Jeremy sat under the carport with his knees spread wide, elbow on one thigh, rolling a paper between his fingers.
The street was dead quiet just the hum of a transformer somewhere down the block and a dog barking two streets over that never seemed to stop, day or night.
He licked the paper, sealed it, and lit up, letting the first pull sit in his chest a second longer than usual.
Inside, Tee was curled up under the box fan they kept running even in winter, one arm thrown over where he usually slept.
Girlfriend. Roommate. Mother of his son, all wrapped up in one woman who was finally, asleep in the room down the hall after three straight nights of hell.
Jeremy loved her in that specific, worn-in way that comes from sharing a lease, a bed, and a bloodline with somebody — love that had stopped being about butterflies a while back and turned into something steadier. Heavier. Better, if he was honest.
He thought about how she'd fallen asleep mid-sentence earlier, still trying to finish telling him about her supervisor at the hospital, she kept yawning while trying speak.
He had sat there and watched her for a minute before easing the blanket up over her shoulder.
That's what had him out here at damn near 3 AM, just that quiet hour where he can think clearly about the people he's got something to lose over.
"You always out here talking to yourself this late?"
Jeremy looked up. Ms. Odette, three doors down, was on her porch in a robe smoking on a cigarette going, silver hair wrapped in a scarf, watching him with a distinguished look in her eyes only a fifty-something woman who probably seen every kind of man could manage.
"Ain't talking to myself," he said. "Just thinking."
"Mm-hmm. About that girl in there, I bet." She took a drag, nodded toward his window. "Y'all been together what, five years now?"
"Six in March."
"That's rare these days baby. People don't stay for six years no more, they stay for six days and call it a relationship."
"That's nice. Real nice."
Jeremy huffed a laugh. Nice. Yeah. It was.
"Go on in and lay next to your family, Jeremy," she said, putting out her cigarette out. "The street'll still be here tomorrow."
He watched her door shut, smoked his cigarette down to his fingertips, and sat there for a minute longer in the quiet, the hum, the thought of Tee's arm reaching for a spot that wouldn't stay empty much longer.
Then he went inside, locked up, and slid in beside her. She stirred, mumbled his name without opening her eyes, and pulled his arm over her like she had known exactly when he'd be back.
He kissed her neck and massaged her chest before going to sleep.
To be continued…