“I don’t blame you for being upset and wanting to rip her head off.”
“Me either. But going at her isn’t going to solve anything. It hasn’t in this long.”
“Yeah, that’s true.”
“Besides, Aunie doesn’t respond well to anger. We’ll just be standing here going at each other’s throats, and I’ll just end up getting more pissed off.”
As soon as those words left his lips, there was a knock at the door.
I could hear giggling on the other side, so I knew it was Dakota and Aunie.
“You good?” I asked Don.
“Yeah.”
I was closest to the door, so I went ahead and opened it.
“Titi Nova,” Dakota shouted while wrapping her arms around my waist. “I’m so happy to see you.”
“I’m happy to see you too, munchkin.” I lowered myself to hug her. Immediately, my nostrils flared from the strong aroma that lifted from her jacket.
I know damn well I’m not smelling weed.
Looking up at Aunie, I sucked my teeth. It took everything in me not to say what was on my mind. But I figured now wasn’t the time. Don had just managed to bring himself down a few notches, and I didn’t want to be the one to send him back through the roof. At least, not in front of Dakota.
“You good?” Aunie asked before rolling her partially red eyes at me and stepping inside to place a few shopping bags on the couch.
I didn’t respond. Instead, I grabbed Dakota’s hand and walked her further into the living room so she could show me what she had in her bags. “I want to see everything. Don’t leave anything out.”
“It’s so much stuff,” she said with excitement.
“I can’t wait.”
Suddenly, she frowned and pressed her hand into her stomach. “Oh, Titi, you’re going to have to wait a minute. I really have to go number two, and I don’t think I can hold it.”
“Oh, well you better hurry. I don’t want you to mess up your clothes.”
“Me either,” she said before racing out of the room with her hand over her tiny bottom.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
Turning my attention back to Don and Aunie, I said, “I’ll give you two the room so you can talk.”
“Nah, you’re good,” Don quickly replied. “What I have to say won’t take long at all.”
Aunie groaned. “I hope not. I’ve got things to do and none of those things include going back and forth with you.”
“Are you serious? You’re going to stand here and act like what you did was cool?”
“I’m her aunt, Don.”
“I don’t give a damn if you were Jesus himself. First off, I told you she had gymnastics today. Second, you don’t just pick up my daughter without telling me. Oh, and of all the fucked up shit that you just shouldn’t do, don’t ever pretend to be her damn mother. You scared the hell out of me.”
“She’s safe, right?”
“That’s not the damn point.”
“It is the point. You’re overreacting.”
