Page 50 of Until the Ink Dries

I watched as he retreated down the steps into his car. He gave a final wave before climbing into the driver’s seat and backing out of the driveway. I didn’t realize how hard I was blushing until I caught my father staring in my peripheral.

“Just friends, my ass,” he said, ushering me into the house. “None of my friends have ever made me this flustered. Go on and keep your secrets in the dark. Just know that daddy peeped game.”

I didn’t know what to say. I mean, what could I say to that? Instead of saying anything, I stood on my tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“Goodnight, Daddy,” I sang, floating past him and over the stairs.

“Goodnight, Willow.”

A FEW DAYS LATER…

Isprayed down the surfaces within my studio and then wiped them down. Every Wednesday or Thursday, I tried to keep a routine going with cleaning or handling business with the other artists. I preached repeatedly about keeping their spaces clean, not because they weren’t on it to begin with, but I didn’t want their asses to forget.

One thing aboutOff the Wall, nobody was ever going to say we didn’t handle business or keep a clean establishment. It was one thing that brought me clients from all over the world. I grabbed the broom from the storage closet and began sweeping until I heard my phone going off. I rushed behind the counter in case it was about Charlie. She was with my mom and although I knew she would keep her safe, accidents happen.

I picked up my phone only to see Jordan’s name glowing on the screen. I kissed my teeth, then answered. I grabbed my Air pods and connected the call to them.

“Aye, can you hear me?” Jordan asked.

Clearly, he had been talking while I was trying to connect the car to my headphones.

“I can hear you now. What’s up?” I asked.

I continued sweeping after slipping my phone into my pocket so it wouldn’t get disconnected while I continued to clean the studio.

“I can’t call you just to check in with you?”

I craned my head to the side and stopped sweeping for a moment.

“Man, if you don’t tell me what you want.”

Jordan laughed.

“I swear you one grumpy muthafucka sometimes. All yo’ ass probably doing is cleaning that damn studio. You not busy, so stop pretending like you are. Now, I’m busy. You should be glad I’m taking time out of my busy schedule to check in on you.” He lectured.

I swear, he got on my nerves sometimes, but that was my boy, and I did appreciate him calling to check in. I wasn’t really the best communicator when it came down to calling and checking in on folks. I would love to blame it on being focused on work and Charlie. But, most times, I didn’t feel like being bothered.

“Yeah, aight. I’m glad you called anyway because you are always in something.”

Jordan chuckled, “What I do?”

“You know damn well what you did. I’m trying to figure out how a fuck session turned into you and Shirah being Hitch.”

“Now you know I’ve always had a thing for that woman. So it was more than a fuck session. Second, you should be saying, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to pull this woman because I never would have had the balls to do it my damn self.”

I stopped sweeping and tried to keep a straight face, but I couldn’t. This man got on my damn nerves sometimes. I laughed.

“Fuck you. I didn’t ask for your help or need it. I know how to talk to a woman and not to mention, Willow makes that shit easy.”

“I heard.” Jordan quipped back.

“I’m sure. The way I kept catching Shirah trying to duck behind shit at that fundraiser, she should be ashamed of her damn self.”

Jordan cracked up as I described the many different times I caught her ass. I just never mentioned it to Willow; I wasn’t concerned about it, but it was definitely funny.

“How was the fundraiser? Duke able to get everything he needed?” Jordan asked.

“After how much you sent, it wasn’t a need for the damn fundraiser. Then, a few of your other teammates sending shit. Duke was able to use their money to give the neighborhood a good time. Shit, the town. Charlie had a ball and has been talking about everything we did for a few days now.”

---