Bree #5
“Bitch I love that.” I couldn’t stop smiling either as I nodded enthusiastically.
“I do too.”
“I’ve got the gender results!” Kayla blurted out, her eyes widening before she slapped a hand over her mouth.
“I mean...I still got ‘em.”
“You still ain’t looked?” Lauren shouted, pointing so aggressively at her phone I thought she might poke through the screen.
“No!” Kayla laughed, throwing both hands in the air.
“Bitch!”
“She gave them to me a while back to keep Kade from snooping. I wanted them to find out first!”
“Oh, this about to be so good.”
Within seconds the conversation completely derailed into the sort of beautiful chaos only the four of us could create.
One minute we were debating themes, the next we were arguing over color palettes, signature mocktails, balloon arches, dessert tables, custom welcome signs, party favors, games, photo booths, and whether the twins deserved matching luxury bassinets before they were even born.
Every new idea somehow sparked three more until all of us were talking over one another, laughing so hard our stomachs hurt while trying to outdo the last suggestion.
In the middle of planning flowers, personalized gifts, and the perfect menu, it hit me just how badly we all needed this.
I had spent the better part of the last week a planning funeral, comforting grieving families, and surviving a war that seemed determined to steal every ounce of joy from the people we loved.
For the first time in what felt like forever, we weren’t talking about death. We were talking about life.
Just as we settled on a color palette that had all four of us arguing over whether lavender or sage green photographed better, Lauren suddenly narrowed her eyes at Kayla’s square on the screen. She leaned closer to her phone as though the answer might be written somewhere behind her.
“Hold on,” she pointed at Kayla. “Where you at anyway?”
The question caught all of us off guard. Kayla hesitated long enough for the excitement to quietly leave her face before answering.
“Home.”
Nia frowned. “Home...”
Lauren’s eyebrows lifted. “Without Isaiah?”
Kayla nodded. The energy that had been bouncing around the call only moments before softened into something much more serious.
None of us rushed to fill the silence because we already knew that look.
We’d all worn it at one point or another.
It was the look of somebody carrying around more than they wanted to admit.
“What happened?” I asked first.
Kayla let out a breath before telling us everything she’d been holding in since Vegas.
She started with Queen shutting down Yayo’s expansion until Memphis settled down, then walked us through overhearing the entire business meeting, the argument back at the hotel, telling Isaiah she loved him, and the way he froze instead of saying it back.
From there she told us about the flight home, the conversation they’d had on Kade’s jet, and the ultimatum she’d given him before walking away.
Every painful detail spilled out one after another until there wasn’t anything left for her to carry by herself, and by the time she’d finished, I realized she’d needed this conversation just as much as Ysis was going to need that baby shower.
Nobody said anything for a few seconds. Lauren was the first one to recover, throwing both hands into the air before shaking her head so hard her curls bounced.
“Oh, hell no.”
“What?” Kayla frowned.
“You ain’t finna let no man have you questioning your worth.”
“I know my worth.”
“I’m just saying.”
Before Lauren could climb any farther onto her soapbox, Nia leaned toward her camera with that thoughtful look she always got whenever she was trying to see both sides of a situation.
“I get where he coming from.”
Lauren looked absolutely offended.
“You taking his side?”
Nia held both hands up in surrender. “Girl, I ain’t taking nobody’s side. I’m saying that man been surviving his whole life. His first instinct gone always be protecting before talking. That’s how he wired.”
“I agree.” I found myself nodding in agreeance.
Kayla sighed, rubbing her forehead. “So basically everybody think I’m supposed to wait.”
“No,” I responded, making sure she looked at me before continuing. “I think everybody wants you to remember exactly what Ysis told you.”
“He loves you.”
“He just stupid.” Lauren nodded without missing a beat.
The four of us burst into laughter so quick it gave none of us time to stay sad.
“That part,” Nia pointed toward the screen. “I been saying Isaiah slow.”
Kayla laughed so hard she had to wipe fresh tears from beneath her eyes. “I hate y’all.”
“You love us.”
“I really don’t.” I smiled.
“Now girl if that man stop calling, then you worry.”
Kayla rolled her eyes before grabbing her other phone off the couch beside her. “He done called me eighteen times.”
“Oh...” Nia’s mouth dropped open.
“He sick.” She pointed at the screen.
“Bitch, he down bad.” Lauren laughed so hard she nearly dropped her phone.
“I know!” Kayla shook her head smiling. “And I ain’t answered not one.”
“You ain’t gotta answer yet,” I told her. “Let him sit with what he feeling for a minute. He need that. But don’t close the door before he even gets the chance to knock.”
“I won’t.” She looked down at her phone slowly nodding. Lauren clapped her hands together before the conversation could drift back toward tears, rubbing her palms together like a woman preparing for battle.
“Alright enough with the relationship counseling. Operation baby shower starts right now.” Within seconds we were right back where we’d started, talking over one another, assigning responsibilities, arguing over decorations, and laughing until our stomachs hurt.
Somehow, without any of us realizing when it happened, the heaviness we’d all been carrying throughout the week had lifted just enough to make room for something we’d almost forgotten how to feel.
Long after the FaceTime ended, I found myself staring down at my phone instead of setting it aside.
The girls had done their part, but there was still one person whose blessing I knew we needed before any of us started ordering decorations or sending invitations.
Kade might’ve been Ysis husband, but more importantly he was her protector, and after everything Marius had put them through over the last several months, I refused to move another inch without talking to him first.
Scrolling through my contacts, I pressed his name, smiling to myself when he answered before the phone had the chance to ring a second time. “Took y’all long enough.”
“You knew we was on FaceTime?”
“Bree, I’ve been with Ysis long enough to know when the Wolfpack plotting something. I figured one of y’all would’ve called eventually.”
The smile stayed on my face as I tucked one leg beneath me, realizing there really wasn’t any point in trying to ease into the conversation. Kade already knew us too well for that.
“Well...we wanna throw Ice a surprise baby shower.” The silence that answered me lasted just long enough for me to realize he’d already started thinking three steps ahead.
“No.”
“What you mean no?” I frowned so hard my eyebrows nearly touched.