“Getting close then. A lot of ’em getting pierced after their two-month shots now. You should see how many women bring their kids in right after that appointment, knock it all out in one day. It’s easier then ’cause they ain’t got no fear.”
T.C. nodded. “Licia wouldn’t go for that though,” he said. “She could barely handle the vaccinations.”
“Well, what you lookin’ for then? Another earring for you? I got these studs just came in.” He motioned for T.C. to follow him across the display.
“Nah, nah, that’s not it.” He didn’t know why, but he felt embarrassed saying why he was really there.
“I’m lookin’ for something for Licia.”
“Aww, like a push present? White people be doing that, and shit, if it’s good enough for them, it’s damn sure good enough for you. Lemme show you the necklaces.”
“Nah, bruh, I’m actually looking for a ring.”
“Oh?” His friend stopped where he was and looked up at him as if T.C. said he was there for an ice cream cone.
“Like an engagement ring?”
“Yeah, an engagement ring.” T.C. nodded, noticing he sounded defensive rather than happy. But he had been excited before he got there.
“Wow, wow, wow. That’s cool, nigga. That’s real cool. Wasn’t expecting you to say it is all, but it’s cool.”
T.C. nodded again, his shame easing up.
“How much you willing to pay?”
T.C. wrote down the amount.
“Damn, nigga, that much?”
The funny thing was, he had paid half that for his earring, and the dude hadn’t batted an eye.
His friend showed him what they had to offer at that price point. T.C. knew Licia liked gold, and there were four or five options like that. He fingered one he could see her wearing, a princess cut, his friend said, and with the discount he could afford half a karat. He was about to hand it over to be boxed up when he saw another one out of the corner of his eye. Gold too, but the diamond was a little bigger, and it was round. He held it up to the light.
“That’s a little bit more though, bruh,” his friend said.
“How much more?”
“Almost twice as much.”
“Damn,” T.C. said. “They sure don’t make it easy on a nigga.” He twirled it around the tip of his own pinky, imagining Licia’s face when she pulled it out of the box. “It’s real pretty though, and she deserve it,” he said. Then he passed it over to his friend to wrap.
His friend seemed disappointed. “All right, all right, what size ring she wear?” he asked.
T.C. shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You trying to marry her, and you don’t know what size ring she wear? You sure she ain’t just no Betsy friend, T.C.?”
“Yeah, man, we been together six years, and she got my seed.”
“Shit, if I married every woman that had my seed, but nah, I’m not trying to talk you out of it. You doing the right thing, you damn sure doing the right thing.”
T.C. nodded.
“Well look, let’s assume she a 6.5. Most women a 6.5. We’ll wrap this up, and if she don’t fit it, bring her back to size it. I want to see this woman anyway, the woman who got T.C. to settle down.”
“All right,” T.C. said. Then, “Now look, that price you gave me, it’s good, I mean that’s what she deserve and all that, but I was wondering, y’all got like a layaway plan?”
His friend laughed. “Hell no, mothafucka, this ain’t no Rent a Ring Express.”
T.C. didn’t smile.
“Look, what I could do is put it aside. We ain’t supposed to do that, but I could do it this one time since you my boy and all that. You think you gon’ be able to swing the money in the next few weeks?”
“Fa sho.”
“All right then, come back then. I’ll have it ready for you.”
T.C. thought for a minute. He had enough to get the other one today. Maybe she’d be happier to have it sooner. No, a few weeks would fly by. He wanted her to have something she’d be proud to show off to her friends.
T.C.’s friend gave him the scoop while he bagged the ring up. Spud was running shit. Po-po was on the lookout for him though, and any minute he was going to get busted. T.C. just nodded. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before, rather old shit Tiger had told him months ago when he first got out. This nigga didn’t get around much. T.C. was glad to hear it though. Maybe nobody knew T.C. was the competition now, and if so, that was a damn good thing.
“You heard about Tiger?” His friend tied a ribbon on the box as if T.C. were just going to hand it to her. Even he knew you were supposed to get on your knees and shit.
“What about him?” T.C. asked, looking at his watch. He told Alicia he would meet her for the baby’s one-month appointment today and he was running late.
“He started working for Spud when you caught yo lil’ bid or whatever. He didn’t sell all that nigga gas though, and now they beefed out, he owe him money. Spud been looking for him, said when he find him he gon’ kill him. I heard Tiger don’t even go to his old spots no more, that he be all the way out in Biloxi with some woman, but Spud think he here and he still looking.”
“That don’t even sound right, nigga. Who told you that?” T.C. heard his voice rise and told himself to calm down.
“This girl I used to mess with. Her brother-in-law used to talk to Spud’s sister.”
“Her brother-in-law used to talk to Spud’s sister, come on now, man, that sound like a game of telephone right there. You sound like a lil’ bitch passing around that half-wit information.”
His friend looked around at the other customers, embarrassed now.
“Awright, awright, calm down. Don’t get so upset,” he whispered. “I’m just telling you what I heard. Maybe it’s wrong.” He shrugged. “Look, you still want me to put this aside?” he asked.
T.C. nodded.
“Then stay cool then, boy, awright, stay cool.”
T.C. made it to the appointment on time. Malik was excelling. He could lift his head up for a few seconds when Licia held him upright; he even cooed a little bit when he saw his daddy walk into a room, but T.C. couldn’t shake what he’d heard about Tiger. The only person he could talk about it with was Licia, but he hadn’t told her he was hustling again yet. He’d wanted to, he didn’t like keeping secrets from her especially now that they were doing so great, but she’d get the wrong idea. She would think it was forever; she would think he was jeopardizing their future when he was just weeks away from cementing it to their past. He tried to advise himself the way she might. Of course there would be the preliminary judgment.