Princess came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a paper towel. “You hungry?”
With a smile etched onto her lips, she stepped close to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled me into her. I put my arms around her waist like muscle memory. She smelled so good. It felt familiar, like home, heat, and comfort all mixed.
I swallowed a lump in my throat.
I must have held her a second too long, or maybe not long enough. I couldn’t tell. I just knew my nerves crawled under my skin, and my palms felt clammy. She noticed. Princess pulledback far enough to look me in the eyes with her hands still on my shoulders. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I shot back a little too quickly. “Just had a long day with work and . . . a bunch of other stuff.”
Her eyes searched my face. “Mm,” she mumbled. It was obvious she wasn’t convinced. “Yeah, tell me about it.”
She let my neck go and stepped to the bar. She pulled two wine glasses from the shelf above and eyed the collection. I followed her with my eyes. I tried to figure out how to start, how to not blow everything up with one sentence, but before I could say another word, she laughed softly and broke the silence.
“Oh, guess what?”
“What?” I asked. I walked into the living room and sat in a chair.
“Tell me why Juwon called me today.”
And just like that, the moment shifted. It had been a year since Princess filed for divorce, and although it was over, I still cringed every time I heard his name.
“That’s not unusual, is it?”
“Not really,” she began. “But it was what he said that threw me all the way off.” She finally settled for an unopened bottle of Moscato and unscrewed the cork as she continued. “Talking about he miss his family. Wants to meet up. Says the divorce might’ve been a mistake.”
I scoffed.
“I told him that he lost his damn mind!” she said. “Cheating is one thing, but having a whole baby? You wanna come back from that?”
I nodded as I listened to her continue going on and on, but her words kept echoing in my ears.Having a whole baby.
“What kind of shit is that?” She sliced through my thoughts.
Princess walked from the bar with the poured glasses and handed one to me.
“Once you got a child, that’s it. You don’t get do-overs.” She looked at me. I took the glass from her and gave her a short smile. She noticed before I caught it.
“You good, Zay?”
I took a sip from the glass. “Yeah. I just . . . My bad, baby. I’m listening.”
“What you wanna talk about?”
The way she’d just set the tone about cheating and having a baby on her told me that had not been the right moment to talk about Amora’s claims. I couldn’t do it with how she smiled sweetly and waited patiently for me to tell her what was on my mind, so I changed the subject.
“Brand deals going good, Kam got some stuff lined up for me, and I’m finally making moves to start my own label.”
Her eyes lit up. “Zay! That is amazing! Isthatwhat’s bothering you?”
She crouched down in front of me and balanced herself on her toes. Her head cocked to the side gently, and we met each other’s gaze.
“You got this, man. You been doing this your whole life. Don’t let them thoughts creep in and get in your way. You’ve come too far. You are amazing! Always have been. Always will be.”
I smiled, but my stomach twisted. How long would she still feel that way once she discovered the situation? I decided then, no more half-telling anything. I didn’t even want to bring up anything I wasn’t sure about and ruin the friendship we’d just rebuilt, not over something that may not even be true. I wouldn’t say a word until I had a DNA test in my hand. Anything else would just reopen wounds that we’d been through before.
I placed the glass on the table, leaned forward, and hugged her again.
I sent a silent prayer to the Lord above that her confidence would be enough to carry both of us.
