Page 27 of Saved By A Small Town Country Boy
“I’m not sure, but I am looking into it,” I told her as they continued to pass the book along the room.
A little boy raised his hand. “Yes?” I asked him.
“Have you ever had to kill an animal before?”
My eyes widened like saucers. “I wouldn’t call it kill, but I have had to put some to sleep that were really sick.”
I answered a few more questions and then stood to the side as everyone else had their turn. Khali kept looking back at me to make sure that I was still there. Once school was over, Khali ran up to me and wrapped her arms around my waist.
“Thank you for coming.” Her little eyes sparkled as she stared up at me.
“You’re more than welcome.” I tapped her on the tip of her nose with my index finger.
I walked her out the door, where I found Khalif parked, waiting for her. He got out the truck and walked around to where we stood. This is the first time that I’ve seen him since we had our moment. Today, he wasn’t wearing his cowboy hat. In fact, he was dressed in a simple white T-shirt and jeans. He did have on those cowboy boots of his though.
“Daddy!” Khali ran up and hugged Khalif as if she hadn’t seen him all week. It was cute. I liked seeing her excited to see her daddy.
“Hey, baby girl.” He pecked her on top of the head.
“Do you think that Remedi can come to dinner tonight?” His eyes cut to me, slicing through my heart. I did sort of make plans with Reese, but who was I to turn Khali down if she wanted to spend time with me? Khali? Who am I kidding? I’m really worried about seeing Khalif and knowing if he felt the strong ass connection between us like I did.
“If you really want her to come,” was his response.
Khali turned back to face me and asked, “Can you come to dinner with us?”
Snickering, I replied, “Sure.”
“Okay!” Khalif opened the back passenger door for Khali, and she climbed up in the truck. As he shut it, he looked over at me, and my heart banged against my ribcage. He rounded the truck,climbed into the driver’s seat, and sat there. I’m not sure what he was waiting for, but I stepped off the curb and made my way across the parking lot to my truck. Soon as I got inside and shut the door, he pulled off. Maybe he was waiting for me to leave.
I followed him to his house, not knowing how the evening was going to turn out. Stopping behind his truck in the driveway, I grabbed my phone and sent Reese a quick text.
Khali asked me to come over for dinner. Rain check?
It’s as if she was waiting for me to text her or something because she responded immediately.Khali or Khalif? I think you were missing the F.
I didn’t even bother to text her anything back. Hitting the power button, I grabbed my purse and got out the truck. Khali was waiting for me on the step of the porch while Khalif unlocked the door. He pushed the door in and waited for us to enter first before coming in behind us.
I placed my purse on the counter and stood there, not knowing what to do. “Why you standing there like you ain’t been here before?” he asked before going over to the sink. From where I stood, I couldn’t quite see what was in it, but the moment I walked over next to him and saw what it was, I wished that I’d stayed my ass where I was at. A whole dang chicken was in the sink. The only thing missing was the head.
Khalif glanced over at me, and the corner of his mouth quirked. This is really the first time since I’ve been here that I’ve seen somewhat of a smile from him.
“What’s wrong? You’ve never seen a dead chicken before?”
“I’m just going to let you handle that and go in there with Khali.” I pointed my thumb over my shoulder and backed away. Though I wasn’t a vegetarian or anything, I did hate seeing cruelty to animals, with my profession and all.
“I’ll let y’all know when dinner is ready.”
“Okay.” I disappeared out of that kitchen so fast.
Khali was in her bedroom, sitting on the floor with her Barbie dolls. It’s been so long since I’ve played with one. “Hey,” I spoke, letting her know that I was about to enter her bedroom.
“Hey.” She glanced up at me and went back to playing with her dolls.
Stepping into her bedroom, I took a seat on the floor directly in front of her Indian style. “I told your daddy that I’d come keep you company while he cooks dinner.”
“The chicken scared you, huh?” She erupted in laughter. It’s almost as if she set me up. “I didn’t like it at first ’til he explained it to me. It’s some chickens out there that he raises for us to eat, and then there are others that he raises to lay eggs for us. I try not to think about it. He showed me how to do it just in case I needed to, to survive.”
“I’m sure you know how to do a lot of things that I don’t know how.”
