12. KO
It had been about four hours since we dropped Lyrius off at work. Dakoda and I had already been to the park, the grocery store, and somehow ended up back at Lyrius’s apartment, covered in plastic dinosaurs and a half bag of Goldfish crackers.
“Daddy, look!” Dakoda yelled, holding up a T-Rex with one arm missing like it was the hardest thing in the world. “He’s hurt. Ali ate his arm.”
“That dinosaur needs to be in the trash,” I told him, and he laughed so hard he fell over into the carpet.
I looked around the apartment while he kept talking my head off.
Lyrius’s apartment wasn’t big, but it felt homey.
Traces of Dakoda were everywhere. His little Jordans were by the door.
His coloring books were on the coffee table.
There was a schedule for kindergarten orientation stuck to the fridge with a magnet from the Shoreline Elementary.
Lyrius had really built a whole life down here, and I didn’t like that shit—not because she hadn’t done a good job, but because she didn’t have to do it alone.
My son shouldn’t have gotten used to his mama doing everything by herself.
I didn’t think about having kids much, but when I did, I’d always imagined a two-family household.
One in which I provided, and my wife looked fine as hell dillydallying and taking care of my children.
“Daddy!” Dakoda called, bringing my attention back to him. “You think Ali could beat a shark?” he asked seriously and broke out laughing.
“What kinda question is that?”
“I think he can,” he said confidently.
“You think Ali can beat everybody.”
“Because he can,” Dakoda defended immediately. “Ali is the strongest turtle ever. Plus, he got hands.”
“Turtles don’t got hands.”
“He got turtle hands,” Dakoda replied, and I shook my head laughing. This little dude was funny. I watched as he crawled across the carpet, making dinosaur noises loud as hell.
“Daddy, make a T-Rex noise.”
“Nah, I ain’t no T-Rex.”
“You gotta imagine it, Daddy.” He sighed dramatically, like I’d offended him. I huffed out laugh and grabbed the T-Rex lying in front of me.
“Alright. T-Rex, T-Rex, T-Rex.”
“Daddy!” Dakoda cackled. “That is not a T-Rex sound!”
“Oh, you can do better?”
“Yes! I’m the best at T-Rex sounds.” I leaned forward, grabbing him around the waist and tickling him before he could escape, and he squealed so loudly that I knew Lyrius’s neighbors probably hated us already.
“Daddy! Stop!”
“I can’t hear you. You’re speaking in dinosaur.” Another fit of giggles broke out of him as we wrestled in the middle of the floor just as a knock sounded at the door. Dakoda looked up first. My eyes narrowed toward the entrance. Maybe our loud laughing had summoned a neighbor.
“Somebody’s at the door,” Dakoda said just as the knock came again.
“See. You got us in trouble.” I pushed back from the table and walked toward the door, ready to cuss whoever was complaining about a kid enjoying himself clean out.
I swung the door open to see some skinny, dread head nigga about the same height as me standing at the door, holding a box of groceries.
“May I help you?” I asked, and his eyes moved over me quickly, a hint of jealousy in them, and I peeped it immediately.
“Uh . . .” He frowned a little. “Lyrius home?”
“Nah.”
His eyes narrowed just slightly. “Aight.” He adjusted the box on his shoulder. “You her people?”
“Who askin’?”
The nigga looked me over again, clearly trying to figure out who the fuck I was, and I immediately caught on to what type of visit this was.
“I’m Mekhi. I stay downstairs. Was just checkin’ on her and lil’ man after the storm. She wasn’t answering my texts. Wanted to make sure they were okay.”
I gazed at him. He was saying something else, but my brain was stuck on how the fuck this nigga knew my son. Was he Lyrius’s lil’ boyfriend or something? Nah, couldn’t be, because I knew damn well Lyrius hadn’t hidden my son from me just to have him around the next nigga.
“Mekhi!” Dakoda popped up off the floor and made his way to the door.
“What’s up, lil’ man?” This nigga smiled immediately, and it irritated me to my core. “You good?” My eyes darted to him.
“Why wouldn’t he be?”
Dude stared at me as it hit him. I was more than just a friend of Lyrius’s babysitting. “Just checking in after the storm, my guy,” he said calmly. “Wanted to make sure they made it back alright. I grabbed them a few things from the store.” He attempted to hand me the box, but I shook my head.
“They good.” My tone came out flatter than I meant it to. He pulled the box back, and an awkward silence stretched between us.
“You can just tell Lyrius I stopped by—” I shut the door in his face before he could finish his sentence.
“Daddy?” I looked down at Dakoda, who was staring at me like he was clocking my shit. “He nice.”
“Sure, he his.” I locked the door and leaned against it for a second.
“He fixed our sink before,” he said. Did he know? I crossed my arms over my chest.
“He over here a lot?”
“Sometimes.” Dakoda shrugged and wandered back toward the couch like none of this shit was weird.
“Sometimes what?” I followed behind.
“Sometimes, him and mama talk outside.”
My jaw flexed, and I watched as he climbed onto the couch and grabbed one of the dinosaurs. “Sometimes he comes to watch movies.”
There it was. That nigga wasn’t just some random nice neighbor. ’Cause what the fuck did “watch movies” mean? I sat down on the edge of the couch, watching him. I knew what I was about to ask was crazy as hell to be asking a five-year-old, but I couldn’t help myself.
“He be in your mama’s room?”
“No way. Mama don’t let people in her room.” Dakoda frowned like he was thinking hard.
“He not my mama boyfriend, though,” Dakoda added casually, making the dinosaur crash into the couch cushion. “Mama said he just her friend. That’s because you my mama boyfriend, right?”
The question caught me off guard enough to make me choke on my damn spit.
“Nah,” I muttered after a second. “I’m your daddy.”
Dakoda smiled widely like that answer was even better.
Before he could say anything else, another knock hit the door.
I looked toward it, and I frowned immediately.
I know this nigga ain’t back at this door.
I stood up and made my way back to the door.
I swung the door open without even checking first.
“What the fu—”
My words trailed off as my eyes landed on a woman in pink scrubs.
“Um, who the fuck are you?” she shot back immediately. “And where is Lyrius?”
I didn’t have time to respond before Dakoda was rushing to the door, damn near pushing me out the way.
“TT Nia!” Dakoda lit up, and the woman shoved right past me. I stared at her, confused as hell. Lyrius was an only child. She didn’t have any damn sisters. But then again, how was I supposed to know that everything she’d told me was true?
“Oh my God.” She grabbed Dakoda up instantly. “You okay? You safe? I been checking my phone for the past forty-eight hours, and your mom hasn’t said a thing.”
“I’m okay.” Dakoda laughed. Then her eyes snapped back to me.
“What’s going on?” she asked slowly. “Who are you?”
I folded my arms across my chest.
“Dakoda’s daddy.”
“Excuse me, who?” Her mouth dropped open immediately.
“This my daddy, TT Nia.” Dakoda grinned proudly. The woman looked between us twice before rubbing her forehead.
“Oh, hell no.” She pointed at me. “Where’s Lyrius?”
“At work.”
“At work?” She pulled her phone out immediately. “Nah. I’m calling her.”
“Be my guest,” I replied as I finally shut the front door. She already had the phone ringing by the time she looked back up at me, suspicious as hell.
“Hey, Nia.” Lyrius answered fast.
“Bitch.” Nia spun in a circle dramatically. “I came to check on you after the hurricane because you disappeared, and there is a whole grown-ass man standing in your living room with Dakoda.”
I leaned against the wall, trying not to laugh.
“Oh.” Lyrius sighed. “Yeah.”
“Yeah?”
“That’s Dakoda’s dad.”
“Girl, what?” she yelled into the phone, and Dakoda started giggling. “You told me Dakoda’s father was in jail.”
“I never told you that, Nia. You assumed,” Lyrius replied.
“Well, I mean he was never around, and you never want to talk about . . . How did he get here?”
“I’m sorry.” Lyrius rushed to explain. “Everything happened so fast after the storm. I was gonna call you.”
“Well, clearly,” Nia muttered while still staring at me. “’Cause I almost called the police.” That got an actual laugh out of me.
“Nia,” Lyrius continued, “everything’s okay. KO’s watching Dakoda while I’m at work.”
Nia blinked slowly, then looked at me again. Longer this time.
“KO,” Lyrius said through the speaker, “that’s Nia. My best friend and next-door neighbor.”
“She my TT.”
“Okay. Well. Damn.” Nia finally sighed.
“You good?” Lyrius asked. “It’s kind of crazy here. I need to get back to work.”
“Yeah. I’m good now that I know my best friend ain’t dead in a ditch somewhere.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Mhm.” Nia shook her head. “You owe me details later.”
“I know,” Lyrius replied, and Nia hung up and shoved her phone back in her scrub pocket.
“Alright.” She sighed. “Well. Hi, officially, I guess.” She pointed toward the wall. “I stay right next door.”
“Got it.”
“I just got off a twelve-hour shift and a six-hour flight, so I’m finna shower and pass out.” Her eyes moved toward Dakoda. “But if y’all need anything, I’m literally right there.”
“I appreciate you checking on them,” I said. She seemed like a cool person. Something in her face softened slightly after that.
“Yeah, well . . . Lyrius and Dakoda my family.”
“I can tell.”