“Aight, Ma, I’m leaving.” I heard KJ as he walked down the hallway.
“I’m in the kitchen, boo.”
“Oh. I thought you were in your room.” Walking into the kitchen, he kissed my cheek.
“Where’s your hat? It’s cold out.”
“I’m good,” he said, pulling his hoodie over his head.
“It’s you having me buy a $400 Louis hat for no damn reason.”
“I wore it the other day.”
“You need to wear it in your sleep,” I joked, making him laugh.
“It’s in my bag. I got you.”
“Mmhmm.” I took another sip of my hot chocolate. “Text me when you make it to school.”
“Will do. And remember, I’m going to Cortez’s house for the weekend.”
“I know,” I confirmed. “Call me when you get there.”
“Aight.”
I watched him start to leave and waited to see if his head was in the right place. He paused at the door and doubled back to grab the garbage. “That’s my guy,” I said, and he threw up the peace sign as he walked out.
Letting KJ have some of his freedom back wasn’t easy, but he worked for it, so I let go of the reins a little. I’d talked to Kaleb about it, and his first question to me was what brought about the sudden change. I was honest, letting him know that KJ hadearned it. He still was tight lipped about the exchange that I’d walked in on that made him ban KJ from the projects, but he agreed to allow him some space.
“I’m giving him enough rope to hang himself, but I’m still holding onto this shit tight, Thyri,” Kaleb warned.
So far, so good. KJ made sure to check in. He hadn’t been in the projects, and everything else was cool. I was satisfied. Finishing my hot chocolate, I headed to my room to get dressed for the day. It was cold out, so the look for the day was warm, cute, and casual.
I threw on a two-piece set, my Chanel lace up boots, an oversized hoodie, and a peacoat. Pulling the scarf off my quick weave, I finger combed through it before pulling a beanie over my head. There was nothing wrong with being cute in the winter so long as warm was in the same category. I tossed my keys and phone into my purse and made my way out of the house.
When I made it to Sullivan Manor, the front desk receptionist greeted me as lively as he did any other day.
“Hey, Thyri. The outfit is tea, honey. Never doing too much but still reminding the gworls of what and who it is.” Ty snapped and popped his lips, making me giggle.
I could count on him to have me laughing and to compliment me on what I had on.
“Thank you, boo. How’s your morning going?”
“Any morning knowing one of the Sullivan men can walk right through this door is a great morning to me.”
I side-eyed him playfully.
“Ooop. I mean any Sullivan but yours, booka. You know I admire them all from afar anyway cause they do not play my type of reindeer games.”
While Enzo and I hadn’t announced the status of our relationship, the couple times Ty had seen us together was enough for him to make us an item.
“You’re a mess. Lemme go see my dad. I’ll see you on my way back out.”
“Okay. I think they just took him back from therapy. He’s doing so good.”
“Thank you, Ty.”
He blew me a kiss and handed me a visitor tag, which I stuck to my hoodie. I took the elevator up to the second floor where my father was. Entering his room, I found him sitting in his wheelchair by the window. The sun was shining bright on him, and it looked like he was enjoying the view.
