When I saw the tear fall down Bali’s cheek, I realized just how serious this was to them. I hated what I said to Noni yesterday now, about them acting like teenagers. There was silence for a moment, then Bali said, “It’s so hard for me to watch you change, because I felt like you were doing it to appease Red. It’s one thing to compromise on things, but you are making obvious changes.”
“I know. I should have talked to you before making changes, so you could have understood more. I’m doing this for myself, too. My mouth could be extremely disrespectful and still is at times. I needed to not only be better for me, but for Red, too. I needed to be able to respect him as the man in my life. My mouth was extremely reckless with him, which was why his attitude had become what it was with me. Plus, my feelings were closed off, as all of y’all heard at Daddy’s house months ago,” Noni said and rolled her eyes.
Carter chuckled, and Bali smirked. “Carter and I talked about this, and he helped me to see that whether I agree or not, this isyour life. I just . . . I don’t want to see you lose yourself in the process.”
“Oh, I won’t. I’m still a twin twister. I ain’t lost shit.”
Bali smiled as she glanced at me. I sat up and cleared my throat, inwardly praying that what I wanted to say would come out right.
“I apologize for my attitude and temper, Bali. I want you to know that Noni isn’t the only one making changes. I’m working on my temper. I started anger management classes. Noni and I are changing together, and I can honestly say that I know some of her changes have been for me. Not because I’m demanding her to but because she wants to help me be better. She knows that mean ass streak y’all have is only going to fuel my raging fires.”
I smiled slightly and continued. “I miss us all hanging out together, and I hope, after this, we can get back to that.”
Bali was just staring at me like she didn’t believe a word I said. After a few seconds or so, she said, “You had one part wrong. Youdiddemand it, Red. I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears. You prompted the change. Nigga, you threatened to leave her. Had it not been for Carter, you would have left her while we were still in medical school because you didn’t want to wait.”
She was getting angrier by the second. Subduing my words, I simply said, “You’re right, and I wasn’t expressing myself correctly. When I reworded what I needed to Noni, I should have done that publicly, just like I embarrassed her publicly about her attitude. We came to an understanding about what I needed and the things she needed.”
Bali crossed her legs and huffed. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths, and said, “Okay.”
I wasn't sure what that meant, so I asked for clarity. “Okay, what?”
“Let’s just start over. I’m going to do my best to leave my petty at home when we’re together, because I don’t forget shit.”
I chuckled and stood from my seat, then pulled her from hers and hugged her. She pushed me, and said with a deep frown on her face, “Nigga! I said start over. Nowhere in that did I say I would be friendly.”
I chuckled as Carter laughed. Slowly shaking my head, I said, “My bad. I’m just glad we good now. Does this mean we good to all ride together to the next rodeo?”
Carter wrapped his arms around her waist and softly kissed her neck. I could see the peace that came over her. They were so good together. He was able to soothe all her demons, and I wanted to eventually be that for Noni. Bali closed her eyes and relaxed in his embrace.
When she opened her eyes, she said, “Yeah, we good to load up together unless you piss me off before then.”
I slowly shook my head as Noni smiled and came to my side. I kissed her head and wrapped my arms around her, too.
“I know I smelled desserts, so where the cookies and shit?”
I laughed loudly. Carter was crazy. He watchedThe OriginalKings of Comedyall the time when we were younger. That was his favorite quote from it.
“Nigga, yo’ mama is a baker extraordinaire. You don’t need to be worried about ourbrownies,” Noni said.
Bali went to the kitchen, along with a smiling Karima, leaving Carter and I alone in the front room. I took a deep breath, relief flooding my soul. This meeting could have gone haywire and made things a lot worse than they already were. He clapped my back and flopped on the couch next to me as the doorbell rang.
Before I could go to answer it, Noni appeared with a frown on her face. Nobody popped up at her house. They always called first. Only two people were allowed to do that and one of themwas here. When I heard, “Hey, Daddy Mayor. Come in,” I rolled my eyes.
I did that every time they called that nigga that. They damn near idolized that nigga. It was like he did no wrong in their eyes. Had I not had a sister, I probably wouldn’t understand that shit. Pops spoiled the shit out of Aaliyah. She had him wrapped around her pinky finger.
When they appeared in the room with us, Bali damn near powerwalked to his ass and hugged him tightly, like they hadn’t seen one another in months. He put his arms around both of them and kissed their foreheads. Carter and I stood from our seats, waiting to shake his hand.
After he hugged Karima, he shook our hands and sat on the couch with us. I wasn’t sure why he was here, until he said, “We planning something for the men of the family. Although y’all ain’t officially in yet, I figured since y’all are dating my babies and don’t seem to be fucking up too bad, I could invite y’all.”
“Speaking of,” Carter said, glancing toward the kitchen. “I need your blessing, man. Me and Bali been doing this dance a while now.”
“Uh huh. Holding hands under my dining room table. I told your daddy years ago that I was gon’ bust yo’ ass for that shit.”
Carter’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, I knew about that shit. Just because I don’t say shit, don’t mean I don’t know, nigga. When it comes to Henderson and Nome business, I’m all in that shit. Don’t forget that shit either. We knew this would happen. Maui and Mythic threw us way off, but I always knew the two of you would be together.”
He slid his hand down his red face, then said, “You have my blessing.”
