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When I burst through the front door, I dropped my bag down.

“Hey,” Mehar greeted me.

“Hey MeMe.” I was so glad she bagged Uncle Quest and not my father. I kinda like her. I’d hate to have to kill her.

The family doesn’t know that I know about what she did to cousin Thad. I’ve overheard them talking and I know she tortured him for a long time before killing him. She’s my kind of girl.

“How was school?” she asked while sitting at the table with my little sister. Mehar had picked Dream up because Dream had a doctor’s appointment.

“It was okay,” I lied.

I was still pissed about Ms. Lisbon, but telling Mehar would only get me a conversation about how my father deserved to be happy. They all wanted him to find somebody. Nobody ever asked me whether I wanted another woman living here.

“Did you eat lunch?” Mehar asked.

“Yes. I’m not hungry.”

“I got a sticker,” Dream announced, sticking her arm out.

A crooked sticker with a smiling bear was attached to her sleeve.

“I see.”

“The doctor gave it to me.”

“That’s nice.”

“She already tried to stick it on the window,” Mehar said. “I told her she could explain that to her daddy.”

Dream giggled and went back to coloring.

I pulled out the chair across from Mehar. Her phone vibrated beside her elbow, and she glanced down before smiling at the screen.

“Uncle Quest?” I asked.

“Who else? That man has called me three times since I picked your sister up.”

“What does he want?”

“He wants to know when I’m coming home. Apparently, the baby misses me.”

“Maybe he misses you.”

“He can miss me while he changes a diaper.” She picked up her phone to answer him. “Your father should be here soon. I’m ready to get home to my baby.”

“You don’t wanna stay with us?” Dream asked.

“I’ve been with you all afternoon, girl.”

Dream looked at me as if I was supposed to take her side. I reached for a crayon that had rolled near my hand and put it back in the box.

“MeMe has to go home sometime.”

She pushed her bottom lip out.

The front door opened before she could start whining.

“Where my girls at?” Justice called.