Joshua let it be, although in my mind, it never made sense because P’Nee stayed with her grandma when she was in Clover. It would have been one thing if she came to Clover but didn’t come over to her dad’s house. The fact was that P’Nee stopped coming to Clover period.
No one thought too much about it and the excuse that Pop Jordan gave. That shit changed when P’Nee’s grandma shot PopJordan and his brother on some crazy shit. To this day, no one knew why that shit happened. If you asked the brothers, they would flip the fuck out. That told me that it was something, but as time went on, people forgot about it.
It wasn’t brought up again until when Margie Anderson died. It was said in a way to discuss how thorough her ass was. That woman didn’t give a fuck about anyone’s feelings. She reminded me of my grandma, which was fitting since they were friends when they were much younger.
“Yo!” I called out when I walked into Joshua’s house. This nigga demanded that I come through so we could talk about P’Nee.
He sat on his couch with his laptop on his lap. He looked up at me, then shook his head. “Man, the newspaper did a whole fucking spread on her being the new principal ofHeritage of Excellence. How the fuck did I miss this shit?”
I wasn’t sure if I ever heard this kind of hurt in my bro’s voice. When we were younger, it fucked with him that his baby sister had just cut him off with no warning. Now that she was back and didn’t so much as send up a flare seemed shady as hell. “Man, unless that shit was on the front page, I don’t see why you would have seen it.”
I sat next to him and pulled up the pictures that I’d taken of her while we were in her office. “Here she go,” I said after I reached the phone out to him. “Baby girl has definitely grown up,” I mumbled.
I felt Joshua’s eye on me. “Don’t get fucked up. I’on care how long it’s been since I’ve seen her. She’s still my sister.”
I heard what he said and took it in. Normally, I would let him have it, but I had something to say this time. “Yeah, she is still your sister. Let me add that she’s your very grown, fine ass sister, respectfully.”
Joshua sucked his teeth. “Man, bro, don’t make me take it there with you. No nigga is gonna fuck over my baby sister. I’on care who it is.”
“Calm down, nigga. You act like I just said I was gonna smut her out. I’m not saying that shit,” I responded. When he asked me what I was saying, I simply shrugged my shoulders. I wasn’t sure what I was saying. “All I’m saying is I won’t disrespect P’Nee, but in the same breath, I’m on her. Did you know her mother died?”
His head bucked back. “Hell no! How the fuck would I know that shit?” He stood to his feet. “Man, come on. Let’s go holla at my pops. I wonder if he knew she was back.”
I followed my best friend out of his house. It took us less than ten minutes to get to Pop Jordan’s house. Bro didn’t give a fuck about privacy with the way he walked up into his dad’s house without knocking. “Dad! Where you at?”
“I’m on the deck!” Pop Jordan yelled out.
We walked toward the back of the house. Over the years, the house was renovated heavily and added on to. When we walked out of the back door, I wasn’t surprised to see Jordan and Jacob. Both had beer in their hands, and the smell of weed permeated the air. I went straight to the refrigerator and grabbed beers for me and Joshua.We are going to need these.
“What’s up, Bolt?” Jacob greeted me. I wasn’t sure why though. “Damn, you not gonna speak to a nigga. I know you’re not still mad about that ho that I fucked that you was fuckin’ on.”
There was so much to not like about this nigga. “I’m never worried a ho. I’m concerned about a fifty-year-old man that feels the need to compete with niggas in their twenties and thirties over bitches. I would think that you’d be more interested in making sure those social security statements and AARP benefits are up to par.”
He snickered before he slapped his brother’s chest with the back of his hand. “See, I told you they cut these niggas from different cloths after us. They soft as fuck. Well, not you, Nephew. You know the hos are for everybody.”
Joshua looked at his uncle but said nothing. See, my bro wasn’t a fan of his own uncle, but out of respect for that family shit, he tried not to be disrespectful. Jacob moved back to Clover shortly after Joshua and I graduated from high school. Shit was weird because it was like, he was in the military, then one day he was not.
This man moved in with his brother instead of getting his own place. When me and Joshua would bring over females to chill, he would be all in the mix, which was weird behavior to me. Yes, the bitches were legal age, but still. We mentioned the shit to Pop Jordan once, and he went off on us talking about we were trying to call his brother a pedophile. To avoid all the bullshit, Joshua and I got a spot together to distance ourselves. All these years later, this grown ass man still lived with his brother. A part of me thought he had a drug problem or something.
One thing I loved about myself was my discernment. If I felt a person was off, then that was what it was. I didn’t need to know the details behind the feelings. I had watched Jacob over the years enough to know that the nigga was a weirdo and not the good kind.
“Pops, did you know that P’Nee moved to Clover? She’s the new principal atHeritage of Excellence. Bolt saw her today,” Joshua told his dad.
Pop Joshua shifted in his seat and threw a look in his brother’s direction. For a split second, there was a look of hate in his eyes. If you blinked, you missed it, but I hardly ever blinked when it counted. “Um, I heard that someone was living in her grandma’s house, but I just assumed they rented it out like they always did.”
“So, you didn’t know that P’Nee was back in Clover? Did you know her mom died?” Joshua asked. He took a sip of his beer without taking his eyes off his dad.
From the sharp gasp and rise of Pop Jordan’s chest, I concluded that he didn’t know. “What? When did she die?”
I cleared my throat. “She said four years ago. Yeah, she’s the one who moved into her grandma’s house.”
There was real life hurt in Pop Jordan’s eyes. It threw me off because I’d heard him talk cold cash shit about her. It was years ago, but still.
“Oh, damn. You said four years ago? That might have been why P’Nee called. I just remembered that she called,” Jacob said nonchalantly.
See, that weirdo shit.“So, this man’s daughter called four years ago, and you’re just remembering that shit?” I asked with knitted brows and a turned-up lip.
Pop Jordan stood up, walked across the deck, then turned to face his brother. “Jacob, what the fuck do you mean my daughter called and you forgot? Nigga, are you fuckin’ serious right now?”
