It didn’t sound like he was talking to Kira this time, but I tried to force myself not to care if it was her or not. Didn’t work.
The sound of AJ’s footsteps returning to the kitchen made me tense, but I tried to play it off. I was painfully aware of his stare when he leaned against the side of the archway again, finishing his conversation while he watched me get plates down from the cabinet. After grabbing silverware for the both of us, I flashed him a tight smile as I passed by on my way out to the dining room table. He said a few last words to the caller and then hung up before abandoning his post to retrieve our glasses and the bottle of wine from the living room. Setting them down on the table, his eyes were locked on mine as he took the seat across from me.
“That was Terrell,” he explained. “He’s been hell-bent on getting the two of us talking since before I even moved here. But something tells me you probably get the same nagging phone calls that I get.”
I smiled and cut my chicken into bite-size pieces. “Almost daily.”
AJ chuckled and refilled both of our glasses.
“Are you gonna tell him that we’re, you know…hanging out?” I asked, curious as to just how big a secret this was supposed to be.
Hanging out? Was that even the right phrase? Were we homies now?
AJ shrugged. “I started to say something just now actually, but I wasn’t sure how you’d feel about him knowing.”
As far as I was concerned, we had nothing to hide. Well, I didn’t anyway….but I wasn’t the one with a fiancé. “It’s cool with me,” I shrugged. “As hard as he’s been trying to ‘fix’ us, it almost seems cruel to keep him in the dark.” Imagining how genuinely excited Terrell would be that AJ and I reconnected brought a smile to my face. He’d been pulling for us this whole time, not letting the fact that five years passed diminish the hope he had that AJ and I could at least be friends again one day.
I took a bite and then realized that AJ was staring at me. Before it became a ‘thing’ I tore my eyes away and continued to eat.
“Next time we talk, I’ll tell him,” he said casually before tasting his food.
I nodded and then forced myself to look back down at my plate. In fact, that’s pretty much how the rest of the meal went. Aside from a few casual words being exchanged, we ate in silence. When we finished, AJ insisted on helping with the dishes just like he had every time I could recall him eating dinner at my parent’s home in Virginia. It brought back so many memories as I stood there beside him at the kitchen sink.
He passed me the soap-coated pan I’d baked the chicken in and my fingers slipped over his when I took it to rinse. Feeling his persistent stare, I glanced up to find his eyes locked on his initials on my wrist.
“Does he ever give you a hard time about that?” AJ asked, referring to Jason.
I sprayed the pan and shrugged my shoulders. He’s brought it up once or twice, but it doesn’t seem to be an issue.” I looked up at the dark letters on AJ’s neck and imagined that his tattoo was probably a bit harder to ignore than mine. “What about Kira? Does she ever bring it up?”
AJ laughed and nodded right away. “More lately, but it’s always been an issue.”
“Of course it is!” I couldn’t help but to laugh. “I’m surprised she hasn’t made you cover it by now. How long have you two been together?”
“Three years.”
I thought about his previous statement. “Wait…more now? Since the wedding, you mean?”
He nodded, still smiling a little. “Yeah. I think seeing you may have made her a little more vigilant about getting me to remove it.”
I fell silent, trying to imagine how she must feel when she sees another woman’s name on her fiancé’s neck.