Page 18 of Flaunt
“I’d go withfor fuck’s sake. But this is like adding brown sugar to your oatmeal—decide with your heart.”
I grin. “Got it. Thanks, Tash.”
“Any time, any time.”
She mumbles something as I finish the email and hit send. It’s probably good that I can’t hear her.
“How’s that response look?” I ask.
“Well, it’s sent. So there’s that.”
I look down at my phone when it starts buzzing. I see who it is and pick it up.
“Hey, Golden Girl,” I say to my new friend. “How are you this fine morning?”
“Oh, Sparkles, you stop that,” she says, laughing. “Are you already on fire today? It’s still early.”
I glance at the clock. “It’s almost lunchtime.”
“And that’s early when you’re in retirement.”
Gloria was one of the women who contacted me through the dating app. It turns out that she’s a good friend of Brooke’s grandma, Honey. It also turns out that she’s hilarious, makes a great sandwich, and has taken me on as her pet project.
I hate to tell Jess, but Gloria is the best thing to happen to me in a long time. I get food, and attention, and she loves me.If she were fifty years younger, we might have a thing.
“I’m calling to see if you’ve done your photo shoot yet for the fundraiser,” she says.
Laughing, I take her off speakerphone and ignore Tasha’s amusement. “No, I haven’t. I’m still picking out poses. I want to be original, you know? Really get my good side.”
“Boy, you don’t have a side that’s not good.”
I beam. “I’ve heard that before. But keep saying it. I like it.”
Her cackling makes me grin.
“Well, I need them by next week,” she says. “I’m going to have fliers made and hung up around the retirement center. I’m gonna wet these ladies’ whistles.”
“That’s probably not all you’re gonna wet with those pics, Gloria.”
“You’re damn right. We may be old, but we still got it. There’s some of us that could still rock your world.”
My cheeks ache. “I have no doubt. None at all.”But I would never want to find out for myself. Just … no.
Foxx is old, but I don’t think he’d even want to have his world “rocked” by Gloria or one of her friends.
What if… I grin.
“My Charlie was a satisfied man, I’ll tell you. I was a belly dancer back in the day, and I learned how to work these hips.”
“You know what? I wondered that when I saw you. I said, ‘Self, I bet that woman was a belly dancer because look at how she sways those hips.’”
She snorts. “You should see me when I don’t have compression socks on.”
I burst out laughing.
“All right,” she says, snickering. “Enough messing around, you little flirt. Pictures by the end of the week, okay?”
“How many poses?”
