I smiled at her. “What you been doing?”
She wiped the sheen of sweat from her face before answering, “I just got done running the last box down. You didn’t see Lamar on your way in?”
I shook my head. “Nope.”
“You must’ve just missed him then.”
“Last box? I thought you weren’t leaving until this weekend,” I inquired.
She nodded and took another deep breath. “I wasn’t, but Lamar’s buddy who was supposed to let us use his truck this Friday and Saturday has to go out of town for his wife’s grandmother’s funeral. It was either get it all out today, or pay an arm and a leg to rent a truck from a moving company. Lamar called about an hour after I got to work, and we both had to cut out early.”
I nodded and then looked around at my now half empty apartment. Most of the decorations were gone because they belonged to Angel. Trying not to let it show that I was a little emotional, I set my purse down on the table and sat.
“So…you’re leaving for good…tonight?” I asked.
She nodded and aimlessly scratched her arm. “Yeah…all my stuff is with him now. I’mma have to take off a few days from work so I can get organized; I don’t have much of a choice. Otherwise, I’ll be living out of boxes for weeks and I’m not about that life.”
I smiled again, but felt my good mood slipping away. Angel noticed the look on my face and turned toward me while she continued to lie there on the couch.
“Aww…I’m gonna miss you too, Sammy!”
I shook my head at her and swiped away a tear. When she realized that I was crying, she got up and came to sit on the arm of the chair. Cradling my head, she kissed the top of my hair and I heard her sniffing too.
“Now you’re making me cry!” She said, chuckling as she fought it.
I rubbed her arm. “I’m happy for you. For real. I’mma miss you, though,” I admitted.
She leaned away and looked me in my eyes. “We have to start having dinner and drinks together at least once a week. And I’m still gonna be coming by.”
I nodded and felt embarrassed that she felt like she had to baby me. “I’m fine. Seriously.”
She searched my face until she believed me. As soon as she nodded, she stood and straightened her shirt. She looked like she felt so guilty for leaving.
“I have to go meet them at Lamar’s,” she said, motioning over her shoulder toward the door.
I nodded. “Yeah, of course.” I stood from the chair and tried to look a little less pathetic. “I’ll shoot you a text or something later.”
Angel hesitated for a second before grabbing her purse and keys and closing the door behind her for the last time as a tenant here. I stood there, looking around at the empty space that was now mine alone, and wondered how long it would take to get used to that feeling.
*****
“Whassup, punk,” Terrell said loudly into the phone.
I set aside the book I was reading and lay my head against the pillow. “Don’t you have some honeymooning you should be doing,” I replied with a laugh.
“Hey, Sam!” Maisha said in the background.
“Hey, girl!” I smiled, realizing I was on speakerphone. “How’s the vay-cay so far?”
“A blast,” Maisha replied. “We’re actually just in the room changing before we go have drinks on the beach. It’s supposed to be some moonlit serenade something-or-other the resort has going on. There’s gonna be a band and everything.”
“That sounds amazing! Drink some for me too,” I added.
Maisha laughed.
“Quit hijacking my phone call,” Terrell interjected, talking to Maisha. The sound of him getting smacked on the back of his head followed, but he kept going like nothing happened. “So…guess who I talked to today.”
I stared at my book, wanting to get back to it to see how the next scene played out. “Spill it.”
“Ya’ boy!”
Waiting for further explanation, I cocked my head to the side.