She closed the space between us a few seconds later, interrupting my thoughts. “Are you even listening to me?”
“Trying to, but the way you look while you talk got me distracted. This motherfucker is going to be tight, especially because you’re doing it.”
She giggled. “Thank you.”
“Well, what did I just walk into? You must be the hot chef that has my best friend slash boss all in love and incognito.” The sound of a woman’s voice made me look up from Jade to the petite woman standing in the doorway with Jade’s dog leashed a few feet away.
Jade chuckled. “Babe, this is Ava, my best friend and assistant. Ava, this is Oden, my…” she started but Ava finished.
“Your beau. The man who has you finally taking a moment to yourself.” She smiled in a knowing manner, moving toward me with her hand extended. “Treat her right, Oden, because I would hate to hate you.”
I shook her hand and nodded at her threat. “I got her.”
“Good. Now if you both will excuse me, I have a few boxes to break down before I get out of here. Here Jade, here is your baby. All his things are in that bag right there.” Ava then pointed to the bag at the other end of the counter. “And also, I should have an update on this stalking situation by the end of the weekend. So, please don’t worry yourself.”
“Daddy,what are we going to eat this weekend?”
“Well besides those damn smores you want, I was thinking homemade pizza and may?—”
“You had me at pizza.” Aja’s voice made me peer into the rearview mirror at her. We had been on the road for about three hours and of course Jade was knocked out next to me and Aja listened to her iPad the entire time. Well, almost the entire time because she was now asking me about food.
“Oh good. What do you want on it, shorty?”
“Doesn’t really matter. Can you just not put any vegetables on it? Auntie Blaze does and it’s so nasty.” Her expression had me laughing.
“Some people like their pizza with veggies, baby.”
“Yeah, some people. Just not me. Dad, are you ever gonna move back to the city?” By now she was looking out of the windows at the cornfields we were passing. We were no longer that far away from the house.
That question threw me for a loop and had me looking at her. “You want me to?”
“No…I don’t know. Does Ms. Jade live with you? All her stuff is at your other place.”
“Just for a little while. Does that bother you?” I had to ask. Aja was extremely inquisitive and she paid attention to everything. Just because she didn’t bring something up in that moment didn’t mean it wasn’t on her mind. That overthinking thing was something she got from me.
“No. Can I come live with you guys then?”
I was thrown for a loop. “You want to live with me full-time again? What changed?”
“Daddy, I miss it just being me. I love Tete and Uncle, but there’s a lot of babies. Like if I had one brother or sister, I guess I’d be fine, but Uncle Kinga and Tete have three babies and five dogs. Can I only spend weekends with them and live with you and Ms. Jade?”
As thrown as I was, this was my child. My only child, no part of me would ever tell her no. “Yeah, we’ll figure it out and I’ll letyour uncle know. But you do know Jade is only staying with us for a little while, right? She has her own house.”
“Yeah. Uncle Kinga said that about Harlem but then they got married. Now she lives with us.” She damn near shrugged me off like whatever the fuck I said held no weight. Less than a second later she was sliding her headphones back on her head and I was left deep in thought. For Aja I’d move my whole life around, because that was what you did for your kids. But shit, my daughter hadn’t lived with me in years, not since she lived with me and her mother. Was I ready for that?Shit, it didn’t matter what I was ready for.
Once I had the car parked in the garage, I got out and helped Aja and the lil ugly ass dog into the house before going around to the passenger side of the car and opening the door to wake Jade.
“Where are we?” she asked, blinking a couple of times before she looked at me.
“My house, where else?”
“You have a garage?” She looked around before turning her body to me.
I couldn’t not laugh at the expression on her face. She was so confused.
“Damn mama, where do you think I’ve been living? Real sticks? C’mon, get out and let me show you the property. Aja already took that lil ugly ass dog in the house.”
She gave me a stern look. “Stop calling my baby ugly, Oden. That’s your second time.”
