Page 14 of Mister Artist

Though a smile remained on his face, his expression grew more serious. “She’s… tolerable for more than the bedroom. That counts for something right?”

For a few seconds, all I could do was stare at him. Of all the years I’d known him, I’d never known of Malik to express wanting more from a woman than sex. Blinking rapidly, I nodded adamantly.

“Y-Yeah, for sure. That definitely counts for something. You finna take that to her job or something?”

“Yeah. I was thinking maybe this was a good start to seeing her outside of the bedroom. Maybe I’ll take her somewhere to get something to eat this weekend. I’on know.”

I didn’t want to put too much weight on it to scare him off, so all I did was nod and smile. “That would be fun for y’all I’m sure.”

“Check this out though.” He patted my chest with the hand that held the book. “Her best friend… bruh. She bad ashell. I’m tryna put you on her. Maybe y’all can join us.”

Without even knowing what she looked like, I declined with a shake of my head. “Nah, I’m good on that.”

His head tilted as he eyed me. “Look, I promise I won’t put you on another crazy girl that’s going to come after you if I do something to her friend.”

All I could do was laugh at the memory. The last time we talked to friends, I ended up having to get a restraining order on the girl because he cheated on her friend, and she stalked me to get to him.

“It’s not that,” I said through my soft laugh. “I’m seeing someone, and I really like her… may even love her. I want to be with her for the long haul.”

A frown covered his face, but I knew it was confusion and not anger. That’s just how his mean ass looked.

“How you in love with someone and I ain’t even met her yet? Type of shit is that?”

With a sigh, I took a small step back and squeezed the back of my neck. “It’s… complicated. We’re not official and we laying low with it. There are some things we need to work through before we start meeting the family and shit.”

“I feel you. Well get it together. I wanna meet her.”

“You’ll be the first to know when the relationship is official. I just… gotta make sure we’re worth it, you know?”

“You are. Make sure she is.” He stepped closer and eyed me as he added, “You probably the most stand up nigga I know. Any woman would be lucky to have you, brother. For real. I know I joke with you a lot but you’re a good man.”

His words were bittersweet. A part of me wanted to tell him the woman was his sister to see if he still felt that way, but Ididn’t. Instead, I shook his hand and hoped he’d remember how good of a man I was when it came down to Malorie.

I was so thrown off by the exchange I left without getting anything. I decided to go back to the office to wait for Mal to tell me what I already knew. Even with her lacking experience, she was smart, great with numbers and people, and a wonderful addition to any company. Plus, with my priority and recommendation, there was no doubt in my mind that my sweet girl would get the job. And if she did, that would be one less thing to worry about that could potentially pull her away from me and cause her to leave Rose Valley Hills again.

11

Malorie

I wassurprised when my mother said she was coming to visit next weekend. As cryptic as it may sound, I knew it was for a reason and didn’t want to wait until then, so I called her, hoping she would tell me what was going on early. When she answered, allowing the remnants of laughter to fade away, that made me smile. I was happy she was happy, or at least, entertained. She became a shell of herself after Daddy died. It felt selfish to put my feelings and grief on her.

Yes, I’d loss my father, but she’d loss her life partner—the man she’d been with for thirty years at that point. The losses couldn’t have been compared, but I loved her so much I couldn’t put mine on top of her grief.

“Hey, baby.”

“Hey, Ma. You busy?”

“I’m never too busy for you. What’s going on?”

“Well, I wanted to let you know I applied for the grad program here and I got a job. I’m thinking about staying.”

“That’s wonderful, Mal! Congratulations. You and your brother need each other. I’m glad you’re thinking about staying, though if you have a job and applied for school, it sounds like your mind is made up.”

I wanted to tell her we needed her too, but I refrained. “Yeah. So… is everything okay?”

“Yes. Why do you ask?”

I nibbled my bottom lip and got a bit more comfortable on my yellow couch. Every time I sat on it, I thought about Neko.

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