Page 83 of Jaeda

“Am I interrupting something?” I heard her father ask as a door closed.

“Kinda, yeah!”

“That Quaid?”

“It is. What do you want, old man?”

“First of all, I’m not old. I’m seasoned. Second, I just came by to see if you wanted to have lunch.”

“Daddy, you must be bored.”

“Bored as a muthafucka. I’m not in the field. I don’t have a woman. Your sister went to visit her grandparents, and I’ve seen your brothers every day this week. I need a break from them niggas.”

I chuckled lightly into the phone. “Go hang with your pops, baby. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay. Thank you again for the flowers. I love them.”

“It’s no problem. Take care.”

“You too.”

“Bye, smart mouth ass lil nigga,” her father said.

“Daddy, leave my man alone.”

He laughed. “I’m just fucking with him. He’s all right.”

I smirked. “Tell him I said hey and bye.”

“I will. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay, baby.”

We disconnected the call, and I settled back into my workload. Talking to her seemed to give me a boost of energy. I breezed through three of the five contracts I had to do today. By the time I was done with the third one, my stomach was growling. I decided to go out and pick up something from the diner around the corner.

After locking my computer, I grabbed my wallet and keys and headed for the door. When I opened it, I was surprised to find my mother on the other side, preparing to knock. This was only because she had barely spoken to me since I broke the news to her about who Jaeda was and my involvement in Titan’s business.

Even though she wasn’t speaking to me, I called as I always did, to check up on her and my father. Even he was a little short with me, but he still answered the phone. I hated things took a turn like this, but I could understand it. They were upset, and they had every right to be. I was their only child, and I was knowingly putting myself in danger. If something happened, they could never get another me.

“Ma?”

“Quaid.”

“What are you doing here?”

“I think we need to have a conversation.”

“I agree. I was about to go grab some lunch from the diner. Would you like to join me?”

“I could eat.”

She stepped back and allowed me to leave the apartment. Silently, we walked down the hall to the elevator. The ride down was just as quiet and so was the walk to the diner. Once we were seated, we ordered our drinks and food. She remained quiet until after the drinks were delivered. I watched her take a long sip of her water, wondering if she was going to say something or if I had to make the first move.

Just as I put my glass on my lips, she spoke.

“I want to apologize for giving you the silent treatment lately. It was petty, and I was wrong. If something ever happened to you and we weren’t on speaking terms, I would never forgive myself. So I’m sorry.”

“I forgive you, Ma.”

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