Page 23 of Mister Fireman

“I won’t ask why she’s shutting down,” Pops said, “but instead, I’ll ask are you going to be able to handle it. It sounds like you can’t.”

“I’m trying to, but I can’t lie and make it seem like it’s not bothering me.” I swiped my fingers down the corners of my mouth as I sat up in my seat. “I could easily fix one of her biggest problems, but she doesn’t want my help. And I know I could love the pain out of her if she’d let me. And on top of that, I feel like I have to be loyal to Binny. She’s my best friend after all. Is it fair of me to say, I’ve been knowing you half my life, but I’m going to choose a woman that I’ve known for less than a month instead?”

“Maybe she doesn’t need you to fix her problems,” Mama said. “Maybe she just needs a partner while she fixes them herself.”

“Let me ask you this,” Pops said. “If you had to choose, right now, between keeping Robin in your life or this woman, who would it be?”

Enjell’s name immediately dropped into my spirit. My head hung as I shook it. My heart ached at the thought of no longer having Robin. This felt like an impossible choice to make, and I was wondering why I had to even make it at all.

“Aight, so what if I give Enjell some time and space to work her things out and see about this baby with Robin. If things are meant to be with me and Enjell…” I couldn’t even finish the words. They tasted horribly coming out of my mouth. “She doesn’t deserve that. If I’m going to do this, I have to let her go. But I… I really don’t want to.”

“You know the answer, son,” Pops said, “even if you don’t want to acknowledge it. Your mind will catch up to your heart in time. But in the meantime, don’t lay with that woman and get her pregnant until it does.”

I nodded my agreement as I sat back in my seat. I knew the answer too. Enjell was my present and my future. My forever. Would that forever with her lead to me losing one of the longest, most loyal friendships I’d had?

12

Enjell

Nibbling my cheek, I fought back tears. I was exhausted and quite frankly tired of fighting back tears. This felt like the final straw. I’d drained my bank account that I had for emergencies, determined to work something out with my landlords. They were a middle-aged couple that had given Gino and me a hard time since we moved in, along with their racist neighbors. I knew it was because we were a young, black, successful couple, and it wasn’t the first time I’d experienced profiling in an affluent neighborhood.

We were one of two couples in the neighborhood that were black. The rest of our neighbors were white, Indian, and Asian.

It was always small things that could easily be explained away—complaints about the lawn, calling the police when we had guests over because of the noise, conversations ending and being stared at whenever we’d walk outside. We were never late with the five thousand dollar rent payment, and I didn’t want that to start just because Gino had left me. However, I couldn’t deny the fact that I was struggling. I had five thousand dollars saved, and though I could use it all to pay the rent, I was hoping they’d allow me to pay half now and the other half in two weeks. That way, I could put the rest toward other bills.

If I had to, I’d get a loan or put my pride aside and ask my parents. I was praying it didn’t have to come to that. I had two things in the works: signing a contract at a commercial kitchen and an interview for a bookkeeping position at a primary healthcare clinic. It wouldn’t pay what I was used to, but they were offering a signing bonus, and that was what I was banking on.

I thought I had everything worked out—until the landlords told me I couldn’t pay half now. Not only could I not pay half now, but they told me we were actually behind on rent.

Scratching my lace part, I sat up in my seat.

“There has to be a mistake. We’ve never been late with the rent.”

“You’re actually two months behind,” Rakesh corrected.

“Gino handled the payments, so I was unaware.”

“Be that as it may, with you being the only person on the lease now, it’s your responsibility to make the balance current.”

“Let me get this straight.” The crisp bark of laughter that escaped me was not one of amusement as I crossed my legs. “You expect me to pay fifteen thousand dollars… by when?”

“Technically, today,” Rakesh answered as his wife, Shakti, shifted in her seat and avoided my eyes. “We told Gino this when he changed the lease.”

“Well seeing as he took his name off, I’m not sure why you didn’t come directly to me,” I said louder than I’d planned to. “You have no problem texting me about shit that doesn’t matter… the flower bed and me keeping the trash on the street hours after it’s been emptied. But you don’t think you need to tell me my rent hasn’t been paid in going on three months and that I need to have the money in now?” My tongue rolled over my teeth. “I guess not, seeing as if I don’t have it paid this month, you can put me out. That’s what you’ve wanted anyway.”

“She has a point,” Shakti said. “We thought Gino was communicating with you. Did the two of you break up?”

“Yes,” I almost whispered, looking away from their prying eyes. “I wasn’t working, and he left everything to me. I’m not sure why he wasn’t paying the rent, but I need more time. If I can pay the full five thousand today, can I have some more time to get the other ten thousand? Or at least enough to get out of the lease without it effecting my credit?”

They talked amongst themselves briefly before Rakesh said, “We’ll take the five thousand today, but you have to pay the balance regardless of if you break the lease or not. Otherwise, we will have to report it. We can give you thirty days to pay the remaining balance. If you want to break the lease after that, it will be an additional two months’ rent.”

“And that’s on top of the first, second, and last months rent you already have?” He nodded. Scoffing, I stood. “I might as well just stay until my lease is up. I’ll see what I can do. Thank you.”

I took the second envelope from my purse and handed it to them, not even bothering to wait for the written receipt. They would email me a scanned copy of it anyway. By the time I made it to my car, I was shaking mad. I hadn’t talked to Gino since Dejvi knocked him out, and I needed to know what the hell his deal was. As I swerved out of their driveway, I dialed his number and allowed the call to connect to the Bluetooth in my car.

“Wassup, Enjell?”

“You didn’t think it was paramount that I know you were two months behind on the fucking rent, Gino?”

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