Heavy knew his mama meant well. She also wanted him to focus on something other than his grief. Besides simply surviving. Life would drain him and pass him by if that was all he did, and she didn’t want that for him or Mesha. Lisa didn’t even want that for herself.
Mesha snorted loudly. “Or something besides the girl he’s been booed up with.”
Heavy immediately frowned, then chuckled. “Man, here you go.”
Lisa’s eyes widened with interest so fast that it made Mesha burst out laughing.
“A girl?” Lisa repeated. “Wait a minute. What girl?”
Heavy regretted answering their call now.
“Ain’t no girl,” he muttered.
“Oh, please,” Mesha said, after finishing a bite of her waffle. “He was just over here the other day, grinning all into his phone. It’s somebody.”
Heavy shook his head while Lisa smirked, waiting for him to give her some details. But, of course, he didn’t.
“What’s her name?” she asked.
“Mama…”
“What is her name?” Lisa repeated.
Heavy sighed, dramatically. “Cyren.”
Lisa instantly smiled. “Oh, that’s pretty.”
“Mhm,” Mesha agreed. “And she’s real cute too.”
Heavy’s eyes tightened at the corners. “How you know what she looks like?”
He knew for a fact that Cyren didn’t have social media anymore, so either Mesha had done some deep investigating or she’d sneakily gone through his phone.
Mesha instantly smirked, already knowing he was about to be irritated. “Because she called while you were over here, remember? Her picture popped up on your screen.”
Heavy frowned harder, then recalled her bringing him his phone while he was feeding KJ.
“You nosey as hell,” he said, shaking his head.
Lisa laughed, but couldn’t help but defend her. “Well, it was on the screen.”
“Right, Mama. And you secretive as hell,” Mesha shot back without missing a beat. “So now we’re even.”
Heavy chuckled under his breath. She was always going to get the last say, like the little sister she was.
“Well, what’s she like?” Lisa asked, amused.
Heavy glanced out the windshield for a second before answering. “She cool.”
Mesha almost choked on her apple juice. “Cool? That’s it?”
“Right,” Lisa added.
“What y’all want me to say?” Heavy asked, laughing now.
“I don’t know. Something besides that. I haven’t seen you smile like that in a long time. She gotta be something special.”
Heavy cleared his throat, hesitating briefly as he thought about what he felt comfortable sharing with them. Honestly, Mesha wasn’t wrong. Cyren had brought a softness back into his life that he hadn’t realized was missing, even though he didn’t know he needed it. It wasn’t just about sex or company. It was about peace. Their conversations weren’t focused solely on money, or survival.
