Mom comes through the door, and I show her the scan picture. “We’re having a girl, Ma.”
For the first time since I told her Amelia was pregnant, she softens and takes the picture from me to get a closer look.
“No more boys,” she murmurs with a smile on her face.
“No more boys.”
I pluck the picture from her and store it away in my wallet.
“I’ll check in later, make sure the twins go to bed without giving you trouble.”
Kissing her cheek, I head out. Puffing on a cigarette as I stroll down to Tariq’s, the scan is tucked back into my wallet, and I sit beside Jermaine on the swing seat.
“I found out this morning I’m going to have a daughter.”
“You happy about that?”
“Yeah, I am actually.”
Inhaling one last time on my smoke, I flick it across the yard. Being a boy in Dog City, the statistics of ending up shot, dead, or in prison is ninety-five percent higher than ending up in a good job with no criminal record.
Tariq pulls up with Clare hot on his ass and I muster the energy to deal with them. Before they can slip in the house, I ask, “Hey, why haven’t you been to see Amelia lately?”
She stops and is shocked I’m talking to her. She gets over it pretty quickly and says, “All she does is talk about the baby now. Like, she literally has nothing else going on in her life.”
The need to bounce her ass off the porch intensifies and Tariq catches on quick and pushes her inside.
“Her pussy must be lined with gold for him to keep her this long,” Jermaine mutters.
“Thanks to her big mouth, I know it’s her ass that must be golden.”
“It’d be better if he kept his dick in her mouth, then we wouldn’t have to listen to her whingy ass voice.”
Laughing, I agree with him. As usual, for every shit part of my life there’s something that’ll make me smile.
18
Amelia
Istart college tomorrow and my first antenatal class is today. My father said he’d come with me, well, first he said Darius should go with me, but I put my foot down on that idea. The classes fit in with my college schedule and I don’t need Darius breathing down my neck more than he already does. I can’t handle being around him and not being with him.
I pull into the parking lot at the community centre as my phone goes off.
I’m sorry I can’t make it.
I throw my phone in my purse and I’m about to get out when I see Darius waiting by the entrance. Slinking farther into the seat, I don’t have the energy to deal with him today. He’s keeping true to his word on being there for me, but the awkwardness is tiring. It wears me down more than my growing stomach.
I should just go home and hire one of those birthing coaches that teach you everything you need to expect. As I’m about to turn the key in the ignition, I glance up and he’s walking straight toward my car.
The collar of his button up covers most of his neck tattoo and his jeans, as ever, fit snugly.
There’s no leaving now, not when he opens my door and braces his arm on the ledge and leans in.
“Are you going to sit here all day?” he asks.
“Of course not.”
“In another good mood today I see,” he mutters and steps back.
