Page 29 of Truce Of The Matter

Chapter 10

“How many boxes did you bring?” Dax asks as we trek to my ride.

“Ten.”

“I hope you got more of the lemon ones. We can’t keep them shits; they are good as hell.”

“I didn’t even look. I just grabbed them. I just left the distillery. Pops took his boxes and you have what’s left. Next time, I’ll check flavors.”

“Mere, come grab a box,” Dax calls out to our lil cousin, Nymere. He’s standing on the side of the auto shop talking on his cell. Because he grew up in the house with us, he’s like a lil brother, a wild ass lil brother, but we love him, which is why Dax hired him here as one of his mechanics.

“Bet. One sec.” At the end of his call, he joins us at the back of my Denali. “This all you got?” he asks as we grab the boxes from my truck.

“Yeah, when you sell out, I’ll bring more.”

“Man, these niggas gonna buy all these up. You should’ve gotten more boxes for the front counter. The customers go hard over these things. My girl Vikki wants some too, for her nail shop. She said she can sell some up there.”

“I asked y’all before I placed my first order and you didn’t say shit about your girl’s shop.”

“That’s on you. You already know we’re gonna show up for little cuz. She gotta get that badge and shit so just order fifty more boxes. We got you,” he says then nods before walking back inside the shop with five of the boxes.

When he leaves, Dax leans back on my ride. “You checked on your girl?” he asks.

“I texted her yesterday and talked to her briefly last night, but bruh, she was out of it. I didn’t keep her on the phone too long. You saw how crowded it was at Redmond’s for the repast.”

“That shit was crazy. The whole damn city was out there. I heard the parking lot and restaurant stayed full up until about eleven o’clock last night. Chantal and I didn’t even try to get no food. We grabbed a pizza from Leonardo’s after we bounced.”

“We didn’t eat either. I just had to lay my eyes on her. She was so out of it though. I hugged her and I don’t even think she knew who I was.”

“Nah. She knew who you was. I feel for them. Man, I don’t even want to think about losing Moms or Pops.”

“Real shit,” I utter.

Truce looked lost yesterday. Her swollen red eyes looked vacant and she couldn’t stop crying. The restaurant was packed: filled tables and booths and no standing room. She was at a table with her friend and sister when I made it there. She stood and hugged me but didn’t say a word. I just held on as she cried into my chest. When I called her later that night, she was practically asleep so I ended the call. She’s been on my mind since then.

After taking Aryel to school this morning, I stopped by the store for a few hours, then went by the house to grab these cookies. I went to my pops first at Black Ops Bourbon then I came here. Truce is on replay in my mind so she’s my next stop.

“Go handle your business. Now that you finally stepped right behind her, I can’t have you fucking that shit up. Hit me later, we gotta talk about their anniversary. Your momma serious about us grilling.”

“We can get that shit catered.”

“She don’t want that. And you heard from Lyra? She still ain’t hit me with the cruise prices. I told her Chantel coulda booked it.”

“Nah. She ain’t said nothing to me either. If sis wants to handle it, let her. We need to have it all booked before their anniversary.”

Every year, my parents have a big family gathering for their anniversary. In two weeks, it’s their thirty-seventh and she wants Dax and me to grill steaks and seafood. With our family, it’s going to be at least fifteen people and I’m not trying to grill for that many people. Smokey’s Barbecue can handle everything.

“I’ll have Chantel look some shit up in case Lyra flakes. I’m sure Momma told her where they want to go. I ain’t never seen a woman who doesn’t like surprises,” he says.

“Arlene Goode doesn’t so she definitely told Chantel.” I grab the stack of three boxes in front of me and he stands and grabs the other two.

“Stack ’em. I got it,” he says and I add my three on top of his.

He walks back inside the shop and I close my trunk then get inside. Truce’s condo is about twenty minutes from Dax’s shop so I use the commute to check in on my store. Melia assures me everything is straight and so does my warehouse manager. I end the call with him right as I’m pulling into the visitor lot of Truce’s tower.

After signing in at the security desk, I take the elevator up to her floor. When I knock on the door, she doesn’t answer at first so I knock again. Still no answer so I shoot her a text:

Me: It’s me.

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