Free When Love Hurts by Shaquanda Dalton

hour before Angela starts calling again. I decide to call it a night since I’m tired and getting hungry myself. I pick up some Chinese food and drive home.
    Angela’s up waiting for me on the couch looking sexy as she pouts with only my oversized T-shirt to clothe her. I’m not sure what she has on underneath, but I bet it ain’t much. She stands up when she sees me and reaches for the food.  
    “Oh, no,” I say, holding the food above her head so she can’t reach it. “You been acting funny all day. You need to make it up to me.”
    “Whaaat?” she whines, stretching her hand to the bag. “You’re the one who left me.”
    I smile. “Nah, that’s not how it happened.”
    She rolls her eyes and stops reaching for the bag, and I figure she’s tired of being made fun of for her lack of height. She comes to my shoulder, but she has short arms, and she was always teased for it. She walks toward the kitchen table and sits down and waits for me to show up there with her food. She looks like she’s going to get an attitude, so I lay the food down in front of her.
    Angela smiles softly and starts to rip right into the food. She pauses only to give me a questionable look. “Did you think about me moving in? I think we’re ready.”
    I shrug. I really have no excuse for her not to, and I don’t want to have to keep arguing with her every day about it. Besides, there are more important things to worry about, like leasing a good building for my sports bar and hiring staff. Not to mention the fact that I can’t get Jessica off my mind no matter what the hell I’m doing.  
    I stare at Angela and note that she looks more tired than usual. “Everything all right?”
    “Yeah, I was just arguing with my mom. I told her I was staying here, and she’s pissed about it. But, like, why the fuck should I care? ‘What, you thought I was going to stay there forever or something?’ Ain’t she crazy?” I nod and she continues. “So, I’m like, ‘I’ll leave whenever I want to leave,’ and she’s all ‘You don’t know what the hell you’re doing, you’re stupid, and blah de blah blah.’ Ugh. I couldn’t wait to get off the phone with her, but if I would have hung up in her face, I would have been in the wrong.”
    “Yeah, probably. So when you gonna move your things in?” I ask.
    She stops munching to speak again. “As soon as possible.”

Chapter 14

    I stare hard at the contract in front of me, let out a sigh, and then lean my head back in my chair. I finally found a building to put my next sports bar in, but the details of this contract aren’t as concrete as I’d like them to be. Loose ends here, not enough details there, too strict here. I need to call my lawyer to look this over for me.  
    I pick up my phone, when Malcolm walks into my office. His smile is halfhearted, and I know something is bothering him. He comes in and sits across from me.  
    “What up, bro?” I say. “You all right?”
    He shrugs. “Um . . . I don’t know.”
    I put the phone down and stare at his eyes. He’s definitely hiding something from me. My face grows serious, and I fold my hands and lean forward. “You coming out to me, bro?” I’m not serious, but I make him crack a smile.
    “Hell, nah, nigga,” He shows his teeth for a few seconds before he frowns. “I ain’t heard from Jessica in a minute.”
    When I don’t say anything to him, he continues. “The last thing I heard from her was that she was getting offended that I felt I had to keep checking up on her and that I shouldn’t call as much. Keep in mind I was only calling once or twice a week. She said she’ll call me if anything comes up, so I said okay. That was two months ago.”
    I lean back in my chair again. “That means she’s okay, bro.”
    Malcolm waves me off. “Nah, nah. Let me finish. I just ran into Jess at the grocery store like thirty minutes ago. We talked, and she was happy. Very, very happy. She asked about you. She was smiling.