I wipe my face with the back of my hand like she can see me. “Hey mommy.”
“What’s wrong? What the doctor say?”
“Nothing’s wrong. She’s perfect,” I choke out before sobbing again.
My daddy died when I was a baby. I have absolutely no memories of him. For all intents and purposes, Mo was my father, and now, they’re both gone.
I always told myself, if I did have kids, my kids, especially my daughter, wouldn’t know the pain of not having a father. Yeah, Uncle Junior tried his best, but he spent the first twenty years of my life in jail, and you can’t leave that cage to take your goddaughter to the father-daughter dance.
And now, I fucked around and subjected my daughter to my same fate; not having a father. Even if I didn’t shoot Dan, he didn’t want kids. Part of my allure surely was that I proclaimed I couldn’t have any.
Now look.
“A baby girl? Oh, Mace… just come home, Sweets. You should be here with me,” my mom pleads.
But I can’t.
She’s spent her life taking care of me. Now she finally has a chance at happiness that was robbed from her over twenty-five years ago.
And the last thing I need is me and my mama being the mom-daughter duo fromGrey Gardens.
“I’m fine, Mom. I’m still at Dal and Patrick’s. They have plenty of room for me. These are happy tears.”
“She’s not listening to me, Junior,” my mom frets before some static sounds off and a burly sigh erupts in the car.
“Deezy.”
A smile takes over my face without permission at hearing the nickname the Young family has given me. Trenton Young Junior has always been my superhero. He was the first person to encourage me to do more with my doodles. Seeing him and Mom be together now isn’t as weird as I thought it’d be. They both have lived long, hard lives, and deserve some peace.
“You know Mika be tripping, Unc. She wants me to move back.”
“That makes two of us. You and YT don’t need to be in the same city.”
I sit up straight in my car as my grin turns into a full on cheese.
Deezy and YT? Dally’s gonna have a heart attack.
“YT’s coming?” I ask as I bounce in my seat.
“Officially on business, but yeah. You should be getting a text soon, but Mekhi just finalized it last week, once that psycho completes anger management.”
Yeah, I’m fasho not moving back now.
My tears dry instantly. I’m talking reverse uno back into my eyeballs. The only thing that can make this better is if–
“And you know YC and YP are going, too.”
Jackpot!
“Oh yeah. Tell Mom I’m in Kenton to stay. Why’re they coming?”
“You know I don’t talk shop with you, Deeze. Shit, I thought knowing the Triplets were moving down there would bring you back here,” he complains, for good reason.
“My eyebrows grew back, Unc, I forgave YT. Besides, I’m with child. How much trouble can I get into?”
My alarm goes off, signalling the end of my break, so I turn it off. “I gotta go. Thank youso muchfor cheering me up! Tell Mom I love her. Muah!” I hang up in his face and squeal.
The Triplets, Junior’s kids and my god siblings, are notorious in Northupton. They were the same age as Mo, and he ran with them, but once he got serious about Dal and college, they–particularly YT–started including me. I mean, my best friend was a mother, and between that and Mo, she was sat down before we could even drink.
