“So, do I, but I bit Zodiac.”
“Why?”
“I’m dumb when I get drunk. I lose all common sense and forget my manners. When I get too excited or angry, I bite people. It’s why I don’t drink a lot.”
“I remember when you got drunk during New Year’s Eve and bit Sabrina.”
Cuddling up against him, I cooed, “You were so little when that happened. Your brain amazes me.”
Sutter smiled at my praise. “I’m not that nervous about the baby. They’re born so weak and helpless. That’s why babies cry so much.”
“You’re going to be an exceptional big brother. Even if you and the baby fight, the kid will be lucky to have you.”
Sutter tightened his hold on me and rested his head against my chest. Earlier in the year, my little man had been growing exasperated by my constant cuddles. However, after the baby news and our summer travel, Sutter was far more receptive to my clinginess.
Our life in Little Memphis was so comfortable. We had a strong routine. Sutter could pretend he was an adult trapped in a child’s body. But when we traveled, he quickly realized he was a little boy in a big world.
Despite his newfound love of mommy cuddles, Sutter still ditched me the next day to ride around with Ford and Pax as they ran errands. Shay had left earlier to go to her downtown office.
Years ago, she’d started a business to help people struggling to rebuild their lives. Some were women and kids from abusive homes. Others were foster children who’d aged out of the system. Others had issues with drugs. Shay helped them find jobs, homes, and other support to start over. Her employment agency worked with the Sabine Women’s Center, named after my aunt Bebe’s deceased sister.
Thinking about my mom’s hard work led me to wonder about Nova down the street at Lula’s house. She’d become a fixture with our family and club since following her brother Exile to Little Memphis. I liked Nova, and she seemed to like me.
Heading over to Lula’s house, I wasn’t sure how to subtly ask questions about Zodiac. Maybe I didn’t need to be casual about my curiosity. People knew my secret. Why pretend with Nova?
Lula was working in her office today, meaning Exile was playing her bodyguard. My cousin’s preteen daughter, Dillon, was visiting her dad in Little Rock.
I entered Lula’s house to find Nova at the kitchen island, cutting paper Eddie Murphy faces from a pile of printouts. She had a weird habit of leaving them for her brother. I’d heard she had begun doing the same thing with Lula and Dillon.
Nova’s blonde cuties—newly five-year-old Skylar and three-year-old Lyric—were sitting at the dining room table, writing somethingwith utter concentration. I walked over to them first, feeling nervous about approaching Nova with my questions.
I saw the girls were tracing the alphabet. They looked up at me as if I was messing with their vibe.
“We’re going to be good students like Dillon,” Skylar told me from behind her red plastic sunglasses. “We need to study.”
I turned my gaze to Lyric, who was wearing her Stitch hat with floppy ears.
“I look forward to applauding your excellent report cards,” I told them and walked to the kitchen, where Nova lowkey watched me.
“Did you need something?” she asked, growing territorial about the house.
Taking scissors from the drawer, I copied Nova and cut the smiling Eddie Murphy faces out of the paper. Nova’s eyes were big and blue. They felt overly expressive. But I had noticed how often they looked afraid when I was certain she wasn’t scared at all. I sensed she hid a lot of her true self behind her expressive face.
“You know Zodiac on a personal level, right?” I finally asked after adding two Eddie Murphy faces to her pile.
“Sure. He was at the house a lot. When Dan came here to woo Lula, Zodiac stayed with the girls and me.”
Nodding, I got to my point. “What’s he like as a person?”
Nova glanced at her daughters before whispering to me, “He’s an asshole.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
“But he did stay at the house when Dan was gone. I knew he wasn’t happy to hang out overnight, but he still stuck around.”
“That’s good, right? It shows he might have a good heart underneath his asshole shell.”
“You want to know what kind of man you made a baby with. That’s what your questions are about?”
