Hollis popped her eyes open and nodded, wearing a smug grin.
“Hell yeah. What else would a good ass best friend do? I’m doing this for you and me both now. I swear, you try to do a good deed and people act like you’re not shit for it.” I rolled my eyes while I sipped my nonalcoholic drink and rubbed my stomach to calm the loud hunger rumbles.
“You just focus on feeding our baby. And as a good ass fill-in baby daddy for the day, everything’s on me today.” I cringed at her words because she had no idea how much truth they held.
“So when are you going to tell the rest of the village about our new addition? Also, heffa, you keeping crucial information from me again. What did baby daddy say? You never told me what happened that night. It’s been what, a couple of weeks now since you found out.”
I shrugged as I made my final decision on my full plate of food with my mouth already salivating as I anticipated the full spread.
“I haven’t gotten that far yet.” That was all I could give her, completely ignoring the question about Harlan.
“Well did we at least get as far as telling mystery man? What did baby daddy say? Did he like the baby announcement? And when do we get to meet him?” I cringed, thinking back to that night, how I’d called his phone an embarrassing amount of times.
I reached for the cup of water, taking a long drink before the waiter showed up to take our order, giving me more time to stall Hollis out with all her damn questions.
We put in our orders, with me probably doing way too much, but I couldn’t decide between the chicken and waffles or the French toast. I hoped and prayed the distraction was enough for Hollis to not remember what we were talking about, but of course, she did, picking up exactly where we’d left off.
“Okay, Mickey, talk. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you stalling with telling me what the fuck happened with him. Did he get out of line or something? Because you already know I got my spiked wire wrapped bat for bitch ass muthafuckas.” I snickered at her being ready for whatever when it came to me. It didn’t change my mind on keeping my secrets though.
I shook my head while coming up short on a good enough excuse to tell Hollis. I wanted to tell my best friends everything, but I knew how Hollis would react. She would be calling our lawyer Nas, having her run a full length background check on Harlan.
I rolled my eyes and released a frustrated breath. “Hollis, if I tell you this, you have to swear it stays between the group. Like no telling Callie.” I held out my pinky finger. It was corny, but it was our signature move when I needed total silence from her.
Her eyes bugged out before her face grew serious. “Oh shit, this is real. Okay. I got you.” When she followed suit with her finger, linking it to mine, we shook before kissing the back of each other’s hand to seal it.
I cleared my throat before I let out a nervous sigh.
“So, that night, he came over and the pregnancy announcement didn’t go too well. We got distracted at first. By the time I woke up, I assumed he didn’t like the idea of having a baby because he was gone. I haven’t heard from him since. I called and texted too many times to even put a number on it that night. I thought maybe he just needed a minute to collect his thoughts, but that was weeks ago. I’ve tried to get in touch with him since then but no response or call back has happened. I don’t know what to do. He just up and disappeared.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the fuck do you mean he just disappeared? Oh hell no, he might not want to be involved but that bitch ass nigga is going to at least come up off some money for child support. Well, we gotta pop the hell up. He’s not getting off that easy, and until then, you can count me as the baby’s pappy. I mean, doctor visits, late night food runs. When we said you’re not alone, we meant that shit, Mickey. And yes, I’m speaking for Johnni’s ass too.” That had me chuckling while tears welled up.
I nodded. I didn’t want to tell her that I’d tried that week two and it was like Harlan had never lived in the house I had visited a few times before. Instead, I grew quiet, going for my water glass again, hoping the food came out sooner than later.
I knew Hollis wouldn’t let this topic die any time soon, so now I had to come up with a plan to find my missing baby daddy.
After I partedways with Hollis, I ended up at Golden Age, sitting in Mackie’s room listening to a college football game playing on his TV.
“Chile, if you gon’ bring all that bad energy in here, you might as well talk about it. You got my boys playing terrible right now.” I smirked as I looked up at the screen. I noticed the ref had tossed a flag and now they were reviewing the play.
“Don’t blame my mood on their bad behavior on the field today. I’m sure they were going to play the same way regardless,” I said in a monotone voice, half ass paying attention to what I was saying. My mind was on this whole pregnancy situation and how I was going to track down Harlan. Even if he just met my people then decided to disappear, I could work with that.
Mackie hit the remote, turning the TV off altogether before he called my name, pulling my gaze to his.
I could tell by his somber expression he knew without me telling him.
“Viola was right, huh?” I nodded as I wiped the single tear.
“Am I going to have to make a special trip outta here and see that bum ass nigga behind my baby?” I chuckled weakly at his question as I pressed my lips together.
“Absolutely not. I’ve got it all under control. I’m just processing, that’s all. He’s great. He’s excited.” I laid the lieon thick. Harlan was everything but great or excited. This dirty muthafucka had abandoned us and the baby wasn’t even developed yet.
Ugh, fuck his bitch ass.
“Oh okay, cool, because the chamber stays loaded when it comes to you. I’ll lay his raggedy ass out if he hurts you or my great grand.” I smiled at Mackie talking big behind me, which was nothing new. I had been named after him for a reason.
I laughed. “Put the safety on. I need him alive for the baby's sake, Grandpa.”
He grunted as he waved me off. “Not if he ain’t no good. Sometimes, the best thing for the baby is the unfit, unwanted, or piss poor parent not being around any way. I take it you haven’t told your folks yet?” I quickly shook my head as I sat on his words.
