“I’msosorry. I have to go. These roofs. If it gets to the point it’s at now, it can collapse. Shit. Miss Brenda could lose everything. I’ve got to get up on the roof and pull oak tree sprouts out of a clogged drain.”
What if pulling oak trees out of drains cooled Sullivan’s ardor? What if she decided sleeping with Kia would be too complicated? What if she came back from Miss Brenda’s roof and pretended that they hadn’t had a moment?
“I’m coming with you.” Kia began packing up the picnic stuff.
“It’s going to be a mess up there. You are too pretty and too glittery for drain cleanup.”
“I am offended, Chef Sullivan.” Kia put her hands on her hips. “Do you know how many times I emptied Old Girl’s septic tank before I could afford an incinerating toilet? I bailed water out of the Diva in Florida because everyone said,The hurricane isn’t going to hit inland. If I’m going to bail that much crap, I want to get credit for bailing crap.”
Sullivan stopped her light-speed departure, her face hovering on the edge of impressed.
“You’re on, Jackson.”
“And by the way,” Kia said as they headed out, “Iamtoo pretty for bailing crap.”
Back at the house, Sullivan changed and grabbed tools. Kia donned green striped overalls and colorful rain gear. Bad weather was no reason to wear industrial navy. Outside, Sullivan headedfor her sedan.
“Sully,” Kia called out. “This is not a sedan situation. It’s time for an all-American”—Kia dropped her voice to a masculine drawl—“truck.”
“You’re cute, Jackson,” Sullivan said, and she headed to the truck.
“Tell me more about Miss Brenda,” Kia asked as Sullivan pointed directions.
“You remember the elegant Black woman with my family at graduation? That was Miss Brenda. She was my grandfather’syounger friend. They always helped each other with their restaurants.”
“So there’s a history of seducing younger women?” Kia quipped. She glanced at Sullivan to see how the comment landed. Hopefully Kia hadn’t misread their conversation in the museum.
Sullivan looked like she was going to say something. It came out, “Turn left at the light,” but she was fighting a smile.
Kia turned back to the rain splashing off the windshield. A few minutes later, they arrived at a bustling storefront on an oak-lined street. Colorful flower boxes adorned the windows. The wordsBISCUIT BOXwere painted in a whimsical font on the door. A crowd of people stood on the sidewalk watching water pour off the roof of the two-story building and inappropriately, Kia thought, eating biscuits.
“This place looks popular,” Kia observed.
“Miss Brenda is an amazing baker. You should try her signature sugar-stuffed sweet potato biscuit; it’s to die for. And don’t worry. She’ll feed you more than you can possibly eat.”
“You eat Miss Brenda’s sugar-stuffed biscuit, and you mock the tursnicken?”
Kia parked in front. An older woman in a flowered apronburst out of the front door, hugging Sullivan.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” she said in a Virginia accent. She kissed Sullivan on both cheeks. “And this must be your bride. You must tell me all about yourself, darling. I am so happy that Little Sully finally found a decent woman. I like her already. Look at you all ready to work in those pretty overalls.”
“Little Sully,” Kia whispered as Miss Brenda led them to a fire escape that went to the roof.
“Call me Little Sully, and I will never speak to you again,” Sullivan said.
“Little Sully.” Kia put her arm around Sullivan’s waist.
Sullivan shot her a murderous glance, which softened immediately. She paused just long enough to kiss Kia on the forehead.
“I’m calling your father and getting embarrassing baby pictures.”
The marriage was fake, but teasing each other in the rain and the smell of biscuits… that was real. You learned that when you moved every week. Special moments didn’t last, but that didn’t mean they weren’t real.
The next real moment included climbing a fire escape under a waterfall of slime.
Ahead of her, Sullivan leaned back to avoid the water, but there was only one way to make the turn on the fire escape, and that was through water pouring off the roof. Sullivan pulled up her hood. She glanced back at Kia.
“You still in?”
