Page 49 of After Him, There Was You
“I love you too, babe.
We celebrated until the sun went down and a few hours after before everyone parted ways. Thanks to my heart, the day I had been dreading where I was afraid to wake up to celebrate my mama’s day of birth without her, turned out to be a day I never wanted to forget.
Chapter 23: Distraction - Tara
One Week Later
“They are way too crowded,” I stated to Eva the moment we walked inside Beyond Nail Salon.
“T, it’s not that bad, and you don’t have anything to do until later tonight. You can spare a few hours; plus, we have an appointment,” she stated, walking up to sign us in.
Eva had asked me to go to the nail salon with her as if the stop was spur of the moment, but there she was with an appointment for the both of us. Eyeing her skeptically, I moved away from the door and grabbed a wall seat.
How does she have an appointment for us to get our nails done when she only asked me after breakfast to go?
After she finished checking us in for the appointment I didn’t know we had, she stood next to me, pulling out her phone as if she didn’t have a care in the world and as if she was oblivious to me intensely staring at her.
Eva and I both had our kids for the weekend, but for whatever reason, she wanted Jaedan to watch the kids instead of all of us going out to breakfast like we normally would have. She also had insisted for me to go home following my yoga class so she could pick me up instead of me meeting her at Grits like I normally would have.
I didn’t know what was going on with her, but I knew without a doubt something wasn’t right.
“Why are you staring at me like that, T?” she asked, finally looking up from her phone.
“What’s going on?”
“What do you mean what’s going on?” she asked in response, looking around as if she didn’t understand what I was asking her or why.”
“I mean what’s going on with you? Neither of us need our nails done this badly,” I fussed, motioning around the crowded shop.
Between the two of us, we could have gone at least another week before it became even slightly necessary for us to get our nails touched up. There wasn’t a need to be in the nail salon regardless of if it was crowded or not.
“I wanted to treat my best friend today. That’s it.”
Her answer seemed sincere enough, but I could tell she was holding something back and there was more to our morning aside from her wanting to pamper me.
Nevertheless, I would push back my paranoia and enjoy the treatment. Plus, with the date Zane and I had planned for later, it wouldn’t hurt to be at my absolute best even if my current state was already pretty darn good.
Instead of continuing to question the madness behind her methods, I relinquished control of my day to her, deciding to enjoy our time together. I was already in my head about the date Zane had planned for us because he only told me to wear something semiformal and the time to be ready.Why is everyone keeping me in the dark today?
Thankfully, due to the appointment Eva had made for us, we didn’t have to wait too long, and we were able to get seated in the pedicure chairs ahead of the other patrons who were walk-ins.
When our pedicures were done and I sat in the chair to have a deluxe manicure completed, Taniyah, the manicurist, made mention of how my nails still looked immaculate due to my appointment only a week earlier.
“I know, but apparently my best friend wants to treat me,” I concurred, staring at Eva who was looking away from me, acting as if she was oblivious to the conversation happening beside her, which was never the case with her.
Once we were done receiving our services, Eva paid the tab, and we were on our way.
“We may as well do some shopping now,” Eva reasoned as she typed in North Brooke Port mall into her car’s GPS system. “And don’t ask me why we are going to the mall. Just ride with me. Can you do that?” she questioned, reading my mind because I was indeed going to ask her why she was adamant about bouncing from one side of the town to the next.
“Fine, E. I’ll go with the flow, but the next time I try to get you to do something you don’t want to do, I don’t want any push back. I want you to get in the car with me and go. Okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed, turning on some music with a smile on her face which I didn’t miss but also decided not to acknowledge.
I didn’t know exactly what she had up her sleeve, but I knew time would tell.
Chapter 24: Brown Sugar - Zane
After I sent Eva the money to sponsor the day of pampering she was taking Tara on, I called King of Hearts to make sure everything would be in order once we arrived there.
