Page 26 of Somebody Else Will

He jerked his head back like I’d spit on him. Just as he was about to respond, a police car parked in front of his car… a car that I’d never seen. It probably belonged to someone else.

“I can’t believe you called the police on me, Denishia! What the fuck? Is this what we’ve come to?”

“Hell yeah! I don’t want you around me. I filed a restraining order for a reason!”

The cop approached him as he frowned at me and nodded repeatedly. I didn’t like the look in his eyes, and I couldn’t for thelife of me understand why he was so angry when he was the one that caused all this shit.

“You okay, boo?”

I nearly jumped out of my skin. I turned to see Jamia with her hands lifted. “I’m sorry. I thought you heard me coming toward you.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Your phone was ringing. It was Ezekiel. I’m sure he’s wanting to check to see if we made it safely.”

“Where’s my phone?”

“I have it. You left it in the console, so I grabbed it when I got out,” she said, extending it to me.

“Thank you, Jamia. I’ll call him in a little bit.”

I watched the cop question him, and when backup arrived, he came to the door. I really didn’t feel like dealing with this shit. Will didn’t care about anyone but himself. After unlocking the door, the officer stepped inside and gave me a polite nod as he said, “Hello, ma’am. I’m going to assume you’re Denishia.”

“Yes, sir. Denishia Boswell.”

“Will Fuller said you are his girlfriend.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m his ex-girlfriend, who also has a restraining order on him. It was filed two Fridays ago.”

He nodded and wrote something down on a notepad. I wasn’t sure what was necessary to write down right now. I just wanted him gone so I could go home. Details weren’t important. The only detail he needed was that I had a restraining order, and Will was in violation. That was it.Arrest his ass.

Bringing his attention back to me, he smiled and said, “We are going to handle this. I’m so sorry you’re having to go through this, especially at your place of business. Business that I patronize, by the way.”

“Thank you so much.” Maybe he heard my thoughts. “It’s extremely inconvenient, but it’s partially my fault for enduringmy misery for so long. It gave him a false narrative. I just want to live my life in peace.”

“I understand, Miss Boswell. Sorry to hold you up. Try to enjoy the rest of your day.”

“Thank you.”

I followed him to the front and locked up as soon as he walked out the door. I noticed Will was in the back of one of their squad cars.Jackass.When I turned around, Jamia and Jerzey were standing there, waiting to console me. I didn’t need consoling. I needed a damn nap.

“Okay, let’s get the van unloaded so we can get out of here.”

“Boss lady, we got it. You go on and go home. We have to make sure everything is umm…”

I nodded, knowing what she was about to say. I’d prepared bouquets and a casket spray for the funeral instead of letting the funeral home do it. I wished Iwouldhave let them throw their generic ass flowers on my mama’s casket. I would have kicked my own ass. When I confirmed my mama’s plans, the funeral director had assumed I would be using their services. I was like,“Oh no, ma’am. I own Happily Ever After Floral Shop. My mama has transitioned to her happily ever after. I’ll be doing all the flowers.”

She’d simply smiled and nodded, saying she liked how I worded that. I wanted to say that I didn’t want their pitiful looking, dead ass flowers on my mama’s casket. I would have been over dramatizing it though. Their flowers weren’t that bad. They just weren’t on my level. They typically used carnations. My mama would sit up in the casket if there were carnations everywhere. She hated carnations.Maybe I should have let them do it then. At least she would be alive.

I quickly hugged Jerzey and Jamia before my emotions could get the best of me, then headed to my car. As soon as I was insideand started the engine, I returned Ezekiel’s call. He answered on the first ring. “Hey, baby. Y’all good?”

“Hey. Yes, we made it back to Beaumont. Sorry I missed your call. I’d forgotten my phone in the van.”

“That’s okay. I knew you would call as soon as you were able to. I miss you already.”

I smiled. “I miss you too. I wish we could have spent more time together, getting to know one another.”

“Yeah, me too.”

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