“I said I was.”
“Aight. Let me throw on something, and I’ll be ready in a minute.”
Her eyes sucked me in from head to toe, taking in my simple white t-shirt, basketball shorts, and Nike slides. “What you have on is fine.”
“Where we goin’?”
“I take it you don’t like surprises?”
“That’s because I ain’t never had one turn out good.”
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Maybe tonight will be different.”
“I guess we’ll see.”
“I guess we will.”
∞∞∞
With Erykah Badu’s Baduizm album on blast, Isa’s car belted us from Seven Pines and down the windy backroads of Potomac Falls.
“I dig your taste in music,” I commented.
“Erykah is a vibe in any era.”
I dipped my chin in a nod. “You right about that. I went to her concert a few years back, and she said she made that album for the ninety’s babies.”
“That’s me. Born in 1993,” she boasted.
“What’s your favorite song?” I asked her.
“Off this album or of all time?”
“All time.”
She reached out to turn the volume down a few notches. “Damn, that’s tough.”
“I know.”
“You go first.”
“I asked you.”
“Ugh,” she groaned, “okay, okay. Fine! Um, I’ll have to say, “Out my Mind, Just in Time.” When she said, I’m a recovering undercover over lover, I almost died. That’s me in a fuckin’ nutshell. Are you kidding me? Bars!”
I relaxed into the passenger seat. “Okay, that’s a tough tune. But I’d have to say, “Next Lifetime” is my shit.”
“Such a beautiful song. Sad, but beautiful.”
“What makes it sad?” I asked before casting my eyes out the window to watch the moonlit sky zoom by.
“She’s telling the man she wants to be with that although she loves everything about him, she can’t be with him because she’s already with someone else. That fuckin’ sucks balls,” she stated before barreling out a laugh.
I shrugged. “I guess you’re right.”
She took her eyes off the road to look at me. “So, where to next? You know, after the grand opening?”
“I’m flying out to London the day after Seven Stone opens. I’m going to be a judge on a cooking competition show out there.”