“Hi, I’m Salina. My boyfriend Salvador is around here somewhere. We are pretty new in town ourselves.”
“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Jordan.”
“I’d go with the cookie dough if it was up to me. It’s my favorite.”
I reached in and grabbed the container of cookie dough ice cream. I had no idea which one to try, so her suggestion was just what I needed to make a decision.
“Thanks. My friend is sick and I’m just getting some stuff for him.”
“Oh, I know how that goes. I’m always taking care of my sick friends.”
“There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you,” a man said from the end of the aisle.
“Sorry, Salvador. I got distracted by the ice cream,” Salina said.
The two of them hugged, and I started to walk away.
“Jordan, can I get your number? I don’t have any girlfriends in the area. I’d love to hang out sometime or something,” Salina said.
“I don’t actually know my number.” I laughed as I pulled the cell phone Chase had given me out of my pocket. “Just a second.”
I looked through the phone and tried to figure it out before Salina just dialed her number from my phone instead.
“There, now I have your number and you have mine. Give me a call sometime and we can get to know each other more.”
“Okay, I’ll do that. Have a great day.”
Salina was really nice, and I was kind of excited about the idea that I had made a new friend. It was much easier than I thought it was going to be to make friends in America.
I gathered up the groceries and picked up Chase’s medicine and then headed back to his house. Hopefully, the combination of medication and ice cream would have him feeling well enough that he could actually tell me what the heck was going on.
I was surprised I had remembered how to get back to the house. My anxiety over driving in America was overwhelming, and I really didn’t like it. There were far more people in Atlanta than there were in my entire country.
As I walked into the house, I made my way back to Chase’s bedroom and sat down on the bed next to him. I needed to know what was going on. I wasn’t about to put myself in danger and not at least know the details of that danger.
“So, let’s talk,” I said to him.
“It’s nothing too crazy. I just owe a guy money.”
“And, how does all of this play into you wanting to get married?”
Chase rolled his eyes, and I could tell he didn’t want to tell me everything. But I needed to know more if I was going to stay around. There were just too many questions. And with people shooting guns and breaking ribs, I needed to know more.
“If I take over my father’s company, then I will have access to the money I need to pay Escabar back.”
“This Escabar, is he the one you stole the black book from?”
“Yes. It was a stupid mistake. I thought I could ensure my safety with it.”
“Was Escabar the one who came over here and broke your ribs?”
“No. It was his guys, though. I managed to convince them I didn’t have the book. But eventually, they will figure it out and come back for me. I really don’t know what to do. Maybe you should just leave so you aren’t here when they come back for me.
“So, you’re just going to sit around here and wait for them to come back for you?”
I didn’t really know what the right thing to do was, but sitting around his house waiting for them to come back seemed like a really bad idea. I had watched a lot of American crime television, and the very least we could do was go to the FBI or run from the area.
“Why not just tell your father about your money trouble?” I asked.