Page 96 of Girl, We Go Together
I unstrapped her, picked her up from her seat, and grabbed the bag on the chair beside her. She took both of her chubby hands and started playing with my cheeks.
His truck started ringing, and when it did, I glanced at the screen in the front before closing the door. The simple fact that her name was in his phone with a heart emoji had me vexed.
“Yeah, Cay, what’s up?”
“When are you dropping Oriana?”
“I’m outside right now. Ya man got her.”
There was a brief moment of silence. Knowing her, I already knew she was trying to process the awkward moment.
“I’m bringing her up now,” I said a little loudly so she could hear me.
“Okay.”
Orion gave me a head nod, and with that, I started to walk back to the building with Oriana in my arms. I heard his truck ride by when I was walking up the ramp to the building with her.
Cayla
When the front door swung open, I smiled at the sight of Oriana. Her little jacket was dirty with marker, and a crushed cookie was smudged on her face. I took her from Kassidy and then looked him in the eyes. I wanted to see if he was truly okay. He kissed the side of my face and then went to grab two more boxes.
“You know next Friday is the Family Friday event at Ori’s daycare. I invited Orion if that’s okay.”
“Yeah, that’s cool.”
I wasn’t too sure what had occurred downstairs between the two, but my man didn’t seem bothered by it, so I wouldn’t be either. He grunted as he lifted the two boxes. I looked at the clock on the stove and saw that the two moving guys I hired should arrive within the next ten minutes.
The last thing I wanted was for Kassidy to carry the load. He was already carrying enough.
“Papa, set those down. The moving men should be here in a bit.”
He leaned his head back and then looked at the stove to check the time, too.
“Shit, thank God. I’m gonna walk around the corner and pick up the U-Haul.”
Before he walked out the door, he kissed both me and Oriana on the forehead. Once the door closed behind him, I sighed. Finally, my life was getting some normalcy.
We pulled up in Kassidy’s car with the two movers and the U-Haul behind us. Ms. Flora was standing on the porch like she was waiting for us. I took Oriana out of the car and put her on her feet right on the walkway to the house. It took her no time to run over to Ms. Flora.
“We're going inside. Y’all handle that.”
She picked Oriana up and then went into the house. The side door that led to the downstairs apartment — our new home — was wide open and ready for the men to move the stuff in. I went inside and showed the men where to put things. I walked into Ori’s new room and smiled at the soft pink that covered the walls. Kassidy had done his thing for sure. Life-size little stickers of Doc McStuffins covered some of the walls.
We made the executive decision to get rid of the sofa I had at my old place. Within three hours, everything was off the truck and moved into the space around us. Both Kassidy and I plopped down onto his futon and sighed at the same time. I ended up texting Zy and telling her we didn’t need her. Between the movers, Kassidy, and me, we had gotten the job done. Ms. Flora said she would keep Oriana upstairs while we unpacked and got settled in. I didn’t want to get comfortable for too long, so I went straight to the kitchen and started unpacking things.
“Papa, I was thinking of getting a new pot set…” I said once I pulled my old one from one of the boxes.
“Send me the link, and I’ll get it.”
He was still sitting and flipping through the channels as he took a very well-deserved break. Once I was done unpacking the kitchen, I sat down beside him. On my phone, I scrolled through various furniture websites, trying to find a living room set and a new bedroom set. The frame he had in the room now didn’t go with the dresser, and that was bothering me. I felt like the set from my house was too girly, but we brought it anyway. There was no rush with furnishing our area, so I wanted to take my time with choosing pieces.
Knock, Knock
I leaned back over the futon and then looked at the door down the hall that led to the house upstairs.
“Come in.”
All I heard was Ori’s little feet.
