“Nah, this is my business,” he said.
He clocked the three dudes, clocked Deon’s crooked hoodie, and put it together fast. “Ahhh. I bet… somebody stupid said something sideways about our hill princess and the gangsta Santa elf had to step in.”
Deon scoffed. “Nobody scared of you, B.”
“Cool,” Braeden said. “Be scared of him, then. Makes it easier when I slide yo’ ass.”
He came to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with me, all loose posture and silly smile, but I knew the look in his eyes. If they swung, he’d swing right with me.
“Just for the record,” he went on, “anybody still calling her ‘the Grinch’ need to update their material. She out here putting lights up, shopping for ornaments, letting my niece on the hill. That’s progress.”
Beanie Guy held up his hands. “We heard. We straight. Dude already gave the TED Talk.”
Brae looked at me. “Good. Maybe he needed practice. He gon’ be giving this speech a lot.”
Deon looked between us. “Aight, can we go now?” he asked his friends. “Before y’all start quoting scripture, too?”
“Already did. Book of Don’t Get Your Ass Beat, chapter one,” Brae chuckled.
They piled into their car, still mumbling, but quieter now. As they pulled out, one of them stuck a hand out the window and gave a half-wave.
“Merry Christmas,” he yelled.
“Yeah, you, too,” I called back.
We watched them drive off. The cold air wrapped around us, smelling like their exhaust and the chicken joint a few doors down.
“You hood now?” Braeden asked.
“Yeah,” I lied.
He bumped my shoulder. “I get it, though. They say something about Ky or ZiZI, I’m on the same shit. I got your back. I’ll choke a caroler. I don’t care.”
I laughed, tension easing out of me. “You not choking no damn caroler.”
He shrugged. “I might trip ’em. Little seasonal violence.”
“Seasonal violence is insane,” I said.
“You good, though?” he asked, quieter. “For real.”
I thought about the tree in the foyer. The way Aziza had saidour. The way Kyleigh had smiled at the star even though her hands were shaking.
“I’m getting there,” I said. “I just need this town to figure out they not a show.”
Braeden nodded. “Well, they about to find out. One parking lot sermon at a time.” He opened the door. “Come on, Gangsta Claus,” he said. “Let’s get what you need so you can get back on that hill.”
Aziza’s breakdowncame after we decorated the tree. She’d been on a high all day, with her playdate, and the ornament shopping, and the tree decorating. So, by the time Serena and I got the girls ready for bed, she was tired and a little emotional.
“Why didn’t you tell me he was my daddy?” she wanted to know.
I sat on the edge of her bed, smoothing the corner of her unicorn comforter. Zoriah was already half-asleep in the other bed, face smashed into her pillow. Serena leaned against the doorframe, arms folded, eyes soft but watchful.
“I was going to.” My throat felt tight. “I promise you, baby, I was. I just… didn’t know how.”
She frowned. “You just say, ‘This man is your daddy.’”
I couldn’t help smiling. My baby was eternally pragmatic. If only it had been that simple.
