“Hey, baby.”
“Where are you?”
“At the airport.”
Demi didn’t speak for a moment. “What?”
“I have to go to Michigan.”
“Tonight?”
“I have some business to handle.”
I heard the rustling of fabric and imagined her sitting up in bed. “Are you okay?” she asked. “Do you need me to come with you?”
“No. I’m going to stay with Bliss.”Tell her tonight. X’s words replayed in my mind, but I blinked them away. “I’ll call you when I get there.”
“Okay. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
ChapterSeventeen
FOR THE LOVE OF YOU
Duke
Iknocked on the red door in a quiet neighborhood, not far from my parents’ place. A group of kids ran down the street, screaming with delight as they chased each other. It was March, but it felt like May, as was often the case in Michigan. Next month, it would probably be snowing on Easter Sunday.
Donna swung the door open, a smile on her face—until she recognized me. Her smile turned into a frown as tears filled her eyes. She hugged herself. “Duke. I should’ve been expecting you.” She took a step back. “Come in.”
I crossed the threshold into the house. The open floor plan gave me a view of the kitchen. It was always the first room I wanted to see in any house. The cherrywood cabinets and granite countertops were updated. There was a huge gas stove in the kitchen and stainless-steel appliances.
Donna motioned for me to follow her into the living room. “Have a seat.”
I sat down on the sofa. “Thanks for not pretending you don’t know why I’m here.”
“Carolyn’s death was bound to bring up some things.”
“How are you?”
Brushing a tear from her cheek, Donna said, “I’ve been crying since I heard.”
“When was the last time you saw her?”
Donna crossed her leg, rocking slightly. “It had to be last summer. I met her and Ola in the park. We had ice cream. It was hard to see her like that.”
“Yeah.”
“When I took Duke in—”
“Wait, his name is Duke?” The birth certificate Sasha had given me simply said Baby Boy Fuller. My heart swelled with a mixture of pride and despair. Because he had my name, but I wouldn’t have known him if I’d seen him on the street.
“When Carolyn asked me to adopt him, she asked that we honor you by giving him your name. We decided on Nathaniel Duke Ware. Right around his tenth birthday, he demanded that we call him Duke because he said Nathaniel made him sound like an old man.”
I chuckled. “I would’ve probably thought the same thing.”
“He looks like you,” she said. “Same skin tone, same light eyes.”
