Fallen Woman(7)

He threw his hands up in surrender. “Got it.” Hurt lined every feature on his beautiful face, and I couldn’t allow him to misunderstand what my words meant.

I closed the gap between us and grabbed the hand now at his side. “No. I didn’t mean I don’t want you to know where I live like I’m afraid for you to know. I don’t want you to know where I live because I’m ashamed.” And just like that, the cat was out of the bag—well, half of it anyway.

“What? That’s insane. Why would I care where you live?”

“You may not. But I do. I worked my ass off to get out of the situation I’m in, and I pulled it off against all odds, but life hit like a storm and tore down my sand castle.”

“I’m not following you, Gia.”

“I live in The Village, Jase.” Sadness and resignation laced my voice. It was what it was. I was who I was.

His eyes were wide, obviously shocked. “Oh.” He couldn’t manage anything more, and that was fine. I didn’t need more. This would end whatever interest he might have had, and I could move on with my pathetic existence. He didn’t drop my hand or make any motion to leave. He just stood there, eye to eye, my green for his gray. “So you still need a ride home, right?”

“Did you miss what I just said?” Surely he’s not stupid. Everyone in this area knew what part of town I was talking about, and no respectable man of his stature would be caught dead in my neck of the woods unless they were doing some Habitat for Humanity project.

He began to pull me toward the parking garage, never releasing my hand. “Nope. I heard you. But I don’t understand what that has to do with whether or not you need a ride.”

And with that, I got in his car and rode in silence to the front of the housing project. Every head turned as we drove through the streets as if they’d never seen a Mercedes before. Please. After dark, all the dealers had them, so it must’ve been the guy driving it. I pointed in the direction he needed to go, but when we got to my building, he refused to let me walk to my door alone.

“I do this every day, Jase. I’m fine. I can make it to my front door.”

“I’m not relenting, so you might as well let me escort you to the apartment if you want any peace.”

When we reached the door, I expected him to leave, but instead, he stood there, waiting for me to open the locks. I was late as it was, so when my kids came bounding out of Miss Pearl’s apartment in my direction, I wasn’t the least bit surprised. Then I saw her face peek out the door. “Gianna, baby, dinner’s ready. Bring your friend. There’s plenty of food.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Jase’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.

“Don’t even think about it,” I said to his vapid grin.

“She invited me. It would be rude to say no,” he teased as I opened the door to drop my stuff off.

I acknowledged the kids before shooing them back in Miss Pearl’s direction with a promise to join them soon.

“I didn’t know you had kids.”

“That’s because I didn’t tell you. There are a lot of things you don’t know about me. And trust me, most of them you aren’t interested in.”

I heard his gasp when we walked inside, but when I turned to acknowledge it, his face was cleared of any surprise.

“You all share this space?” he asked.

I chewed on my bottom lip and nodded. He began to wander around, opening doors and then cabinets. I tried to stop him before he got to the fridge but knew it would only make things worse, so instead of pouncing on him, I just closed my eyes before the light from inside the empty box reached me.

“You were worried about doing something for someone else?” I heard the confusion in his voice. “Gianna, your kitchen is bare. Where’s your food?”

Ignoring his question and fighting off the tears that stung my eyes, I said, “Are you coming next door for dinner? If not, I need to say goodbye.”

He closed his mouth and nodded. I wasn’t sure if he understood anything he was seeing, but when you stepped inside Miss Pearl’s world, nothing else mattered. I knew once I got him there, he’d know we were okay.

I couldn’t tell if Jase was more into Miss Pearl or the kids, but he seemed right in his element. He entertained the tiny humans and made them laugh like I hadn’t heard in years—since before their father died. And it was easy to see how much he loved Miss Pearl. I couldn’t blame him for either—the kids were infectious, and Miss Pearl made you feel like she’d known you since birth. When we finished dinner, we hung out in her petite living room eating blackberry cobbler and drinking coffee. It was the most normal I’d felt in years. I wasn’t sure I’d ever felt this kind of love before. With Ryan, it was just us, but now, my neighbor felt like extended family, and I loved Derrick as much as I did her. I hadn’t figured out his story yet, and it wasn’t my place to ask, but his mom seemed to get him on weekends, and Miss Pearl had him during the week. Whatever it was, Trace adored him, and I could see Pearl’s influence on his personality.

I didn’t want the night to end, but the kids were yawning and Derrick was asleep on the floor. I hated to break it up, but it wasn’t fair to them. When I managed to get the twins together, Emmy was still on the floor, and I knew an all-out meltdown was about to ensue…until she reached up to Jase. I expected him to look to me, but without hesitation, he lifted her little body into his arms and tucked her into his chest. I’d never seen a man hold her that way. To see it now threatened to bring tears to my eyes. I fought them off as I refused to believe Jase could be anything more than a friend. Men like him didn’t play house with women like me. Regardless of the amount of education I had, I was still poor white trash from the wrong side of the tracks.