Call me as soon as you can.
Now was as good a time as any, so I unlocked my phone and found his contact.
“Are you still at dinner?” he asked when he answered.
“Yeah, but Nyomi is in the bathroom. Everything good?”
“I had to kick Ward out of the weight room.”
“The fuck? What that nigga do now?”
“Nyeem was lifting with Jared and another freshman, but I can’t think of his name. They were doing bench presses, and when Nyeem was up, Ward added more weight to the bar and tried to force him to lift it. Coach Seymour told him to chill because today wasn’t about lifting heavy. Ward called himself trying to pull rank, and him and Seymour almost went to blows.”
“Shit. This nigga just can’t do right.”
“Seymour said every time Ward comes to the weight room, he’s counterproductive, and he’s not welcome to come back.”
“I’m losing my patience. Nyomi’s on her way back from the bathroom. We’ll talk more tomorrow.”
I ended the call and stood to wait for Nyomi. After she was seated, I pushed her chair in. As I returned to my seat, our food arrived. We joined hands across the table, and I said a quick blessing over our meal.
“Who were you talking to?” she asked.
“Knox.”
“Did he have bad news?”
“Nothing for you to worry about.”
I tried to push my thoughts about Ward to the back of my mind and enjoy dinner with my woman, but every few minutes, they’d reappear. I refused to allow him to fuck up my first year as a college head coach, so he had to be dealt with sooner rather than later.
For the past few days, the baby or babies I was carrying had been treating me right. The list of things I could eat was slowly expanding, and the nausea had subsided for the most part.
Kilo still doted on me, sent me lunch every day, checked on me constantly, and tried to live in my skin when we weren’t at work. I loved all the attention he showered me with, but ever since he’d received the phone call from his brother while we were at dinner, I could tell something heavy had been on his mind.
It was Friday, and Kilo had insisted on driving me to work because he’d planned a date night that would begin immediately following. Although he spent most nights with me, he alwayswent home to get dressed. While waiting for him, I called my mother.
“Hey, Sweet Pea,” she said when she answered.
“Hey, Ma. What are you up to?”
“Thinking about what to make for Sunday dinner. I’m glad you called. Do you have a taste for anything now that your stomach has settled?”
“Can we do a taco bar? I know it’s not the usual Sunday dinner, but I have a taste for tacos.”
“Sunday dinner is what we make it, Sweet Pea. A taco bar sounds fun. Make sure you let Kilo know he’s expected to be here, and I haven’t seen Skye in a month of Sundays, so tell her the same.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Now that we got that out of the way, how are things? We only talked here and there lately, and you haven’t been over as much.”
“I know, Ma, and I’m sorry. Skye said the same thing, but Kilo has been taking up all my free time.”
“That’s good, right. I mean, you are carrying the man’s child, so you should enjoy spending time with him.”
“I love it here, Ma. Kilo is so . . . I don’t know. He has this tough guy exterior, but he says and does the sweetest things.”
“Aww, that’s wonderful. I’ve only seen you together once, but I could tell he was into you.”
