Confused by his last comment I stood there, wondering if I should just let him go or ask what he meant. Knowing my curiosity would drive me crazy, I gave in.
“What do you mean by that?” I called out to him before he got too far.
He stopped walking and it took a moment before he turned back around to face me. I wasn’t sure he had any clue what he was talking about but if he knew something about my gran then I wanted to know. Although I didn’t know what some reprobate who kept getting thrown in a small-town jail could possibly know about my grandmother.
“Why don’t we start with tonight, the party,” he replied.
I felt as if I had just been set-up, but the small little nagging in my gut told me that there was possibly something I didn’t know . I battled with myself for a few moments then decided one elitist party wouldn’t kill me.
“Fine,” I said, knowing I would regret this.
A slow smile spread across his face. “I’ll be by your gran’s house at eight to pick you up,” he replied then walked away without another word.
What had I gotten myself into?
Better yet what had Gran gotten me into?
Seven
The rest of my day I had played over every second of my visit to Deep South Farmer’s Market and every word out of Lloyd and Rio’s mouths. By the time Rio arrived in his black Jeep to pick me up, I had convinced myself this had all been a ploy to get me to this party. But why? What was the purpose?
When I climbed into Rio’s Jeep, I didn’t wait for small talk, getting straight to the point.
“You are aware that Drake invited me to one of these parties and Saul made it very clear I was not welcome,” I said the moment the door closed firmly behind me.
Rio glanced at me just for a second. He didn’t even do a once over on my outfit that I had spent more time than I cared to admit picking out. I did feel more comfortable with him because of it. He hadn’t been lying when he said this was a friends-only invite. There was no other interest behind his gaze.
“That was a different kind of party,” Rio said and didn’t elaborate. This of course left me to ask more questions.
“How is this party different? Don’t y’all just spend your days being rich then partying all night?” I asked with obvious disgust in my tone. I couldn’t even try to mask it.
Rio let out a bark of laughter. “Oh yeah. That’s definitely what I do all day. In between sweating my ass off for Pops unloading produce, that is. It’s a tough schedule to keep.”
Okay fine. So, he had a job. I should have realized that since he was at the market today in the back. “Maybe not all of you,” I replied.
“Maybe not,” he agreed, grinning as he kept his eyes on the road. “Tell me, are you always this judgmental or is this just a special case?”
That stung, perhaps because it was true. I was judging people I did not know simply by the way they looked and the noise they managed to create down the street nightly. “I think this is a special case,” I said.
He laughed again. “Good to know. I’d hate to think you were always so damn uptight. Kind of reminds me of the ladies at my gramma’s church.”
I had wondered where his grandmother was today, since it was obvious Lloyd was married to a younger woman since his daughter was in high school. I didn’t know the details or anything but that was my assumption. “Are your grandparents still married?” I asked then and instantly wished I hadn’t. That was rude and nosey.
He shot a glance my way then but he didn’t appear offended. Simply amused. “Yep,” he replied then waited a moment before adding. “You’re wondering about Hazel, aren’t you?
If Hazel was the girl from today then yes, I was in fact wondering about Hazel. I felt bad for admitting it though. However, his family tree was rather complicated.
“Hazel was the product of a bad situation that happened at the market. One of the field hands that Pop hired ended up raping one of the younger girls that worked as a cashier at the market. She was only fifteen and she got pregnant. The girl’s parents went to Gram’s church and they don’t believe in abortion. They decided to let her have the baby but put it up for adoption. A lot of shit happened. The family moved because the girl needed special care for the trauma she had been through. This town and all brought back too much. Anyway, long story short, my gram and Pop adopted Hazel. She’s been theirs since the day she was born.”