Page 26 of Don Caselli

“Landon,” I corrected her.

She smiled. “Landon.”

I wrapped my lips around the end of the spliff as I took a long pull, never breaking eye contact with her. She shifted in her seat, and tried to look away, but the high refused for her to break the moment we were having.

“I saw the birthday girl on the news the other day.”

“Kennedy.”

“Yeah, Kennedy. Why don’t your brother and sister want you with her? Sounds like her engagement was a surprise for you,” she questioned.

Any other person I would have ignored or put them in their place, but not her. She was transparent with me without evenknowing me. She let me into her relationship and made me a safe space before I even knew anything about her.

I couldn’t do that to her.

“It was a surprise.”

Her lowered eyes watched me, and she was cute as shit. “Were you dating her?”

“She’s my brother’s god daughter. The reason they don’t want me with her… among other reasons.” I left out the part that she worked, well used to, work for Case House.

Her eyes became wide. “What in the freaky ass Jerry Springer?”

“Chill the fuck out,” I chuckled.

“I mean, that shit seems weird… were you raised around each other?”

“Nah. The label of god daughter is more for protection than anything. She doesn’t even claim that shit, and neither does my brother. He looks out for her.”

“She knew how you felt about her?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why did she get engaged and didn’t tell you?”

I took another long pull. “Cause she’s a stupid bitch.”

Navy laughed. “Seriously?”

When I looked at her, she realized that I wasn’t joking. “Well, damn… you really care about her?”

I didn’t want to talk about Kennedy with her. Not because I didn’t have shit to get off my chest. Whenever I happened to share space with Navy, the shit felt like an honor. It was special. I didn’t want to ruin this time talking about another woman.

Another woman that didn’t matter when my time was being shared with her. “How you been, though?”

She shrugged. “Good.”

“Are you good or just saying that shit because it sounds right? Remember… stranger.” I smiled.

“You’re starting to feel less and less like a stranger.” She removed her braids from the bun. “It doesn’t help when you stare at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re flirting with me, Don.”

“Landon.”

“You was teasing me about how I was fake flirting and here you are staring at me so intense… shit… is it hot in here?”

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