“I will kill that nigga as soon as I get the chance.”
“Don’t say that. Don’t you say that.”
“Why not? It’s the truth. Get over it and go tend to my baby ‘cause she’s the one who really needs you—not me—not Senior. We two grown-ass men.”
An uncomfortable silence settles between us afterthatword flies out of my mouth and into her ears. If I could’ve caught it and stuffed it back inside myself, I would have.
Faye’s fingers curl into my shirt.
“You said y’all ain’t sleeping together,” she mutters.
“We ain’t…”
If we were, I’d be done for.
I pinch my eyes shut. “We…we not.”
“So why would you call her that then?”
“I…I just—AJ broke her and she needs you. She needs a woman to guide her through this…this shit she’s going through.”
“What the hell is she going through, Rich? Just say it.”
I swallow the words I really wanna say. If Arnez wasn’t pissed at me, she’d be proud of the tact I’m showing.
I shake my head. “It ain’t my place to tell her story.”
“She told you that?”
“It’s in her head, Faye. I know everything going on in her head. She’s shame…and scared to disappoint you. And you thought it was Terrica this whole time that wanted me? You seen Terrica since Lovie came home? Talked to her? She been around to help Lovie through thisbreakup? Man, fuck Terrica.”
She cuts her eyes at Senior, but he doesn’t move.
Afterward, she lets my shirt go and buries her head in her hands. “This is my fault. I should’ve asked more—done more. I…I shouldn’t have sent her over to your house. I was just trying to?—”
“You were tryna get to Manvel.”
She rubs her eyes.
“Rasheeda told Arnez you been by twice.”
“I just wanted to get a better understanding of what we owed Melo.”
“We?”
“Don’t act like I’m not included in this. I’m in too deep already.”
“You can’t be in this deep. You got another family. You got Kenny…and Lovie.”
“You sound like Arnez.”
“But it’s the truth. This ain’t back in the day. Those days are gone. So how much longer you gonna live with your heart in two different places?”
She pulls her face from her hands and looks over at Senior’s pinched face. She tugs at the blanket he’s swaddled in, pulling it up to cover his arms.
“You hear that, Senior? Your boy says my heart is in two different places.” She scoffs when he doesn’t wake up to respond. “Your baby boy—the one I used to sneak and cuddle with andsave from whippings. The one I promised to take care of, no matter what. I keep forgetting he’s thirty now and not a baby.”
She reaches out, stroking the top of Senior’s low-cut hair. I feel like I’m intruding on an intimate moment until the solitaire diamond on her wedding band catches the light.
