“Aren’t you still under a storm watch?”
“Are we? I mean, it’s not that bad out here right now.”
“Why the hell did you leave your apartment in the first place, Sawyer?” she reprimanded.
“Because I—I had to help out my neighbor, Mr. Wilkins,” she lied. “You know he’s getting up there in age. He needed some bare essentials to help get him through the storm, and so I told him I’d run out for him. It’s no big deal.”
“No big deal? You and that bleeding heart of yours! I swear it’s gonna be the death of you.”
She and I traded glances after her sister’s statement before she turned her attention back to the road. “I promise you I’m fine, okay?”
“I mean seriously, Sawyer, do you have a death wish? All you’ve been doing for the past twenty-four hours is risking your life for someone other than yourself. First that damn dog, and now for some elderly neighbor? You stay tryna get a gold star.”
She let out a soft chuckle. “Says the elementary teacher who hands them out.”
“Not all willy-nilly!”
“Shut up. I gotta go. I’m trying to make this a quick trip. Love you. I’ll call you later, forreal,” Sawyer replied, urging her off the line.
“You better.”
“Okay, bye,” she replied before abruptly ending the call.
The car fell silent again for the next twenty or so minutes—the only sound was that of her windshield wipers that were swishing the rain away. It seemed to teeter between a soft but steady shower and hard drops that pelted against the roof like bullets. Luckily, I was still able to see from the passenger window.
“I think we should turn around now and go the other way,” I told her.
“Mmhm,” she responded dryly. Sawyer eased the car to a halt at a red light to make a U-turn, and began nervously tapping her fingers against the steering wheel. “Are you staying the night again?” she questioned, twisting her neck toward me.
“Do you want me to?”
She smacked her lips, unwilling to hide her agitation. “Can you just answer the question with an answer instead of following up with another question? That shit is annoying, especially right now.”
“Fine,” I said with a grunt. “The answer is, I don’t know.”
“How long will we search for your brother? You said it yourself that the storm is coming back around again. What happens if we don’t find him?”
She was asking a lot of shit I didn’t have the answers to, and I was getting more and more irritated by the second.
“We’ll search as long as it takes until we find him,” I grumbled, now visibly agitated with all her questioning.
If I had it my way, I’d never stop searching for Kadeem, but I realized I was up against nature. I turned my upper body toward the window, keeping my eyes glued to the moving landscape as my left leg bounced with angst.
Sawyer continued to drive with her hands at the ten and two position on the steering wheel. We both seemed to be inour feelings for one reason or another, but I was on a fuckin’ mission. I alternated between staring at her and staring out the window for a clue.
“Yo, what’s your problem?” I probed, unable to bite my tongue.
“What makes you think I have a problem?”
“Everything about you says yo’ ass got a problem right now.”
“I just don’t think we should be out here too long. It’ll be getting dark in a couple of hours.”
“We’ve been out here for twenty minutes, a half hour at best. Chill.”
“I am chill.”
I sucked my teeth. “Could’ve fooled me.”
