“It was fucked up,” Sloan admitted.“I just. I have my own history with murder, you know. With my mom. It’s just…”
“I get it,” Cassidy said.“But I’m not like the nigga that took your mom away. The circumstances were different.”
“How?” Sloan asked. Cassidy sighed.
“It’s not the time or place,” Cassidy replied.
“You know what? You’re right. I just wanted to apologize. I couldn’t even sleep last night after I left,” Sloanconfessed.
“Yeah, a niggaain’t get much sleep either,” Cassidy responded. He stepped up to the Hot Chocolate counter.
“Whatyou need, Cass?” the man working the booth asked.“Let me get three large hot chocolates, extra chocolate and marshmallows on one, extra hot on the other,” he repeated.
Sloan laughed.“You know extra hotisn’t a thing, right?”
“Listen, I’m just following directions,” Cassidy stated.“Whatever they want, they can get from me. I’ve missed too much to ever tell them no.”
He passed her a cup, and then he carried his nieces’ as they walked back to the skating rink. He took a seat on the bench and placed their cups on the ledge. Sloan took a seat next to him.
“Oh, Shy wanted to know if you have a company Cash App. She’s going live and wants to have her followers donate to the cause digitally,” Sloan said.
“Yeah, it’s $sigaro,” he said.“She’s really internet famous out here, huh?”
“She likes to think so,” Sloan laughed. She pulled out her phone and sent the Cash App name to their group chat.
“What are you up to these days, Sloan? Besides judging niggas,” he stated. She could tell he was still in his feelings about their misunderstanding, and she couldn’t say she blamed him.
“I’m a doctor. I deliver babies for a living,” she informed.“Forever a bridesmaid, never a bride.”
“I’m sure that’s by choice,” he replied.
“Umm, yeah, I guess you could say that. My choices have led me here. I just never have time to date, let alone to invest the amount of effort it takes to get serious enough to make a baby,” Sloan said.“Now, I’m forty and my eggs are crusty and although I did freeze some when I turned 33, I don’t know if I want to fertilize them alone. It just seems so desperate to choose some stranger who went to a sperm bank.”
His brows hiked in confusion.“I don’t know what to say to that, except, I think you should do whatever is going to make you happy, Sloan,” Cassidy responded.
“Sorry. Don’t mean to be talking about reproductive issues in the middle of your event. Which is great, by the way. This is amazing. It’s something to be proud of,” Sloan acknowledged.“Where did you get the seed money for this place?”
“It wasn’t drug money if that’s what you’re thinking,” he said.
Her silence gave away her guilt.
“Damn, a nigga justain’t shit in your book, huh?” Cassidy asked.
“I don’t know, Cass. I just don’t know adult you. I only know the boy who got locked up before he even had a chance to live,” Sloan said.
“I’m not that kid anymore. I saved some kid in lockup from getting his ass beat during his seven-year bid. His dad owed me. He was getting ready to sell this place when I got out, and we came to an arrangement. I’m paying it off out of a percentage of sales over five years. It’s all legit, Sloan.”
“Good for you,” Sloan said.“I mean that. This is quite a footprint you’re leaving on the neighborhood. Look at all these people. Some of these families wouldn’t have gifts for their kids, Christmas trees, or Christmas hams if it wasn’t for you. Maybe you are different now.”
“I’m just trying to make it out here, man. A nigga name burnt. Can’t get no regular job, trying not to go back to what I know and walk a straight line. Being an entrepreneur is the only way I can survive, and Iain’t never been no bottom feeder. I was always going to be a millionaire, Sloan. Whether it was by hook or crook. I only know how to go big.”
“Well, look at you, Cass. This is neither hook nor crook. It’s legitimate, and it suits you,” Sloan said, smiling.
He smiled at that, too, nodding his head bashfully and then looking out at the ice where Brooklyn was calling him.
“I better get back to the girls,” Sloan said, standing.
“Thanks, Sloan. A nigga will sleep a lot better tonight.”
