Also, Uncle Kenny would never invite Rich to eat at his kitchen table.
“You by yourself?” Uncle Kenny asks.
“Yeah…it’s just me. That’s cool, right?”
Me and Aunt Faye look at each other with pinched expressions and then at the archway where Uncle Kenny leads Blake Harvey into our kitchen.
His cold, dark eyes land on me as soon as he steps through the threshold, and all the chicken I ate gurgles up my throat.
I never thought I’d see him standing in a kitchen outside of New York City, but here he is draped in a swanky Harvey and Lee tracksuit with custom stone-colored New Balance sneakers to match. The outfit is just as tacky as he is.
“You can sit right there next to Lovie,” Uncle Kenny says, pointing to the empty chair I left between me and him. “Faye, Blake’s here.”
She frowns. “Yeah…I see.”
“Go fix him a plate.”
She pushes up from her seat with caution without acknowledging Blake. It’s like me and her are the only ones who understand how wrong this pop-up visit feels.
Uncle Kenny clasps his hands together, sitting down. “Boy, we ain’t seen you in a while. I think the last time we saw you was in…”
“Dallas. It was AJ’s rookie year,” Blake replies.
“Yup! My boy put us in that nice suite at AT&T while we watched them whoop the Cowboy’s ass. I still brag about that to the guys at work.”
They laugh together as Blake eases into the chair next to me, smothering me with his spicy cologne.
“Lovie.” He flashes an empty smile my way.
It makes the hairs on my arms stand, and for the first time since I’ve known him, I don’t feel obligated to smile back.
“Blake,” I mutter.
“Long time no see. You’re looking quite…” He eyes my faded leggings and Worthing Boxing sweatshirt. “Casual. Texas seems like it’s been good to you.”
“What are you doing here?” I pick up a roll from my plate, shoveling a piece into my mouth to stave off the rest of what I want to say.
He smiles politely at Aunt Faye as she hands him a plate of fried chicken, green beans, and dirty rice, although he thinks plating fast food and serving it for dinner is tacky. I’ve eaten hundreds of dinners with him to know so.
He holds his finger up at me, bowing his head and blessing his food even though I’ve never seen him pray over any meal. I guess being in Texas makes him fall into the whole “football and Jesus” shtick he mused about when he’d tell me and AJ he was courting some “country-bumpkin ass athlete.”
He opens his eyes, glancing at me. “Well, thankfully, Kenny still has my number. He gave me a ring the other day and said he wanted me to drop by for a visit.”
I narrow my eyes at Uncle Kenny. “For…what?”
“Well, Ken shared with me that he was concerned about you and AJ,” Blake says.
Sour bile bubbles in the back of my throat.
I swallow it. “You…you did what, Uncle Kenny?”
“It was the right thing to do after that talk we had…”
I cock my head to the side. “Are you joking right now?”
I turn towards Aunt Faye. “He’s joking, right? Did you know this?”
“Lovie…I swear I didn’t know,” she replies.
