“Yo, why the fuck I’m looking at the ceiling?” he asked ,alerting me to it being a FaceTime and not a regular call.
“Because obviously she’s in bed, dumbass.” Rennix’s voice alerted me to his presence also.
“Yo, you good?” G’s voice also flowed through the phone.
“Yeah, she’s good. She’s fucking pregnant.”
“Pregnant? Get the fuck outta here, my sister isn’t pregnant. She isn’t even having sex for real.” Rennix dismissed Reminisce’s claim.
Usually, I would have had a rebuttal of my own, but the fact that I was dog tired paired with my own realization that I hadn’t seen my period in a while, as well as the numerous times I had recently felt ill. The oh shit popped into my mind.I couldn’t be, could I?
“How the hell are you going to tell me about my sister’s uterus? Jade, tell this nigga you’re pregnant so we can get down to business.” Reminisce’s voice was heavy, so damn weighted that my thoughts dissipated.
Then there was Dimitri, laughing at both of them. “Y’all are a fucking mess. If my sister was pregnant, I’d know.”
“Shit, that’s my sister too.”
I had to click out of my thoughts to shut them all up. “Would all of y’all please stop discussing my uterus? I had a very annoying afternoon and am trying to take a nap. Was there a real reason for this call?”
“Yeah, I talked to Karim. That nigga showed up to your shop. Crazy as fuck because we damn sure been on the hunt for him, but he been missing in action. He don’t even take shifts at that damn shop like that.”
I sighed. “We who?”
“Me, these two niggas on the phone, and your baby father,” Reminisce answered.
“Reminisce.” I mugged the air.
“What? I’m stating facts, even if these two niggas on the phone are in denial.” He grunted and it was then that I realized I wouldn’t be getting any sleep. Well, not right now at least.
“You spoke to Oden?” I asked.
“Hell yeah. That’s my brother-in-law, who else I’m supposed to be talking to?”
Both Rennix and Dimitri were laughing at this fool while my mind was all over the place. “Wait, he knows about what happened earlier?” I didn’t have to wonder how he knew what happened earlier, Karim had surely told him.
“Yeah. Ain’t like you was gonna tell anybody. He’s about an hour outside the city. I should be your way in a few.”
I half listened to my brothers talking, finding myself in my own head. The thought of being pregnant both excited and scared me. In a matter of minutes, I had asked myself what the hell I would do with a baby while also assuring myself that this wasn’t rocket science and this was what I wanted. If I was, I wanted this baby just like I wanted the one I’d almost had with Gavin. Oden wasn’t Gavin and I wasn’t who I was when I was with Gavin. I’d grown and matured in ways unimaginable.
“Earth to Jade. You don’t hear me talking to you.” Reminisce’s voice broke my thoughts as he spoke loudly.
Immediately my mind was back in the bedroom. Damn, I had really zoned out. “I didn’t, my bad, what did you say?”
He sucked his teeth. “I said I’m downstairs; what floor are you on?”
“The nineteenth.” I then noticed it was now just him and me on the phone. “Where did your brothers go?”
“To be family niggas. I’m on my way up.”
“Okay.” Once I hung up, I threw the cover off my body and went to grab a T-shirt from Oden’s closet. All his items swallowed me, which was why I loved throwing them on. Once I had his shirt on, I moved toward the front of the condo, cutting on the lights. I was about to go to the fridge but there was a knock at the door. I beelined for it instead. I didn’t get to the door fast enough, because as soon as I was standing in front of it, Oden was coming in with my brother in tow.Damn, I thought he was an hour outside the city.
They were engrossed in conversation about real estate and land while I just stood there looking at them. I mean Oden was in his element, but Reminisce, I was extremely taken aback by because he seemed interested in what Oden was talking about. Neither of them were talking to me, but I was unaware that Reminisce of all people wanted to know the ins and outs of rehabbing his own home. I knew my brothers, at least I thought I did, but Reminisce had this explorative spirit about him that both scared and excited me. Not only could his comedic ass blend in anywhere, he could do almost anything if he put his mind to it. That was why I found myself wondering how he’d gotten into the business he was in.
Oden kissed my forehead before placing the wooden crate of fruit and legumes on the counter. His conversation with my brother continued, which prompted me to take my ass to the couch and scroll through my phone until Oden found his way over to me while my brother spoke on the phone.
“You weren’t going to call and tell me he showed up to your shop?” He was seated beside me, thumb rubbing against my knee.
“I was going to tell you, but no, I didn’t intend to call and tell you while you were on a four-hour drive. Because knowing you, you would have turned around and come back. I didn’t want you dropping everything to come deal with me.”
