Page 44 of He Don't Play About Me
For a moment, everything inside me felt warm and safe.
He pulled back and kissed me.
“It’s gonna be okay,” he said.
I nodded into his body.
Mr. Groom cleared his throat.
“I’m going to do everything I can to get him out.”
We both looked at him.
“You better, nigga,” Gio said. “You ain’t no damn public defender, do your job.”
He nodded.
With Mr. Groom sitting in the corner, Gio and I got a few minutes to talk. He told me to keep things moving, to stay smart, and that he loved me for all that I was doing.
And I told him that I had him.
It wasn’t long before the guard was knocking on the door to take him back to jail. Gio quickly changed into his jumpsuit and kissed me one last time before they pulled him away from me again.
I left the courthouse and headed to the apartments to meet the movers in silence, no music, no podcast, just me in my thoughts. I was still in disbelief. I knew for sure I was leaving the courthouse with Gio, but instead, I was in the car alone, replaying my morning as I drove, and one thing other than Gio stuck with me.
The woman I kept seeing, and why Gio made a face in the direction that she was in.
When I got to the complex, the movers and the cleaners weren’t there yet. I sucked my teeth, annoyed, but went and got some food to pass the time. As I sat in my car and ate, my phone rang. I looked at the dash and saw it was my momma and picked up.
“Hey, Momma.”
“Hey, baby, you okay?” I paused and remembered I didn’t tell her anything about what was going on with Gio.
“Yeah, Mama, just been a lil’ busy with things.”
“Like what, Islah?” she shot back. Even as a grown-ass woman, it was still hard to lie to that woman.
“Gio got us a house and I—we’ve been getting ready to move.”
“And what else?” she fired back again.
“Nothing, Ma, that’s it.”
She paused. “Islah, I know the nigga is locked up; it was all over the news through the neighborhood. The police ran into your home, and you didn’t call me?”
I exhaled.
“I didn’t want to worry y’all; it’s been a lot going on.”
“I bet it has. Do you think he will be coming home?” Ma asked.
I exhaled again. “I hope so, Mama, the lawyer don’t think they have anything on him.”
“That’s good. Now, are you really okay? I know you act like you can’t move without that man.”
“Girl, don’t try me,” I said, laughing. “It’s just one thing that is bothering me, and it’s not him being locked up.”
“What is it, baby?”
