When I got to the restaurant, Terrence was already at our usual booth chatting with Nettie. I hadn’t been there since I’d first left for college, and watching such a familiar scene playing out in front of me felt like I was in a time warp. Had it really been more than five years since I’d been here? What had I been doing all this time?

Terrence saw me watching them and motioned me over. Nettie turned to see who he was gesturing at and the smile that lit her face was as warm and inviting as a slice of her sweet potato pie.

“Well, well, well, if it ain’t little Miss Lila!” Nettie swept me up in a big Bishop hug, pulling me into her softness and warmth in a way my aunt and grandmother never did. I smelled cocoa butter, the scent I always associated with her, and breathed in deeply.

“Lord, Miss Nettie, I’ve missed you so much.” I tried to keep the tears out of my voice, as well as off my face, as I hugged her back.

“Then maybe you should come visit more often, hmm?” She pulled back and chucked me under the chin. “Now go sit with Terry and I’ll be back for your order. You still drink sweet tea?” She looked at me sternly, as if that one thing would be the final tipping point between us.

“Only if you make it, Miss Nettie. Nobody can do it like you do, especially not in Chicago.”

Nettie lowered her voice. “Is it true they drink their tea unsweetened?”

I nodded. “And if you ask for sweet tea, they’ll bring you the tea with ice and a bunch of sugar packets. It’s horrible.”

She shuddered. “You poor thing. OK then, two sweet teas, coming right up.”

I watched her walk away with the usual spring in her step. Her black, tightly curled hair had always been shot with premature grays, and her dark brown skin remained soft and smooth. All that cocoa butter, I assumed, the familiar smell enveloping me like one of her hugs. I’d only been away a few years, but it seemed like so much had changed while I was gone. The fact that Nettie remained steadfast was an anchor, a blessing.

I joined Terrence at our booth. His hands were folded in front of him, resting next to the unopened menu I saw Nettie place on the table.

I grabbed the one at my seat. “You’re not eating?”

“Already know what I want. Come here often enough to have the menu memorized by now.”

I smiled. He was right. As I looked over the options, the only thing that had changed was that the once-flimsy paper menus had been replaced with a laminated version rocking a fun, funky cover design.

“They changed up their logo! Wow, it’s really good. I should ask them who their graphic designer was. Our restaurant could really use a rebrand.”

Terrence frowned. “I did it. I do freelance graphic design as well as my construction work. You don’t remember?”

I flushed. “Oh. Right. Well, after all this is over, maybe we can talk concepts and prices and whatnot. Assuming we still have a restaurant after this whole mess is over.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Silence settled over the two of us, as heavy and leaden as a weighted blanket. I took the opportunity to see the differences that time had brought to my friend. Terrence’s gray-green eyes still sparkled with humor and warmth and his full lips were still distractingly perfect. But deep lines around those features marred his otherwise smooth, deep brown skin. And though he kept his hair shaved down to a number-two fade, I could see hints of gray threaded throughout. He wasn’t quite thirty yet, but the truth was staring me in the face. My friend wasn’t the sweet, goofy teenager I had once known. We were both adults now. The way his eyes swept over me, I could tell he was analyzing me the same way. What changes had he noticed that I hadn’t? Hope I passed muster.

Nettie stopped by, order pad in hand, interrupting our silent evaluations. “You two OK?”

I picked up the menu and pretended to look over it again. “Yeah, we’re fine. You order first, Terrence. Having trouble making up my mind.”

He ordered the brisket platter with hush puppies, collard greens, and mac and cheese as sides. I’d been eyeing the same thing, but knowing that I could steal some of his made my decision easier.

“Can I have the fried catfish special, but fries instead of the hush puppies?”

“Of course, sweetie. Back in a bit.”

As she hustled off to the kitchen, Terrence shook his head. “You’re making a mistake. Their hush puppies are the best.”

“It’s cool, I’ll just steal one of yours.”

He laughed. “Good luck with that.”

The laughter erased the lines I’d seen earlier and made it easier for me to say what I had to say. I put my hand on top of his. “You probably don’t want to talk about this, but I need to get this off my chest. I’m so sorry about Janet.”

He pulled his hand back and wrapped them around his glass of sweet tea.

I mimicked his movement. “Sorry. This probably isn’t the place.”

“No, it’s not that. I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to work up the nerve to talk about her. Her and Derek and what the hell is going on. So go ahead. Ask me anything. I know you want to.”

Outside of Adeena, Terrence had been my best friend, but we drifted apart after high school. Not because of the distance, but out of respect for his relationship with Janet and to acknowledge how things were different now that Derek and I weren’t together. It was amazing how well he knew me, even after all this time. I should’ve known though. We’d never been the type to have to chat every day to feel close—that’s not the kind of friendship we had.

I sipped at my sweet tea, the golden nectar as comforting and syrupy sweet as it had always been. “How is she? Have the doctors said anything?”

His hands gripped the glass so tightly, they started trembling. “Not much. She’s in a coma. They did some test and said there’s brain activity and it was a good sign, but that’s all. No idea on when she’ll wake up. Or if.”

He’d already pulled away from my grasp, so I didn’t want to force my physical comfort on him. Instead, I stretched my hand out to the middle of the table and left it there in case he changed his mind.

“Hey, I don’t want to be that person trying to comfort you with sappy greeting card phrases. But we both know that Janet is one of the strongest, most stubborn people to ever grace Shady Palms. If anyone can pull through, it’s her.”

He laughed, finally loosening his grip on the glass, and reached out to give my fingers a quick squeeze. “Too true. Thanks, Lil’ Mac. I know you two don’t have the best relationship, so I appreciate how positive you’re being.”

I sighed. “High school was a long time ago. I’m a different person now, and I hope she is, too. For your sake.”

His face grew serious. “Just ’cause I love her doesn’t mean I don’t recognize her flaws. I’ve seen how much she’s tried to be better. She even told me she was real petty to you at the hospital and wanted to apologize.”

Ha, could’ve fooled me. “Really? When was this?”

He thought back. “That day she first saw you outside her office. Said she wanted to be the bigger person, so she promised me she’d help you. She called after you two arranged that lunch date, though. Told me she not only didn’t apologize, but basically forced you into meeting for lunch.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what it is about you, but you bring out the worst in her. I told her to bring you a small peace offering. When she heard you were back in town, she made a dachshund sculpture. It reminded me of your dog, so she was going to give it to you as a gift.” At my surprised look he said, “I guess you never got it.”

I shook my head. “We never got to meet. I thought she stood me up, so I ate lunch by myself then went to the hospital to confront her. I was the one who found her in her office. Well, me and her assistant, since we went up together. I don’t remember seeing a sculpture, but I could’ve missed it with everything that happened.”

We both sat in silence until Nettie came by with our lunch platters. We tore into our meals and the food was every bit as good as I remembered. Chicago may have Luella’s Southern Kitchen—which was boss—but Shady Palms had Nettie in the kitchen and George at the grill, bless them both.

Once the edges of hunger were gone and I could eat at a more leisurely pace, I asked Terrence, “Do you have any idea what Janet wanted to talk to me about?”

He swiped a fry off my plate. “Don’t get too excited. I asked her to tell me what was going on with Derek’s case, but she said patient confidentiality prevented her from sharing that info with me.”

“Even though he’s dead?”

“That’s what I said! Supposedly it lasts for fifty years after the person’s death or something like that. Anyway, all she’d say is that she got real curious after you’d come to visit and she went to go schmooze the medical examiner. Said he told her something interesting and she needed to talk to you immediately.”

“I don’t understand though. Why me? If there was something strange in the tests, why didn’t she just tell Amir? Or better yet, the cops?”

Terrence popped the hush puppy into his mouth and chewed slowly, whether to fully savor it or to delay answering, I didn’t know.

I put my elbow on the table and chin in my hand to wait out his response. When he didn’t answer right away, I sipped at my sweet tea without breaking eye contact. I was in no hurry and could wait him out, no problem.

Luckily, he wasn’t a stubborn person and always caved pretty quickly.

“Look, I love her with all my heart. But we both know how she is. She’s not going to do something that doesn’t benefit her in some way, especially if she could get in trouble for it. Telling the cops might make her feel important, but she doesn’t get anything out of it. With Amir, she wouldn’t even get that satisfaction. But you? You needed that info, would likely do anything to get it. You were the clear choice for her.”

My mouth hung open so long Terrence was probably thinking of balling up a piece of bread and using it for target practice. “So what? She wanted to blackmail me for the information? Over sushi?”

“Blackmail is such a strong word. It was like, a business lunch. She wanted to negotiate with you.”

“Dude, I remember the phone call. She made it very clear that lunch was on me, and from what I remember of her, that was just the beginning of her demands.”

Terrence, with the weakest, most pathetic protest, said, “She’s a good person, I swear.”

“Yeah, well, I thought Derek was a good person and he proved me wrong.”

Terrence looked at me sharply. “How much do you know about what he was up to?”

“You mean with his food reviews? All I know is that we weren’t the only restaurant he attacked, but we were definitely his biggest obsession. I mean, with the other places, he’d eat there a bunch of times, release a couple of nasty reviews, then move on. For us, it was one nasty post after another. Why? What do you know?”

“Not much,” he said cautiously. “At least, nothing for sure. But I think he had a hustle going with the health inspector.”

Interesting. This backed up my suspicions. “What makes you say that?”

“The health inspector is Mr. Long’s best friend. Every place that Derek went after got a visit from the health inspector, and there was talk of ‘big fines’ that had to be paid. Or else.”

“This isn’t the first time I’ve heard these claims, but how do you know about it?”

Terrence shrugged, looking uneasy. “After Janet and I got engaged, she urged me to reach out to him. Mend walls or whatever. She thought he was the only person who deserved to be my best man. And honestly, I hoped she was right. Despite all his BS when we were in college, I still missed him.”

“So what, you two went fishing and hashed out your problems or whatever?”

He laughed. “We smoked weed and played video games like the old days. It was great at first. But then he started talking about some of his, uh, shadier side hustles. Tried to get me involved. It wasn’t long before I saw that even though we were doing what we’d always done, we were now very different people. So I told him that he’d always be my boy, but I didn’t see us doing this again. Made me sad, but I wasn’t prepared for Derek’s reaction.”

“Let me guess, he accused you of thinking you’re too good for him?”

He nodded. “Went on a huge rant about how everyone thinks they’re too good for him now. He brought you up and uh, it wasn’t all that flattering. Also he’s still pissed that we went on those dates.”

I groaned. “Him and Janet both. Did you explain to them that it was weird and felt wrong and like kissing a sibling?”

He grimaced. “Damn, you don’t have to put it like that. Anyway, he called me a liar. Said I’d always been jealous of you and him and that he’d show us all.”

“That’s a pretty vague threat. Do you think he meant it? Like he actually had some kind of revenge planned against us?”

“It’s hard to say, honestly. Old Derek, of course not. But New Derek, well . . .” He eyed me, wondering how to continue. “Look, you keep saying Derek was a completely different person, but I don’t think you really get how much he’d changed. The year you two broke up, you didn’t notice him becoming . . . moodier? More short-tempered?”

I’d put that time in my life behind me and didn’t enjoy dredging it up again. “Um, I guess? There was a lot wrong with him at the time. He became more possessive, needier. I thought he just didn’t like the idea of me going away to Chicago while he was stuck at Shelbyville Community College. Why? Was there something more to it?”

Terrence bit his lip. “There’s no way to ease into this, so I’m just gonna say it. He had a drug problem.”

I scoffed. “That’s ridiculous. We smoked weed like, once or twice in high school. He refused to try anything stronger since he knew how I felt about that stuff after my cousin.”

“Yeah, well, he fell in with a bad crowd from Shelbyville. We were in different programs, and I was busy with the track team and the Black Student Union. He was always after me to hang out, but I told him to join a club or get a job if he was so bored. I regret that now. Should’ve seen that he wasn’t adjusting to college life as well as I was. I mean, Janet and I had just broken up, and I was free, you know? I wanted to see what else was out there, what the world had to offer. I was having the time of my life. I thought it was just a stoner crowd he fell in with. Turned out to be much more than that.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I just stared at him, hoping things would start making sense.

He continued. “And then Derek’s mom got sick again. He stopped hanging out with those fools and got a job on campus, but it wasn’t enough, so he dropped out and got a full-time job.”

“At Callahan’s Pharmacy. I remember that.”

“Yeah, but it still wasn’t enough. So he started dealing on the side.”

I gasped. “That’s ridiculous. I would’ve known.”

“How would you have known? You think he would’ve told you? If you didn’t notice, why would he tell you something he knew you’d disapprove of?” He let a beat pass. “Seriously though, how could you not have known?”

I buried my face in my hands. “I don’t know! I don’t know anything about anyone, it seems. We were so close and I loved him so much and then suddenly I just . . . didn’t. I had just started my senior year when our relationship imploded. I was busy studying for exams, applying for scholarships, researching the best schools for restaurant management in Chicago. He didn’t want to hear about any of that. He didn’t want to be there while I was stressing out about my future. Everything was always about him! His worries, his needs, his dreams. You remember how he was. It was his way or nothing. I couldn’t live like that anymore.”

Terrence frowned. “He used to complain that you were abandoning him when he needed you the most. I kinda agreed with him.”

“What? I thought you were on my side! You were the one who told me I needed to see what else was out there before settling down with Derek.”

“Yeah well, I always thought you’d come back. And that you and Derek would work things out when you did. Kinda like me and Janet. But you never came back. Not really. And Derek just got worse and worse. I couldn’t stand seeing him like that, but he wouldn’t stop and he wouldn’t get help. Then after that girl OD’d last year, I knew he and I were done. I wasn’t involved in any of his dealings, but knew if I stuck around, I’d get dragged into it.”

“The girl that OD’d? What girl?”

Terrence’s forehead furrowed as he stared at me in disbelief. “You didn’t hear about that? It was all over the news. Plus, I figured your family would’ve told you about it. Don’t your aunties live for gossip?”

Vague recollections of my grandmother on a tirade about idiots with drug problems came back to me, but I assumed she was talking about my Tito Jeff, Tita Rosie’s estranged husband. Besides, I was deep into my problems with Sam, and small-town gossip was the least of my worries.

“Never mind that. Who was she?”

He shrugged. “She wasn’t from here. She didn’t have any people here, either, as far as I know. You wanna know more about her, you should ask Adeena.”

I tilted my head in confusion. “What? Why her?”

“Because Adeena used to work for her.” At my blank look, he said, “The dead girl was the original owner of Java Jo’s.”