Rock Chick Reborn (Rock Chick #9)(44)

And I hoped to God Moses never thought of me as a mistake.

“I hear that, honey,” I murmured.

“Now, I don’t wanna let you go but I’m gonna let you go, because it’s getting late and my girls haven’t gone to sleep yet. I need to see where they’re at. I’ll call you tomorrow. And we’ll set something up if we can this week. If we can’t do that, I want to be on your calendar first chance I got. Next Friday night. Yeah?”

Oh yeah.

“Yes,” I agreed.

“Take you out somewhere nice so I can see you in another pretty dress.”

I could totally do that.

“I’ll look forward to that, Moses.”

“Great, baby. You sleep well.”

“You too, darlin’.”

“’Night, Shirleen.”

“Goodnight, Moses.”

We hung up and I looked at my feet in their slippers.

I still didn’t know how this was happening, me sitting on my bed in my slippers talking to a handsome man about life and our kids and our pasts, and what we wanted in our futures.

I just knew it was happening.

And I was beginning to believe I deserved it.

So I quit looking at my feet in their slippers.

And I started smiling at them.





“You got what on your face?” Moses asked.

“Purple goo.”

“Purple goo?”

“A facial. And it’s gettin’ on my phone. Can I call you back in twenty?”

“It takes twenty minutes to wash purple goo off your face?”

It was the next night.

Moses and I were on the phone again.

He’d texted me that morning to say he’d call that night after talking to the girls.

I’d texted him back to say I’d be looking forward to that call.

He’d then texted me with five options of where we could have dinner Friday night.

I’d texted him to share I liked all five options and it was his choice.

He’d then texted me to ask if it was appropriate for a girl to have three drawers full of makeup and still think she needed more.

I texted him back to give him the news it wasn’t only appropriate, it should be encouraged.

He texted to share he wasn’t sure he agreed with that.

It was then, me, Shirleen, texted him a tearing-up-laughing emoji.

He’d texted back a smiley-face emoji.

Shit, we were emoji-ing.

Emoji-ing!

Now it was later and he’d called in the middle of a facial.

So I needed to call him back.

“It takes twenty minutes for it to work its magic and then it takes thirty seconds to wash it off,” I educated him. “You called right after I brushed it on.”

“Just put me on speakerphone.”

Oh.

Right.

That’d be the smart way to play it.

I took the phone from my ear and put him on speakerphone.

“You’re on speaker,” I declared.

Through the speaker, I heard him chuckle.

Boy, a woman could fall in love with that sound.

After he quit doing that, he asked, “Have a good day?”

“You ever tried herding badasses?”

“I spend my days herding kids who think they’re badasses, does that count?”

“I’ll introduce you to Luke Stark. Then you can tell me your guess at how he reacts to me tellin’ him to sit his ass down and write out his time sheets.”

Another chuckle.

Yes, a woman could fall in love with that sound.

Okay.

Would it sound too eager for me to bring it up?

Damn.

I was just going to bring it up.

He wanted us open. Real.

I still tried for casual.

“So did you talk to your girls?”

“Yeah. Though Judith has a study date, here, with her boyfriend Wednesday night, other than that, it’s father-daughter time.”

I was happy for him he had that.

But I found it disappointing.

“We can have phone dates,” he said.

“I’ll take it,” I whispered.

“I’m glad, baby,” he whispered back.

“And just to say, I hear you, my man, about this boy Judith is dating. Roam dates white girls. He dates some sisters, but mostly he dates white girls. Sniff, however, sees black girls. Almost exclusive. There’s a white girl here and there, but I’m sensing the sister is just his type. But I got an issue with Roam when he’s with a white girl, and I don’t got an issue with Sniff, because he sees the beauty of a sister. And I know that’s messed up. It’s just the way I feel.”

“Yeah. And I just want her to be happy. This kid, his name is Jaxon, with an X, by the way.”

“Oh boy,” I muttered.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s not there. To him Judith is a pretty girl. She’s his girlfriend. He’s not weird with me. They’re just people.”

“World fucks that up when you get older,” I noted.

“Right. And I don’t wanna be the one who fucks that up. I don’t want to be the one who points it out that he’s dating a black girl and he needs to get her culture, her people, and respect it when that isn’t on his radar.”