“When I first brought AJ over to meet Aunt Faye and Uncle Kenny, Uncle Kenny said AJ reminded him of my dad, Tony.”
“Am I supposed to just listen or give you my stupid opinion on what you telling me?”
“I want both.”
I drag my finger against her tiny ear, tracing the diamond studs in her lobes. “‘Kay. I can do that. Keep going.”
“As soon as we walked through the front door, he said, ‘Damn, he’s got the same eyes as Tony.’ He was so excited that I kept looking over at Aunt Faye to make sure I wasn’t going crazy. Him and AJ talked for hours—mostly about football and how AJ was brought up just like Tony was. They both came from good families. Their mamas stayed at home and their daddies worked themselves to the bone to provide…”
She takes a deep swallow and pushes her head deeper into my chest like she wants to crawl inside of me.
Afterward, she swipes her nose and lips against my skin. “Talk. I want to hear what you think, stupid man.”
I smile as a crack of lightning rips through the night sky. “You know, I don’t believe in seeing the good in men, but you got to see a lil’ part of your daddy in the man you were falling in love with even though he didn’t turn out to be so good. That was comforting, right?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She puckers her lips, kissing my chest and whispering, “Tony killed Mama.”
The inside of my stomach rumbles.
“And then he killed himself.”
For the second time in my life, I wanna throw up after Slim tells me about another stupid ass man that hurt her.
I scrape my fingers against her scalp, tugging her tangled curls. “Slim…”
“He said he was gonna do it every time she pissed him off, and he made good on his word. He’d punch her in the face right in front of me and say it.” She looks up at me with her chin resting on my chest. “What do you think about that? Huh? What do you think about me falling in love with a man just like Tony Sinclair?”
Her red eyes pierce my face and her mouth hangs open while I try not to throw up the six-pack of beer me and Smitty downed before she came.
I curl my arm underneath her ass, pulling her closer and pressing my lips against her forehead. “We don’t have to talk about?—”
“No, tell me. I want to hear it. I want to hear what you have to say about it. You’re my friend, right? Friends tell each other the truth.”
Her glassy eyes catch mine. “Are you the type of friend that Terrica was? She thought I was some dumb chick just like Mama was because we both fell for a wolf in sheep’s clothing. And Aunt Faye’s gonna think that too, because how dare I put her through the same shit Mama put her through? Do you think I’m dumb too?”
“Nah. I…I don’t think that at all.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?” She tilts her head. “Like you’re gonna throw up?”
“Hush. Ain’t nobody looking at you no type of way.”
“You are…” Her voice cracks. “Just tell me you think I’m dumb for falling for the same type of man that she did.”
“Shhh. I don’t think that.”
Her eyes widen. “Then what the fuck do you think?”
I wrap her head in my hands and pull her closer, pressing my lips against the tiny scar that slices through her eyebrow.
What I think is that if Slim wasn’t my baby bird, I’d tell her how I’d kill Kenny, and if Tony Sinclair hadn’t offed himself, I would have killed him too, but I already said that word she hated out loud one too many times. I have to be tactful with her…or empathetic, like she says.
“Tell me what you think,” she murmurs.
I push her head back onto my chest and drop mine against the house, gulping in a mouthful of air. “Oh, baby, you really shouldn’t care what a dumb man like me thinks…but I like to hear you talk about the first time you fell in love, even if it was with the wrong man. I like to hear you talk about how you lived through something as hard as your daddy taking away your mama and how you’re still living and still learning even after experiencing some of the same horrible shit she did. I see you and I’m listening like I always do. Keep talkin.”
