girl was. Just when she thought it was finally time to make her move…
Ki watched the Taylor and Dae’s body language from across the store. Taylor had left angry and now Dae seemed irritated. She walked over to her, “You alright?”
“Yeah, I guess I’m a little nervous about tonight. That’s all. Ed knows, right?”
“I’ll call her and remind her.” She pulled her cell from her pocket. “Yo, dude. Whatchu doin’? Oh, what time she landin’? I know. I figured you’d love havin her here. I told you I’d hook you up. Don’t forget about the show tonight though… Yeah, ok…”
She ended the call. “She’ll be there…” Ki walked away from Dae with an extra spring in her step. She was happy Ash was coming.
Dae’s face contorted into a scowl. She hooked her up? With who? And why?
A love of beautiful things: words, art and women, led Alix B. Golden to create, I Bleed Ink. Read her blog or contact her on twitter.
