I stood from the throne. Unzipped the catsuit. Dame CoCo didn’t go to piano recitals. Mehar did. And Mehar wore a cashmere sweater and gold jewelry and a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes but was convincing enough for family.
I changed in the back room, wiped the red lipstick off and applied something softer, took the hair down from the high ponytail and let it fall. I swapped the stilettos for heels that were cute but wouldn’t make Zainab give me the look.
In the mirror, Dame CoCo disappeared and Mehar stared back at me. Pretty, put together, and empty behind the eyes in a way only I could see.
I grabbed my bag, locked the dungeon, and got in my car.
Twenty-five hundred richer. Not one dollar happier.
Yusef was my nephew, the one good, pure, untouched thing in my life. The kid who still looked at me like I was magic, like Auntie Mehar hung the moon.
If he knew what Auntie Mehar was doing forty-five minutes ago, the moon would crash.
But he didn’t know. Nobody did. That was the whole point.
I merged into DC traffic that was already a nightmare at six-twenty because this city has personally never heard of infrastructure planning and at this point I think the potholes on 295 are permanent residents with voting rights.
And I would walk in and smile and clap and be the cool auntie, and nobody would know that underneath the cashmere and the gold and the smile that didn’t reach my eyes, there was a woman with twenty-five hundred dollars in CashApp notifications, a federal judge’s dignity in her pocket, and not a single clue how to feel like a normal human being.
The concealer was holding and the armor was on.
Showtime.
3
QUEST
“Parking is a bitch,” I complained as I circled the block.
“Yep, we’re cutting it close. That shit with Dimonte could’ve waited,” Justice laughed.
“Nah, it needed to be handled today. I got too much shit to handle tomorrow with the casino. And I’m finally havin’ the talk with Lyric,” I replied.
“It’s about time. Do you all even fuck anymore?”
“Nope. Ever since Camille left, shit’s been off. She’s barely been there. She’s been traveling a lot and I’ve been workin’. I don’t even miss her when she’s not there. I mean I see her runnin’ up my credit cards though.”
“Ha!” Justice laughed.
The recital was at some private arts academy in Georgetown that charged more per semester than most colleges. The school was in white brick building with tall windows and a courtyard with a fountain that probably ran on the tears of parents who were still paying tuition. Prime, was sweatin’ it, though. He felt like it was important for a kid like Yusef to be in a good school. And I couldn’t agree more. Lil man was mad talented.
Justice and I walked in through the front entrance and I immediately spotted Grandma Rita in the second row.
“There go my babies!” Rita spotted us before we even made it down the aisle and threw her arms open like we’d just returned from war. Which, technically, we had.
“Come here, come here. I saved y’all seats. Justice, you look tired. Quest, you look too skinny. When’s the last time either of you ate a real meal?”
“Grandma, I weigh two-twenty.”
“That’s what I said. Too skinny. You need to eat. Both of you. Come sit.”
She had saved an entire row. Had her purse on one seat, her program on another, her jacket draped across a third. This woman had claimed territory like she was colonizing the auditorium. I kissed her cheek and took the seat next to her. Justice sat on her other side.
Prime and Zainab were in the row directly in front of us. Prime had Kheris in his arms. She was wide awake, babbling at nothing, her little fingers grabbing at his beard every time he looked down at her. He kept gently pulling her hand away and she kept putting it right back, determined, like she’d inherited her mother’s stubbornness and her father’s refusal to take no for an answer. Dangerous combination. Zainab had Idris on her lap. That boy was also wide awake and already trying to eat the program. He had Prime’s eyes and Zainab’s jaw, which meant he was going to be a problem in about twelve years. Officially, I could no longer joke about them being funny lookin’. They were beautiful babies. Prime turned around when he heard us sit down.
“Cutting it close.”
“We’re here, aren’t we?”
