Page 78 of Taeja

Taeja nodded. “I understand. Same here. The private school Jerry sent me to had too many presumptuous kids. I’m happy the day I met you at the mall.”

“The way how mi see yu did a walk, mi seh a must waa Jamaican that. Mi nuh know where the confidence come from, but mi happy mi did approach yu.”

Taeja smiled, recanting the memory. “Now me a remember seh a long time mi nuh talk to Miss Charm. She must a cuss me off.”

“Mek sure yu call the lady cause yu always a seh she was your favorite nanny.”

“I will—” Taeja began, stopping as the nail technician released her foot and smiled at her.

“All done,” said Binh in her thick Vietnamese accent. “Paying for both?”

Taeja nodded, and the woman smiled before heading to the desk at the front of the nail salon.

“Them people ya must tired a we,” Liyah joked as she and Taeja followed Binh.

“Dem cya tired a we when we come here every three week,” Taeja said while stopping at the counter. She took her card out of her purse, handed it to Binh, and waited for the sum to be redacted.

Binh swiped the card once, twice, then gave an apologetic smile. “Card decline.”

Taeja’s brows crinkled. “Try it again,” she urged, knowing that couldn’t be right. She still had money from the last time Jerry topped her up.

Binh tried again, getting the same result. “Decline.”

Taeja’s heart dropped.

“I’ll pay for it,” Liyah offered.

Taeja was still in a state of shock, she couldn’t even protest. She’d never heard the word ‘decline’ and ‘her card’ in the same sentence before. And to make matters worse, Liyah was paying now.

Numb, Taeja accepted her card from Binh. Her thoughts were incoherent as she blindly tucked her card into her purse, then tossed it into her handbag without zipping it up. She watched as Liyah went into her wallet and smoothed out a couple of twenty and ten-dollar bills before handing them to Binh.

“Thank you. See you in three weeks.” Binh waved as they left.

Now outside, Liyah glanced at Taeja. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Taeja rushed out, causing Liyah to raise a brow. “Sorry you had to pay.”

Liyah waved her off. “Girl, it’s fine. You always pay for us. Nothing’s wrong if I pay this once.”

Taeja smiled. “You’re the best, Liyah. I will repay you, though.”

“You can repay me by driving us home.”

Taeja sighed as they approached Zain’s two-door coupe. Taeja had driven like a grandma because she was scared of leaving a scratch on it. “You know I hate driving,” Taeja grumbled as she settled behind the wheel.

“I know, but when you came for me earlier, you held me at knifepoint and made me drive us here.”

Taeja loudly laughed as she started the vehicle. “Yu know seh yu lie?”

Liyah connected her phone to the car, playing her Kirone Tyke playlist on shuffle. “Me?Psh.”

“One thing with you? Yago connect your phone to people car,” Taeja joked as she drove off, heading toward Liyah’s apartment.

“As I should—” Liyah paused when a call popped up on the screen. She rolled her eyes and answered it. “You’re on speaker.”

“Why do I have to be on speaker?” Mason asked, his attitude mirroring Liyah’s.

“Because I don’t want you to say anything inappropriate to me.”

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