You need it today? The reply came in under 10 seconds. Man, I needed it yesterday. That presentation is Monday morning. I'm on the road right now.
Won't be back until late tonight. Can you drop it at the house? Olivia should be there. Marcus read the name. Olivia.
He hadn't thought about Olivia Coleman, and honestly, he couldn't remember the last time he'd thought about her specifically. She was Daniel's younger sister. She'd always just been there when they were kids. In the background of every memory Marcus had from that house on Peach Tree Lane, sitting at the kitchen table doing homework, rolling her eyes at whatever dumb thing Marcus and Daniel were arguing about, occasionally handing them both a plate of food without being asked. The way the women in that house always seemed to know when growing boys needed feeding.
She was just Daniel's sister. He typed back, "Yeah, I can do that. Give me a couple hours. You're a lifesaver, bro. I owe you.
Marcus slid the phone back in his pocket, looked at the blue folder on his seat, and went back under the Silverado. He had a plan. He finished the Silverado by 2:30, changed clothes in the back office. He kept a clean shirt there specifically because showing up somewhere in a grease stain uniform wasn't how his mama raised him. He grabbed the folder.
He drove across town. The Coleman's house on Peach Tree Lane was the same as it had always been. Not fancy, not flashy, just solid. Red brick. A front porch with two chairs that probably hadn't been moved in 15 years.
A yard that was kept up but not obsessed over. The kind of house that looked like it had been paid for, honestly, by people who worked for everything they had. Marcus had been coming to this house since he was 12 years old. He knew the three steps up to the porch. He He knew the way the screen door had a slight squeak on the left side.
He knew which doorbell actually worked. The top one, not the bottom one. He pressed the top one. He heard footsteps inside. He was thinking about whether Daniel wanted him to leave the folder with Olivia or put it somewhere specific.
He was thinking about whether he had time to grab something to eat before his delivery shift. He was thinking about whether his daughter Maya had eaten enough at lunch or whether his mother-in-law was going to let her talk her way into too many cookies again. He was thinking about everything except what happened next. The door opened and Marcus Williams, a man who had seen things, done things, survived things that would have broken. Most people forgot every single thought he'd just had.
She was standing there in a towel, just a towel, white, wrapped around her, tucked at the corner near her shoulder, the way women do. Her hair was wrapped up. She clearly had just stepped out of the shower. There was still moisture on her collarbone, catching the light from the hallway behind her. She was staring at him.
He was staring at her. Neither one of them moved for what felt like a very long time and was probably closer to 4 seconds. Then Olivia said very calmly, Marcus. And Marcus said very professionally. I Yeah.