Better as Friends by Jimi Gaillard-Jefferson

Author:Jimi Gaillard-Jefferson
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2019-10-22T04:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

Cassidy

I breezed into my grandmother’s shop and scooped things into the basket I normally reserved for the farmer’s market. Oils, incense, crystals, candles. I put money on the counter and smiled at her.

“I tell you not to leave this mess here.” The disgust in her voice wasn’t real. The smile on her face was.

“Money is never mess, Gran.”

“And your money is never any good here.” She always wore white. Billowing white. It moved around her when she leaned over the counter to see what was in my basket. Her eyes went wide. “Oh, really?”

And perhaps I did look like the cat that ate all of the canaries but that was no one’s business but mine.

“Really.”

“Well.” She swept from behind the counter and looped her arm through mine. “It’s been slow today. I can watch you prepare your home for a nice bit of nasty sex.”

I laughed. “Junie’s coming over too.”

“Good. I haven’t seen that girl in so long.”

Junie leaned against my door, attention on her nails until she saw my grandmother. I was shoved away. “Auntie May.”

Gran was Auntie May to everyone. The woman with the sight and the truth. The one with the healing you needed. She was the reason I could run through Strawberry Fields without a care in the world. She was sacred to them. To me she was just Gran.

“Did she tell you?” Junie followed me into my apartment and moved to my kitchen.

“Don’t drink all of my wine, June,” I said.

“I brought my own. Think I’m a fucking amateur?”

Gran and I smiled at each other. I swept and mopped. Threw open all of my windows and watered my plants. I turned on music that made my hips move in slow circles meant to endure. I lit the incense and held each of the candles. Emptied myself and filled them.

“I watch her and I’m always so proud,” Gran said.

“I’ve never done all this to fuck someone. Am I missing out?” Junie’s gum was raspberry. A good smell.

I held out my hand for a piece. She rolled her eyes.

“Share, Junie,” Gran said.

Junie stopped mid-eye roll and slapped a piece of gum in my hands.

“It depends,” I said when the taste of raspberry and sugar and summer sweet filled my mouth. “Did you know it was coming?”

“I better be coming. Only reason I show up.”

Gran snickered. Gray twists swinging over her shoulders and down her back.

“Junie,” I said.

She took a sip of wine. A deep rosé. Looked good. I poured glasses for me and Gran.

“You mean was it premeditated and shit?” Junie stared into her wine. “Nah. Spontaneous. It’s easier that way.”

My mouth was open. Mind filled with questions. Gran shook her head. I swallowed them back.

“It’s like anything else in life. The better the energy is, the better the experience is. I’m just doing the early work to make sure my energy, my home’s energy, is right.”

“For Cahir?”

I shrugged. “And for me.”

“I’ve never wanted to do all this for a man,” Junie settled deeper into my sofa.

“Most of them don’t deserve it,” Gran said.

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