Page 38 of Tenderfoot

“There’s a difference?” Luna asked.

“Yes,” both Jinx and Shanti answered.

“Have we heard anything from Clarice, Arthur or Titus?” I belatedly asked for an update.

“Only Titus,” Luna answered. “And his response was, ‘Steer clear of this shit, woman.’”

“Does that mean he knows something?” Shanti asked.

“I think it’s time for another trip to the greatest man cave of all time,” Raye said.

Yippee!

“You go see Titus, I go with you,” Jinx put in.

“Sure,” Raye agreed.

Jinx shifted her legs off the bed and reached for her platform heels. “Time for me to get back to work.”

My stomach dipped, because this meant we were done, and Javi was down in the parking lot waiting for me, and his text didn’t seem all that chipper.

I also hadn’t told the girls about this morning, or that I’d stood him up that night (and Shanti hadn’t either), or the fact he was downstairs for that matter.

Man, I wished I was good at cursing.

Because, shhh…

…oot.

SIX

“YOUR BEST AMERICAN GIRL”

(MITSKI)

Everyone was shuffling toward the door, and therefore, I was panicking.

In that panic, I jumped up, dashed to block their exit, my arms held out and everything.

“We can’t go down there,” I blurted.

“What?” Luna asked as they all stopped short. “Why?”

Dang it!

I had to cop to it.

This, with no choice, I did.

“Because Javi is down there, and I think he’s mad because he thought we were having dinner tonight, and me vamoosing before he could pick me up from work, some could think means I stood him up.”

There was a moment of silence before Jinx asked incredulously, “You stood Mountain up?”

I would understand her incredulity if last night hadn’t happened.

“Well…” I trailed off because in my mind, that was a no, in Javi’s mind, I was thinking it was a yes, even if it wasn’t a date date.

Or, could you stand someone up if it wasn’t actually a date date?