She sighs, looking down at the stained kitchen tile. “You’re right. It’s just, I promised Aisha I’d do right by her baby.”
“Who saying you ain’t?”
She gulps down a breath, and her eyes leap from the dark curtains hanging over the bay window to my bare chest.
“You know, if it wasn’t for your daddy, I wouldn’t have this house, Pup. And I owe him a lot, ya’ know? Mama owed twenty thousand in back property taxes, and I bet on your daddy every damn Sunday until I got that twenty. He used to tell me he wasn’t gonna let me lose my legacy.”
I nod.
If it wasn’t for Senior, a lot of folks wouldn’t have anything around here, but some of them seem to have forgotten that.
“And I know you got a lot on your plate already with…you know.” She cuts her eyes at Slim, then looks back at me. “And I really don’t want to get you caught up in anymore mess, but I…I don’t…”
One time Senior told me that asking somebody for help wasn’t an easy thing to do. He called it “humbling.” He said folks probably changed their minds at least twenty times before they got the courage to step foot on our porch, and sometimes it was okay to nudge them along to let them know you don’t think nothing less of them for asking for what they need.
“What you need me to do for you, B? You know I don’t mind helping you out around here.”
Her red-rimmed eyes touch mine, and she reaches out, tapping the pendant on my necklace. The air in the room is even more moist than it was before. It clings to my skin, and I feel the tiniest brush against my pinky finger. I glance down at Slim’s tiny fingers circling it.
When I glance back up, I catch Beatrice’s eyes on our conjoined hands.
She drops her finger from my necklace. “You remember we talked about me tryna’ make things work with Wendell again? He said he’d move back in and help me with the guys and with Tamryn. Well, he finally started moving his stuff in last Sunday, but…”
She looks down, shaking her head.
“But what?” I ask.
She lets out another loud sigh, looking up at the ceiling this time.
“The other day I saw him out back, drinking with Tim and Sam while Tamryn pushed some of the guys around the gazebo in their wheelchairs, and I…” She points her thumb toward her backyard. “I saw him looking at her, but he wasn’t looking at my grandbaby like a grandparent should and I feel sick about that shit.”
A little croak comes out of Slim’s mouth.
I really should’ve sent her ass back home because if Kennyreallyhad big nuts, he’dreallykill me for letting Slim follow mearound and hear all the bad news folks was always laying at my feet, but it’s too late now.
She tangles her little fingers through the rest of mine, squeezing my hand and making my heart stutter while Beatrice crosses her arms.
“I know the laws ain’t gon’ do nothing because of a suspicion I have and I asked Tamryn but she…” She shakes her head. “If I try to get him to go he’s not gonna leave, Pup. This probably the nicest place he’s got to lay his head since him and Melo fell out, but I can’t have Wendell here—not looking at my grandbaby like that.”
If I was truly that nosy motherfucka I told Slim I was, I’d ask more, but I really ain’t that dude. I’m just Pup.
“‘Kay… I’ll take care of it.” I nod just as the front door slams.
“Beatrice! That chili done?” Wendell yells. “I went and got that damn Lovelace boy like you said! I told you I could do whatever it is you be having him do around here. You act like he the only motherfucka that can cut grass and fix shit.”
Beatrice takes a step back from us, and Slim squeezes my hand harder. I wrap my other hand around the back of her neck, brushing my thumb across her soft skin.
“C’mere, mama. I wanna show you something,” I utter to her.
“But…but your birthday ca?—”
“Shhh,” I hum out, turning her around by the neck and marching her through the threshold of the kitchen. “I’ll get B to cut you a piece.”
“But what if I don’t get to come ba?—”
“Hush,” I coo.
A softness coats my voice because I ain’t used to being responsible for another woman besides Arnez—especially not a woman that requires as much softness and tact as Slim does, because she really isjusta baby bird.
