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change into her nightgown. Tamiko didn’t want
to get into the habit of feeling sorry for herself. She tried to
put her troubles with Davis into perspective. “Maybe I should give
Davis some space,” she considered. “With all of the time we’re
spending together he’s probably been taking our relationship for
granted.” She just knew Davis’s feelings would change once he had
been missing her for a while. Then again, she could think of one
person in their set that she hadn’t connected with in a while who
didn’t seem to miss her at all, and though she did not like to
admit it, it bothered her – a lot. “Don’t even go there,” Tamiko
chided herself, “Davis is the better choice – or at least the saner
choice.” When it came to relationships Tamiko was determined to
weigh her options carefully and make the right decision. Besides,
she had other things to worry about, like everything that was going
on with Jim.
    Everyone was distraught when they heard the
news that Jim had been shot. Not much was revealed about the
circumstances surrounding what happened. Everything that Tamiko
knew was third hand from Allen, who didn’t know much himself. One
thing that was obvious to everyone was that there were drugs
involved. The idea that Jim could have been taking or selling drugs
was more than disturbing for Tamiko. She knew Jim had be going
through something really intense for him to start making such poor
decisions in his life. She only wished there was something that
could have been done to spare him all this, but going over the
would’ves, could’ves, and should’ves wasn’t going to help things.
The most important thing was that everyone worked together to help
Jim get better. The last time she went to visit him in the
hospital, Jim definitely looked better and was in better spirits.
Of all her friends, Jim was the biggest gossip monger and he was
eager to hear everything that had been going on with their crew
while he had been away. He seemed like the old Jim, but Tamiko
could tell that he’d been through a lot. “I need to have my mind on
helping Jim, rather than sulking about my problems with Davis,” she
scolded herself.
    The loud chiming of her cell phone
interrupted Tamiko’s thoughts. She grabbed the phone from her purse
to see who it was, even though she had intended to ignore the call.
She didn’t feel like talking to anyone, until she saw a familiar
photo flash on the screen.
    “Riley! Girl, how you doin?!”
    “I think the better question is how y’all
doin’ up there? Daddy told me that Uncle Vern told him that Jim got
shot. Is that true? Is he all right?”
    “Now he is. He’s going to be coming home from
the hospital in a few days.”
    “Well I’m thankful to God for that. How’d he
get shot?”
    “I don’t know all of the details. Jim had
decided to go out on his own and no one had heard anything from him
for ages. I had stopped by his apartment a couple of times, but he
was never around. We almost thought he’d moved away until detective
Ballard called.”
    “Why would Jim just cut everybody off like
that?”
    “Your guess is as good as mine. He and Allen
had gotten into it a couple of times and the next thing we knew,
Jim wasn’t speaking to any of us anymore - Even Pop Vernon and
Momma Lena.”
    “Is he still upset with everyone?”
    “ I don’t think so. He
doesn’t seem upset when I talk to him.”
    “ How’s Allen taking all
this? I know he’s probably a mess, and blaming himself to
boot.”
    “In the beginning he was, but now he’s okay.
There are other things that I’m worried about when it comes to
Allen.”
    “You mean like his new girlfriend?”
    “How’d you know?”
    “I’ve seen the pictures on his facebook.
Trust me girl, you’re not the only one that’s worried. That baby
don’t look nothing like him.”
    “Relax, Riley. Allen knows he’s not the
biological father.”
    “Now that just makes it even worse. And that
reminds me, has Mr.