Page 88 of IRL: In Real Life
“So what did he say?”
I dried my hands and reached for my phone again before I could make myself act more dignified than I felt.
Micah: You survive Monday?
That one had come in twenty minutes ago.
Simple.
Still, I’d already read it enough times to know what it did to me.
“I hate your face right now,” Nicole said.
I looked up. “Why?”
“Because you got that look.”
“What look?”
“The one where your mouth gets soft like you’re trying not to let the rest of you join it.”
I laughed and leaned back against the counter. “You say things in a very annoying way.”
“I say true things in an efficient way.”
“Same arrogance. Different delivery.”
That got a laugh out of her.
I typed back before she could keep circling.
Me: Barely. Monday had opinions.
His reply came while I was still looking at the screen.
Micah: Need me to fight it for you?
That should have felt light.
It didn’t.
It felt like exactly the kind of line a woman could get used to if she wasn’t careful. Like a man stepping toward her in the middle of an ordinary day and asking where he might make it easier.
Nicole caught my face changing and pointed the spoon at me again.
“That. That right there. You are gone.”
“I’m right here slicing fruit for your ungrateful children.”
“My children are not ungrateful. They are observant.” She looked toward Nia. “Baby, how Auntie Tal been acting since she got here?”
Nia looked up from her coloring and blinked at me with serious little-girl eyes. “She keep smiling.”
Nicole spread her hands. “Witness.”
I turned toward Nia, scandalized. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
Nia thought about that. “Can I still have cookies?”
