Page 17 of Continuum

I nodded. “I get that—”

“Here’s your food,” Judy announced, placing plates in front of us. The burgers looked juicy, and the fries looked piping hot. My mouth watered. “You need anything else?”

“I’m good,” I told her. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, everything looks good,” he agreed. “Thanks.”

“That’s what I like to hear! You two enjoy. Just call on me if you need anything,” she said before leaving us alone.

“So, do you just work with local companies or do you travel?” Kwame asked, bringing the conversation back to my work.

“I mostly work locally, but I travel as well,” I answered. “One of my best friends is a recruiter for a company that does business up and down the East Coast. Her contacts have been very instrumental in me building my clientele outside of Maryland.”

“Is it one of the same two you used to be with all the time?”

I grabbed my fry and popped it into my mouth. “How do you know who I used to be with all the time?”

“Because every story you told involved them. It was always you, Blue Streak, and WNBA together. I can’t remember their real names, but you didn’t do anything without those two.”

“Like you’re one to talk!” I balked. “You were always with your fraternity brothers. Everything was SON this, SON that.”

He chuckled lightly. “You’re not wrong.” After taking a bite of his burger, he washed it down with a gulp of water. “I’m still in contact with a lot of them. My line brothers are my best friends though. We’re spread all over the country, but we get up at least once a year for a vacation.”

“I love that!”

“You do anything like that with your girls?”

I finished swallowing to answer. “Went to Dubai last year.”

“Oh, that’s what’s up! We can’t get our shit together to do international trips as a group.”

“We have a girl’s trip that we take every year. It started small with beach trips and then we elevated to international once we graduated. We do it faithfully. We see each other all the time, but our big trips are special. Especially since…” My voice faded and I grabbed my burger and took another bite. “Our trips are special.”

He was quiet for a moment, watching me as I chewed. He waited until I swallowed to speak. “Ever since what?”

I cleared my throat. “Ever since Angel died. She had cancer,” I answered. “We’ve been going out of our way to make sure we relish the time we have together.”

He nodded. “I get that.” He leaned forward. “I’m sorry about your friend. I know that had to be tough.”

“It’s been a long time,” I told him. “But thank you.”

“Was that WNBA?”

The corners of my mouth turned upward. “Blue Streak.”

He nodded. “Blue Streak. What was the best trip you took with her?”

I told him about our trip to Honolulu. I laughed as I told him about our first luau. He chuckled along with me as I told him how we embarrassed ourselves in the hula competition.

“It was one of the best trips ever,” I concluded, eating the last of my fries. “Definitely one of my favorite memories.”

The intensity of his eyes as he watched me made it difficult to swallow. There was no pity or sadness. He looked at me with a depth of emotion that I wasn’t expecting. I took a sip of water.

“She’s still here,” he said gently.

I froze, immediately remembering the woman I’d followed into the bar. My heart thumped in my chest. “What?”

“The way you just told that story. She’s gone physically, but… you lived in the moment and she lives there with you,” he uttered.

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