“She will do dumb shit,” she repeated. “Because she’s human. The goal isn’t to stop her from ever making a mistake. The goal is to make sure she trusts you enough to call when she does.”
She shifted in her seat. “Talk to her and not at her.”
I huffed a laugh. “You know this is different because if I was telling this to Khloe, she’d have a fucking fit.”
Kemi laughed, shaking her head. “I was raised by a strict mom with no freedom or breathing room.”
Her eyes drifted to the window. “Once I was grown, I ended up in a toxic, off-and-on relationship with the first man who made me feel something,” she continued. “Once I finally made up my mind to leave, he proposed. Sucked me right back in, and I married him.”
I swallowed.
“The emotional abuse got worse,” she said calmly. “And then I found out I was pregnant. That added gasoline to the fire. Everything spiraled after that until I left and filed for divorce.”
“Sometimes,” she added quietly, “all I wanted was for my mom to sit down and hear me. Not punish me for her fears or project her trauma onto me. Just hear me.”
The car stopped at a red light.
“Khloe thinks she’s saving Kennedi,” Kemi said. “But too tight of a grip doesn’t protect. It pushes.”
I stared at my hands.
“She’s not trying to be difficult,” Kemi said, grabbing my hand. “She’s just trying to prevent her daughter from repeating her story.”
That was the part I still couldn’t understand. Khloe carried that early pregnancy like a badge and a wound at the same time.
“She forgets something though,” Kemi added.
“What?”
“Your mistakes don’t make your child immune to making the same. Just because you struggled early doesn’t mean Kennedi won’t face her own version of struggle,” she said. “You can’t erase her path by controlling it. You can only guide it.”
“She doesn’t need fear. She needs room to become who she’s going to be. And she needs to know when she messes up, home isn’t a courtroom.”
The Uber turned into the hotel. I looked at Kemi and nodded slowly.
“You always have a soft version of everything,” I said.
She smiled. “Life does that to you.”
I stepped out of the Uber and the hotel’s glass doors slid open in front of us.
Kemi’s phone started ringing at the same time mine did. She glanced at the screen and lifted a finger.
“I’ma grab this,” she said, stepping off to the side.
I nodded and walked in the opposite direction toward the elevators, answering Khloe’s call.
“Hey baby,” she said, slightly breathless.
“Hey,” I replied. “You feeling okay?”
“Huh?”
“Kendrix said Niv told him you were sick. Fever or something.”
“Oh yeah,” she said quickly. “I think I was just tired. I feel better now though. I’m just going to get some more rest. I’m fine.”
She sounded… different.
