Cutting it Close Read online

  Omari waited.

  “Yeah, so is Mr. Coates,” he said to Omari.

  The silence stayed between them for a few minutes more. “Are you okay about all of it, now that you have met him?”

  “Yeah, you want to see some things, you know, like who your people are, but the funny thing is, my best friend is really my brother, so it worked out anyway,” he said. “I was wondering why my Ma was keeping me in that school. She wants me to have the same benefits and chances as his kid.”

  They sat a few minutes longer.

  “I like the idea of having you around more than I would like to spend time with him,” Cody said. “If you are cool to still spend some time with me after the camping trip...I mean, if you don’t want to, I understand. I am not your kid and all.”

  “I would be lucky to have a kid like you, Cody Mooreland, and I will be around as much as you need me to be,” he said.

  “Good, ‘cause I need this ‘fro tightened up,” he said.

  Chantal stood in the doorway, watching them talk. Taylah called for her to come in the kitchen to try some wine. Candace and Debra invited Chantal to a party and Tae-Tay gave her a card with her personal number so they could have lunch one-day next week. Friends. All these years later, she was finally making friends. The same bizarre feeling that had come over her during the weekend was back. If she had to put a label on it, she would call it happiness. She had never known it before. All because she walked into a barbershop owned by a man who held her son accountable. A man who looked hella sexy without a shirt on.

  It was a nice feeling.

  It wasn’t a feeling she planned to let go of anytime soon.

  -Fin-

  About the Author

  Olivia Gaines is the award winning bestselling author of Thursdays in Savannah. She also writes the best-selling serial The Blakemore Files. She lives in Hephzibah, GA with her husband, son and snotty cat, Katness Evermean.

  Connect with Olivia on her FB page at http://on.fb.me/1eorEAr or her website at http://ogaines.com

  @Oliviagaines

  Pinterest

  Instagram

  | Page