“Oh, my God,” I said, covering my mouth with my free hand. “Oh, my God! You just?—”
“I just handled it,” Amai said. “Now, go spend some money.”
I looked up at him, my eyes wide. “Don’t get it fucked up. I can spend a nigga money,nah.”
The corner of his mouth twitched. Almost a smile.
“Then spend that shit,” he said.
I grinned.
“Spend dat shit, spend dat shit,” I sang under my breath, doing a little two-step right there in the middle of Macy’s.
Amai shook his head, but I saw the amusement in his eyes.
“Where’s the Goyard bag?” I asked, looking around like I was about to go to war.
Amai reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a Black card.
Held it up.
“I don’t need one,” he said.
I stopped moving.
Stared at the card.
Then at him.
“Oh, it’s like that?”
“It’s like that.”
I snatched the card out of his hand.
“Bet.”
I went crazy.
Not in the way Destiny probably thought I would—throwing shit in a cart, grabbing anything expensive just because I could.
No.
I went crazy in the way Mama taught me.
I thought about my sisters first.
Saroya needed new shoes. Her three kids were always growing out of everything, and she never bought anything for herself.
I found a pair of Nikes in her size. Then a cute jacket I knew she’d love. Then a purse because she’d been carrying the same one for three years.
Honor’s husband was in and out of county, which meant she was always stretched thin. I grabbed her some jeans, a couple of nice tops, and a perfume I knew she’d been eyeing last time we went to the mall together. Raven worked at a salon and already had a bag, but I still got her some perfume and some expensive earrings.
Then, I thought about Mama.
Mama, who’d kept us alive in that shotgun house. Who’d paid it off in 2014 and never asked anyone for help. Who drank too much and loved too hard and never let us forget where we came from.
I found her a new robe—soft, plush, the kind she’d never buy for herself. Then some slippers. Then a bottle of her favorite perfume that she only wore on Sundays.
