“I was here earlier,” I told him, unfazed by his intense stare. “Checking on Big Girl.”
“She’s the doctor,” I heard behind him, immediately recognizing Jami’s voice. “Move out the way, Kyree. Let her in. And stop giving her a hard time.”
“You don’t look like the doctors I know,” he said, moving to the side.
Offended, I clapped back with, “What’s a doctor supposed to look like?”
“Not you,” he said firmly as I passed him, entering the apartment.
“Big Girl’s in the back,” Jami advised, leading the way.
“Any puppies yet?” I asked her back.
“No. And she ain’t trying to have them either.” Jami opened the door to a girl’s bedroom. “I looked up that box thing you were talking about. Now all she wants to do is lay down.”
I smiled at her rendition of a whelping box—a blue kiddie pool lined with puppy pads and a sizable piece of fleece bedding.
Some of the stuff I told her earlier seemed like it was going in one ear and out the other, but it turned out Jami was actually listening.
“It looks nice.” I walked over to the pool. “And Big Girl seems to like it.” She was laying down on the bedding, panting heavily. I lowered into a seated position, making a kissing sound to coax her over. “Come here, girl.” Slowly, she lifted, not breaking the rhythm of her panting. “Come on, momma.” Big Girl looked even bigger than she had earlier. Her stomach almost touched the ground.
She was miserable.
“I know, baby.” I reached for her when she was close enough. “You want it to be over.”
“I do too,” Jami said behind me. “Puppy watch has been stressful.”
I cut my eyes in her direction, but didn’t respond. The situations were as different as apples and oranges.
My hand rubbed down Big Girl’s back when she started to whine as my eyes zoomed in on the rippling in her abdominal area. Her whine turned into a cry. I felt her side, confirming the contraction, then moved my hand up for a head scratch.
“It’s okay, girl,” I reassured her. “It’s almost time to have your puppies.”
Big Girl looked like she didn’t care about anything I was saying, but I kept it up anyway since it was what I was taught to do. I tried to provide comfort for as long as I could, until my body screamed for an energy boost in the form of food. I was hungry. My growling stomach told everybody in the room.
“I’m hungry too,” Jami admitted. “I was thinking about ordering something.”
Kyree’s head appeared in the doorway. “Who’s ordering something?”
“Me,” Jami said, pulling out her phone. “And Sage.”Who said that?“Shit,” fell from her lips before I could object. “I missed my baby’s call.”
Jami moved to the far corner to make her call. Kyree found his way into the room, sparking up a conversation as he sat on the bed. The room had an abstract feel with too many colors to focus on just one. Some of the furniture had been pushed to the corner to accommodate the space for the whelping box.
“You stay around here?”
I nodded. “Yeah, upstairs.” True, but vague.
Jami provided clarification with, “She stays with Cauvey.”
And Lanique.
“Who stays with Uncle Cauvey, Momma?”
It was then that I realized our conversation could be heard by others. I assumed Jami was on speakerphone until I caught a glimpse of her screen. An older version of the little girl in the pictures stared back, appearing to be waiting for an answer while also riding in a car. When Jami looked at me, I looked away, feeling like I’d somehow violated her privacy.
Jami shut it down. “None of your business.” The girl popped her lips loudly. “But guess what though?”
“What?” she replied, uninterested.
