Page 46 of SIN Looks Good On Us!

"Food's almost done. Go on back in the room and I'll call you when it's ready."

He nodded and shuffled back down the hallway, and the second his door clicked shut, Taffy turned to me with her eyebrows raised.

"You really believe that?"

"I do."

"You don't even know if Jokah is coming to that game after everything that just happened."

"He'll come."

"How you figure that? The man just had you thrown out of his penthouse."

"Because when it comes to Cody, Jokah always shows up. No matter what's going on between us. He's been in his life for the past two years. That bond ain't just gon' disappear because things went left between me and him."

Taffy leaned back in her chair, studying me like she already knew where my head was at, and didn't like it. "Shania."

"What?"

"Please tell me you're not about to try and use that boy to get Jokah back."

I didn't answer right away, and that alone told her everything.

"Shania!"

"I'm just saying, Cody's his weak spot. Has been for years."

"That don't mean you get to use him like a chess piece."

"I'm not using him."

"You're sitting here telling that boy this man coming to a game when you don't even know if that's true, all because you think it's gon' bring Jokah running back into your bed."

"It might."

"It won't." Taffy shook her head, standing up from the table. "And another thing, Jokah ain't even Cody's daddy. Where is Troy in all this? Why won't he just come? That man does absolutely nothing for him. The least he could do is show up to a game."

"Troy don't care about showing up anywhere."

"Exactly my point. So why you building Cody up around a man who chose to leave, instead of pushing the one who's supposed to be there?"

"Because Jokah actually shows up. Troy never has and never will."

"That still don't make it right to have that boy waiting on somebody who might not come, especially after everything that just happened between y'all."

I didn't say anything, just went back to wiping down the counter like it needed it, because I didn't have an answer that wouldn't make me sound as crazy as she already thought I was.

"I'm serious," Taffy said, softer now. "You keep holding onto something that already let go of you, and all you gon' end up doing is hurting yourself. And Cody."

I didn't say another word. I just stood there staring at the counter while dinner finished cooking. My son was in the next room counting on a man who didn't owe him a damn thing. Deep down, I knew Taffy was right. I just wasn't ready to let go of the only man who had ever shown up for him.

I made it home a little after ten, kicking my shoes off by the door before dropping onto the couch and dialing Armani. She picked up on the second ring.

"Bitch, tell me everything."

"It was actually really nice."

"Nice how?"