Page 59 of Pieces of Us

I bit my lip and tried not to blush.

“I just might be.” I winked then climbed inside.

“Hi, Shanise.”

“Hey, Boogie. It’s good to see you.”

“Same,” I replied, blowing her a kiss.

On the way to the Pine Knob Music Theatre, we played all of Chris Brown’s older songs for Megan. I knew she listened to his recent music, but she always had headphones on. I really didn’t want to seem like a bad parent, but I couldn’t stop what she had been exposed to. Prayerfully, he would keep some of his songsPG. That was far-fetched, though. As long as she didn’t let his music influence her to do bad things, then I was okay with it.

The good thing about it was, Megan wasn’t easily influenced. Yes, she sang inappropriate songs, but she wouldn’t reenact any of them—at least I hoped.

My phone buzzed with a text notification. I looked at Nehemiah as he nodded for me to look at it. I opened it and couldn’t stop myself from blushing.

My Hemi:Them braids is doing shit to me, Mo.

Me:Watch the road, sir. You’re carrying precious cargo.??

My Hemi: I’m hip, but I got this. Once we get everybody to their seats, we’re sliding to the bathroom.

Me:We can’t!

My Hemi:Bet we can.

Me:You’re such a freak… But I’m with it. I have a birthday gift for you.??

My Hemi:That’s all I needed to know. The only gift I want is my??in that??

I laughed and focused my attention out of the window. This man was going to ruin my underwear.

We pulled into the parking lot thirty minutes later, and we all filed out of the truck. Megan took Nehemiah’s hand as we followed the large crowd into the theatre.

I couldn’t lie. I was excited to experience my first concert, especially spending it with the man I was supposed to experience all of my firsts with.

The concert was lit with the Deejay egging the crowd on to sing along to Deborah Cox’s “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here.” The ushers smiled graciously as they directed us to our seats which were three rows away from the stage. Nehemiah had to have paid a lot of money for these seats for us to be so close.

“We’ll be right back, y’all. Baby girl, you want something from the concession stand?” Nehemiah asked.

“A beef sausage with mustard and relish and a cherry slushee.”

“Gotcha.” He grabbed my hand as we headed back up the stairs to the concession stands.

“Don’t get lost!” Shanise yelled after us.

I laughed and shook my head because I was sure we wouldn’t be back right away.

As we moved toward the restrooms, I spotted a familiar face standing in line to get an alcoholic beverage.

I paused my stride. “Diana?”

She turned and looked at me. Shock covered her face before she looked at Nehemiah and frowned, then her eyes came back to me.

“Morgan Prescott, what a surprise.”

“It’s been a long time. How—”

“Baby, let’s go,” Nehemiah urged.