Page 12 of Rigid

As she cleaned up, I got dressed and laced up my boots. At the instant she walked out of the bathroom, I pulled on my kutte.

Still quite shocked at what had happened, I grinned, waved, and sauntered toward the door. Halfway there, I turned around.

“We gonna see each other again?”

“Maybe,” she said. “I’ll let you know.”

I admired her independent strength, eager attitude, gorgeous smile, and ability to understand my awkward needs. I hated that I had to be the way I was, but there was just no other way for me to protect the love of my life.

Eddie.

THREE

Sandy

Lex and I sat in the Crab Shack for our afternoon drink, but she wasn’t drinking. She was giddy about the news, and although I was happy for her, I couldn’t imagine how I’d react if the same thing happened to me. I guess I could imagine it, I simply couldn’t imagine being happy about it.

I took a drink of my beer and shook my head. “I still can’t believe it,” I said. “It just happened like that.”

She looked at me like I was an idiot. “Isn’t that how it always happens? It isn’t like it normally creeps up on you. You either are, or you’re not.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“I didn’t want to say anything until I knew, though.”

“When you said that you didn’t feel like drinking the other day, I knew something was going on.”

“I wanted to make sure.” She shrugged. “Now, I know.”

I wagged my eyebrows as I took another drink of my beer.

Lex was pregnant, and although she and her boyfriend weren’t married, they were living together. From what she said, he was as excited as she was for the baby. Their relationship was one that would be easy for anyone to envy, because Cholo was the type of man that every girl wanted.

He was handsome, kind, considerate, loving, and uncomplicated. He put it all out there, and left nothing to the imagination. In my mind, it was a huge plus.

I pushed my empty bottle of beer to the side. “So, what did the doctor say?”

“Other than I’m pregnant? Nothing, really. They don’t tell you much. She gave me a bunch of literature to read. Oh, and she suggested some books.”

“I hate doctors. They’re like attorneys. Overpaid.”

She laughed. “Unless you need one.”

“I’m not planning on needing either.”

“How’d the deal go with Smoke? He’s pretty in-your-face, isn’t he?”

I let out a laugh, even though I didn’t really mean to. She looked at me as if she wanted an explanation for my outburst, but I tried to dismiss our night together as uneventful.

I shifted my focus to the table. “It went good.”

“What? Why’d you laugh?”

I looked up. “I don’t know.”

She leaned back and looked at me. “You guys did it, didn’t you?”

Lex wasn’t a prude by any means, but she wasn’t one to have sex with random guys, that was for sure. She and Cholo were together for several months before they had sex. Even then, their relationship was rock solid before she committed to do it with him.