Page 48 of Treason's Temptation
Navie’s eyes narrowed when my office door cracked open,again. My jaw tightened before I even glanced up.
“Miss Dot said, and I quote,he can either open this door or I’ll start knocking everything over out here,” Milaya reported.
Navie hid a smirk behind her hand while Fallon shook her head.
“Send her in before she sets the building on fire.”
A menace and a legend, dressed in her Sunday best on a Tuesday morning. Miss Dot walked in holding a Tupperware container, already rolling her eyes.
“Bout damn time. All these degrees in the room and not enough sense.” She set the container in front of Navie with a thud. “These are for you, baby. Those pigs were dead ass wrong, but you held your head high, and that’s the kind of woman we need ‘round here to keepthemin line.”
Navie smiled, basking in Miss Dot giving us hell. “Thank you.”
Miss Dot waved her off. “Don’t thank me. Eat one.”
“What’s the emergency this time?” I asked, moving things along.
“Don’t you get smart with me,” she warned, moving on to the reason she was here. “There’s a mama and three babies sleeping in a sedan on Stephenson behind my house. One kid was coughing so bad I almost called the coroner. They’ve been making rounds to the church and the community fridge, but it ain’t enough. They need help.”
“There’s a woman’s shelter on Hinton,” Fallon added.
“The shelter is closing down, since you know so much. What’s your plan for that?”
Fallon cleared her throat, trying to recover. “We’re working on a homelessness initiative?—”
“Y’all been workin’ on that since Moses parted the Red Sea.” Dot didn’t even look Fallon’s way. She was too focused on me. “You sitting here with all this Langston money and can’t find fifty dollars for a motel room?” she asked, raising an eyebrow in Jaleb’s direction. “You remember what your granddaddy used to say, Treason? A man who can sleep knowing a child is hungry ain't worth the spit it’d take to curse his name.”
My grandfather was a steel-spined, work-til-your-knuckles-bleed kind of man. The kind of person who looked out for everyone, not just his own. That made Joe Westbrook a fan favorite to the neighborhood and the women, too, but Evie didn’t play that shit.
“Sounds like something The Green Ribbon Project could help with,” I suggested, killing two birds with one stone, but Navie froze mid-bite.
“I know you’re busy, but this is important. Help me out.”
My office didn’t see the gentle sparring behind our neutral expressions. Navie was on defense, standing with heart-shaped lips pressed thin until my pleading grin wore her down.
“Of course,” Navie said slowly, curling her lips into a smile. “We can’t have them sleeping in a car. That’s dangerous.”
Miss Dot clapped her hands like she’d won a game of spades. “When I saw you on the news, I said she’s going to get stuff done around here. Ain’t God good?”
“All the time,” Jaleb smiled.
“God probably ain’t heard from you in ages,” she rolled her eyes, causing me to snicker. “Alright, I’ll let y’all get back to your little meeting. Navie and I have work to do.”
I dropped my head to keep from laughing at Navie, wide-eyed. Otherwise, Miss Dot would’ve cussed me out for finding humor in the city’s homeless problem.
“I’m not done with Navie,” I spoke up.
Miss Dot waved me off, “You are now. We’ve got a family to put in a motel.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I recanted, not in the mood to argue.
Navie was halfway to the door before doubling back for a performative goodbye. A lesson that didn’t come naturally until I told her never leave a room without showing me love.
When she was close, I whispered, “You’re learning.”
“I’m going to kill you,” she whispered.
Navie went for my cheek like we were cousins, but the red matte lipstick had been calling my name all morning. I lived by the words take the risk or lose the chance, so I took mine, turning my head just in time to deliver a slow kiss. The sound of Navie’s own gasp made her pull away, shoving me in the chest, angry, she enjoyed it more than she wanted to.
