Free Hot Like Fire by Niobia Bryant

church with Kade. Could you let him know I'm here
to check on him?"

    It was Garcelle's turn to take in the woman's
skintight pants and formfitting T-shirt. "Listen, he's
asleep. I'll let him know you dropped by."
    She started to close the door, but Portia put her
foot in the doorway. Garcelle backed up, opened
the door wide, and looked at the woman like she
was crazy.
    Portia went in her bag and pulled out a small pad
and pen. "If you're not too busy to take a message?"
she said, with false sweetness.
    Garcelle held her hand out. "Of course not," she
said, with mock sincerity.
    Portia pressed the note into Garcelle's hand.
Garcelle looked down and immediately recognized
both the handwriting and the phone number. It
was 555-0000. The woman was the freaky secret admirer. Since that first grotesque dildo, the woman
had sent Kade eight other gifts, each more sexually
explicit than the last.
    "I'll make sure it's properly delivered," Garcelle
said, with her heavy accent.
    "Please do," said Portia.
    "You know, I've been watching reruns of this
show called Martin," Garcelle told Portia.
    "And?" Portia retorted, with attitude.
    "I learned something that I want to show you."
    Portia looked confused.
    "Step back a little," Garcelle said in a friendly
tone.
    Portia took a step back. "Now what?"
    Garcelle tilted her head to the side. "This," she
said sweetly before she stepped back and swung the
door closed.

    "Now to make sure it's properly delivered, the
way I promised," Garcelle said over her shoulder to
Kadina as she strolled back into the kitchen. She
balled up the paper and threw it up into the air like
she was making a free throw. It landed in the trash,
with a swoosh.
    Kadina covered her mouth with both of her
hands as she burst into a fit of giggles.

     

6
    Garcelle tossed and turned in her bed. She flipped
from her back onto her stomach and onto her back
again. Her smoky brown eyes opened, and she
turned her head on the pillow to look at her nightstand clock. 12:15 a.m.
    She couldn't sleep.
    She pulled back her curtain and looked up at the
night sky. The moon was completely full and seemed
close enough to touch. It was beautiful and haunting
all at once.
    Kicking back the covers, Garcelle hopped out of
bed in her wifebeater and an old pair of men's
boxers. She padded barefoot to the kitchen and
headed straight to the fridge for a can of light beer.
She popped the tab and took a deep gulp.
    "It's a little late for that, isn't it?"
    Gabrielle nearly choked on the beer as she
whirled around and found her father sitting at the
kitchen table, cloaked by darkness. "Papi, what are
you doing up?" she asked as she reached over to the
wall to turn on the light.
    "I sit here sometimes and look at your mother's picture as the moonlight comes through the door."
Carlos leaned forward and pushed back the chair
at the head of the table. "Bring me one," he told
her in Spanish.

    Garcelle grabbed another beer before she walked
across the small kitchen to take the seat. She passed
him the beer before she took another sip of her
own. "Papi, you know we wouldn't be upset if you
wanted to start dating again," she told him. She hesitated before she said the rest. "I don't think Mami
would mind, either."
    Carlos took a long swig of his beer before he
looked over at his daughter, with his boyishly handsome face. "When you love somebody the way that
I loved my Maria and you lose them, your heart is
so tied up with trying to heal. You feel like a piece
of you-a big piece of you-is gone. So your heart
doesn't have room to fill it with love for someone
else. It wouldn't be fair to that person. Until the
heart heals, you would forever make comparisons.
It takes time."
    Garcelle used her fingertip to trace the top of the
can as she fell silent. She was up at midnight, sipping
beer while she talked to her father, because she
couldn't sleep. And she couldn't sleep, because with
each passing day, her