I sat across from him. “You good?”
“Yeah.”
I raised my brows. “That’s it?”
He finally looked up. “What you want me to say, Mel?”
“I want you to stop pretending like everything’s fine when you walking around here like your soul left your body.”
He exhaled hard, rubbed his face.
“I’m just dealing with something. I don’t wanna throw it on you.”
“Too late. I feel everything. That’s what happens when you love somebody.”
He stayed quiet.
“I'ain trying to argue, Franklin. I’m trying to understand. But you shut down every time I get close.”
“I don’t mean to. It’s just—” He paused, jaw tight.
“Just what?”
“Just heavy, that’s all.”
I shook my head. “You got me carrying a baby and now you got me carrying this, too.” I pointed.
He stood like he was about to walk off, then stopped.
“I’m trying, Mel.”
“Try harder. Or at least try with me.”
He stared at me for a long beat.
“I gotta go,” he said finally.
“Of course you do.”
I walked past him without another word. But when I hit the steps, I turned back.
“Whatever this is… don’t wait too long to let me in. You keep acting like I won’t leave.”
He didn’t say anything…he didn’t have to. The silence said enough.
7
Chapter Seven
Jackson ‘Stacks’ DeLuca
“Pops… I think I like her.”
Jace stood in the kitchen, arms crossed, brows drawn tight like he was about to confess to murder. I leaned against the counter, Jet in one arm with peanut butter on his cheek and a sippy cup in the other.
“You talking ’bout that the lil’ chocolate one with the nose ring?”
“Yeah. She bad as hell,” he said, and when I looked at him, he corrected himself quick. “I mean… she pretty. Real pretty.”
