“Of course she remembers me!” Keke stood from the chair with all her arrogance in tow. She had on a sundress and wedged heels. For a first, Lola wasn’t wearing a dress. She had on a white tank tucked into army-green shorts and a pair of Nikes.
“I do.” My smile was forced. I had to remember I’d only met Keke once, but after watching her Instagram like a hawk, I felt like I’d seen her every damn day and knew her like the back of my hand. “I didn’t realize we were supposed to dress up.” I threw shade. All the shade.
“Oh, um, we aren’t,” Lola said, then glanced at Keke’s shoes, as if embarrassed for her. “But that’s Keke for you! She loves to dress for any occasion. I told her she was crazy wearing those heels on day one! There’ll be a lot of walking and moving around.”
“I have backup flats.” Keke laughed, but I didn’t miss the way she cut her eyes at me.
“Well, don’t worry. We’re going to have fun, especially because we’ll all be riding together to the church.” Lola looked at me. “You guys can get to know each other before the swarm.”
Ugh.
“You know, I’m so thankful,” Keke said with a voice full of bogus compassion. “I can’t think of any other way to spend this week. I’ll miss Bailey, though.”
“Who is Bailey?” I asked, pretending I had no clue.
“My daughter. She’s four.” Keke picked up her phone and unlocked it, then walked to me to show me a photo of her daughter. She didn’t need to show me her daughter for me to see what she looked like. I knew exactly how she looked.
It always annoyed me that people just posted pictures of their babies online. Were they not aware of predators? Stalkers? Pedophiles? Someone could have been fondling their dick to the thought of her daughter’s chubby little cheeks, as Keke liked to call them.
“Isn’t she so gorgeous?” Keke’s voice sliced through my thoughts.
“She is! So adorable!” Her daughter was gorgeous, but giving Keke any sort of compliment grated on my nerves.
“Look at you two, hitting it off already,” Lola said, grinning from ear to ear. “I love it.”
I don’t.
Lola flipped her wrist to check the time on her rose-gold Cartier wristwatch. “Okay, we have forty-five minutes to get to the church. I don’t want to get stuck in the Miami traffic, so let’s have some of the coffee and bagels downstairs in the dining room and then get a roll on, ladies.”
Keke walked past me, sashaying her hips as she left the office. Lola walked beside me, giving my shoulder a squeeze before we could walk out. “I hope you don’t mind Keke riding along with us,” Lola murmured when Keke was out of earshot. “Her car was giving her trouble, so I picked her up this morning.”
“No—I don’t mind at all. She seems like good company.”
“Okay, good. I don’t want you to feel like I didn’t want us riding alone or anything.”
“No, I get it. You have to look out for your friends. I would have hated if she missed camp.” That couldn’t have been any further from the truth. Did I always lie this effortlessly with you, Marriott?
Here’s the truth: Keke’s car was giving her trouble because I had Julius pull a few wires under her hood last night. What kind of person leaves her car unlocked in Miami? She was such a dumb, oblivious bitch.
I knew where she lived because I’d followed her home from her flower shop one day. She always closed at five thirty, and I made sure the time aligned with my schedule before the trip so I could follow her.
I assumed Keke would get so caught up with getting her car started the morning of camp that she’d miss the bus to get there, but no, she called Lola, who swooped in and rescued her. Not that I didn’t expect Keke to show at camp, but her having a setback would have paved a golden runway for me with Lola.
Our bags were already in the SUV when we walked out of Lola’s house, so we climbed in the car, and of course Keke took the passenger seat.
She was now talking about how she had to renew her gym membership soon. I wanted to slap a hand over her mouth. She talked too damn much! All it would take was a tight grip around the back of her neck and a quick shove forward for me to slam her face into the dashboard and shut her up.
But I had to be nice, even if I really wanted to strap duct tape over her mouth.
Lola drove to the church, all while Keke chatted her head off. Lola could hardly get a word in edgewise, and I had no idea how it didn’t drive her crazy, considering she liked talking about herself just as much.