Page 61 of A Don & His Doll

"Nothin' much," Sienna smiled. "Somebody been rushin' me all mornin'."

Once the door was secured, Monroe led the way into the living room.

"I made sure your chair had an extra cushion in it,” Monroe smirked and said.

“For what? Monae was confused

"'Cause after this ass whoopin' I'm 'bout to hand out, you gon' need somewhere soft to sit." Monroe teased.

"In your dreams," Monae replied, laughing at her father.

“Confidence is good,” he approved. “Ain’t gon’ do nothin’ but make losing harder.

“Tuh, you trippin’,” she replied, unfazed.

"Let me go get these cards right quick. You just get ready to put in that work," Monroe stated, walking to one of his guest rooms to grab a few games.

What he hadn't expected was to feel Promise as soon as he walked in. She was absent, yet still present in every way that counted. It had been her who had insisted for him to get the UNO cards, Spades deck, and Scrabble board game. Monroe smiled thinking of the day he bought these games because Promise had won that argument.

"You don't know how to have fun," she'd laughed that day, tossing the games into the shopping cart while he rolled his eyes.

"I own every casino in three states."

"And none of 'em got Uno."

At the time, she didn't know she had prepared Monroe for this moment, but he was grateful she had. She'd been turning his house into a home long before he even knew why.

Monroe nodded. “Thank you, Doll,” he said just above a whisper, appreciative of the woman she was.

When Monroe returned to the living room, he held Scrabble, sorry, Connect Four, UNO, and a deck of cards so they could play Spades.

"Are we going to play all these games?" Monae asked with widened eyes.

"Yup," Monroe confirmed, sitting everything down on the couch.

"Which one you wanna play first?"

"Uno," Monae said quickly, glancing at her mother like they shared a secret Monroe knew nothing about. Monroe had caught it, but chose to let it ride.

"You know the rules, or we need to go over them before we start?" Monroe asked, taking the cards out of the box, and instantly started shuffling the UNO deck.

"Nope. I know how to play my hand," Monae shot, and Sienna cracked up laughing.

"Oh..." Monroe slowly nodded while shuffling the cards. "So you talkin' spicy already."

"I learned from the best," Monae said, looking at Sienna.

He chuckled. "We gon’ see."

Monroe didn't know it yet, but he would soon find out that they played all day. After sitting on the floor across from Monae and Sienna.

"Pick an odd number," Monroe said before dealing the cards.

"Seven," Monae replied with a confident smile.

Monroe dealt the cards, took a few seconds to separate each color by hand, then waited a few seconds for Sienna and Monae. Sienna played her card first since she sat to Monroe's right, Monae went next, then Monroe.

They continued this rotation until, "UNO!" Monae boastfully exclaimed, then laughed teasingly.