Page 120 of Back in the Saddle

I remembered correctly. They were very good.

The news on Shirleen, by the by, was that she and her husband Moses were moving to Phoenix as well.

Then again, Cap wasn’t her only adopted son. Roam, another member of the team, was too, with designs to move down, something it appeared he didn’t mess around in doing, seeing as I’d noticed just yesterday, he’d already been folded into the crew.

So, of course she’d want to be where her boys were.

“I’m so glad you’re moving to town,” I told her.

“I’m not,” Daisy chimed in as I stepped out of Shirleen’s embrace.

“You could move too,” Shirleen stated. “You been outside. Did you feel that? Eighty-four degrees. And it’s almost December.”

“I ain’t leavin’ my castle,” Daisy fired back.

Castle?

“Have Marcus move it for you,” Shirleen replied.

Move a castle?

“My babies are still in school,” Daisy retorted. “Annamae would never forgive me if I moved her at her age.”

“How old is she?” I asked.

“Ten.”

I winced. “Yeah. She’ll be forming her posse by now.”

“You got that right, sister,” Daisy replied.

“So, are you just here to visit?” I asked.

“Nope,” she turned and picked up a paper coffee cup from the bar, which meant she got it from the cubby, not from the restaurant. In other words, Tex made it, not one of the girls. She took a sip and said, “I’m here to help Shirleen with house huntin’.”

“Rad,” I drawled.

“We don’t need help,” Shirleen asserted. “My Moses isn’t gonna be outside, mowing a lawn in a hundred and twenty-degree heat.”

I heard that.

Though, it brought to mind that Eric liked yardwork, and he hadn’t lived in town for more than a few months, so he’d only experienced the dying breaths of a Phoenix summer.

I wondered how long it’d take before he hired a yard crew.

“So we’re gonna buy the condo in that high-rise Raye showed me on that website,” Shirleen concluded.

“You haven’t even seen it in person,” Daisy said.

“I don’t need to see it,” Shirleen returned. “It’s got a rooftop pool for me. It’s got a nice gym, for Moses. And it’s got valet parking, also for me.”

“And it’s also got seventy neighbors living right on top of each other,” Daisy pointed out.

Yeah.

Unless you scored a joint like the Oasis, that could be bad.

“We’re in Phoenix,” Shirleen replied. “At that price range, they’re all gonna be old as dirt, wadin’ in the rooftop pool, waiting to die. They’re not gonna throw wild parties. And they’ll all be retired, so they’ll be in good moods all the time. Alternately, they’ll be on the Phoenix Suns, and I’ll get to ride the elevators with a slew of fine-lookin’ Black men. Moses won’t mind. We’re allowed to look. Just not touch.”

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