16. Lee
Lee
Iwoke up with my head hurting like hell. For a second, I ain’t know where I was, then I smelled bacon and heard Maisie banging around in the kitchen.
Everything from yesterday came back before I could even sit up good.
Hannah. JJ. His name. Her stomach. JB reaching for that damn gun, then having the nerve to put me out like I was the one who had done something to him.
I laid there staring at the ceiling for another minute before dragging my ass out the bed.
By the time I made it to the kitchen, Maisie already had bacon, eggs, and biscuits going on the stove.
“Coffee over there,” she said without turning around.
I poured myself a cup and sat down at the table. I ain’t even get two sips in before the front door opened and I already knew who it was.
Anika had called me last night after JB called her looking for me.
I gave her the short version because I ain’t have it in me to tell that whole fucked-up story twice in one night.
Hannah. Two kids. JB been lying this whole time.
That was about all I could get out before I told her I’d explain the rest in the morning and to meet me at Maisie’s.
Then, right before we hung up, I remembered Colombia.
“Oh, and Nika?”
“What?”
“Stop by CVS on your way.”
“For what?”
I had closed my eyes before I said it. “Plan B.”
She went quiet for a second. “Lee…”
“Just bring the damn pill.”
So, when Anika walked into the kitchen carrying a little CVS bag, I already knew what was in it. She dropped it on the table in front of me and pulled out the chair beside mine.
“Take that.”
I pulled the box out and stared at it. “Damn.”
“Yeah, damn. I hope the shit still work. You supposed to take it within seventy-two hours, and the longer you wait-”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
I cut my eyes at her. “Anika.”
“I’m just saying.”
Maisie glanced over from the stove. “Well, take it and we’ll pray it does what it’s supposed to do.”
I opened the box, popped the pill out, and swallowed it with my coffee. Ain’t that some shit. A few days ago, I was in Colombia drunk telling that nigga to put a baby in me. Now I was sitting at my mama’s kitchen table taking a Plan B.
“If I knew that nigga already had two damn kids, I wouldn’t have told his ass to nut in me in the first place.”
“Technically, he got one kid and one on the way,” Anika said.
I slowly turned my head toward her. “Bitch.”
“Sorry.”
Maisie slid a plate in front of me. “Eat.”
I stared down at the eggs, but my stomach was so fucked up I couldn’t tell whether it was from the coffee or everything that had happened yesterday. I picked up my fork anyway and moved some food around before the thought that had been sitting in the back of my mind finally came out.
“What if it don’t work?”
That quieted both of them.
Anika looked over at me. “You think you pregnant?”
“How the hell would I know already? I’m saying what if.”
Maisie finally sat down across from us with her coffee. “What if what, Lee?”
I tore a piece off my biscuit and picked at it. “What if I end up pregnant?”
“Then you got a decision to make.”
I looked at her. “Ain’t no decision.”
Anika leaned back in her chair. “So you keeping it?”
“Hell yeah, I’m keeping my baby.”
Saying it out loud made my stomach flip. I looked down at my plate because I didn’t even want to think too hard about what that would mean right then.
“I just don’t know how the fuck I’m supposed to do all this by myself.”
“Who said you was by yourself?” Anika asked.
Maisie nodded toward me. “And you know how to work.”
“I know. I gotta get my suite going anyway, get back doing nails and start making my own money.”
“Exactly,” Maisie said. “One thing at a time.”
I sat there for a little while, thinking about everything waiting for me back at that house. My clothes, my nail stuff, everything I had bought since coming home. Then I looked at Maisie.
“Can I stay here for a while?”
“No.”
My head snapped up. “Mama!”
“Don’t Mama me.”
“Why you doing me like that?”
“I’m not doing nothing to you. You have a house.”
“That nigga put me out!”
“And?”
I blinked at her. Maisie took another sip of coffee like she hadn’t just lost her damn mind.
“Mama, did you miss the part where he told me to get the fuck out?”
“I heard you. Your name on that lease?”
I frowned. “Yeah.”
Anika looked over at me. “Since when?”
“Since I came home. JB took me up to the main office and had them add me.”
Maisie set her cup down. “Then what the hell are we talking about?”
“He still the one who paid the rent.”
“So?”
“So it’s his shit.”
“No, it ain’t. Your name on that lease too.” Maisie leaned back in her chair and looked at me. “I’m not telling you to go back to Jabari. I’m telling you don’t let that nigga run you out of the place you’ve been living in by yourself anyway just because he got mad and started running his mouth.”
I stared at her because I ain’t really have an argument for that.
My phone buzzed against the table, and when I flipped it over, Van’s name was on the screen.
You good?
I stared at the message for a minute. I ain’t even know what the hell to say to that. No, I wasn’t good, but I damn sure wasn’t about to start explaining all of that over a text message either. I locked my phone and tossed it back down.
“First thing you do is change them locks,” Maisie continued like she ain’t even notice my phone.
“Then get you some cameras. Front door, back door, all that shit. That nigga come over there cutting up, don’t stand around arguing with him.
Let his ass act a fool right in front of them cameras, then call the police. ”
I looked at her. “You done planned my whole damn day.”
“I ain’t finished.”
“Of course you ain’t.”
“And get you a gun.”
I damn near choked on my coffee. “A gun? Mama, I don’t even know how to shoot no damn gun.”
Anika looked at me like I had just said the dumbest shit she’d heard all morning. “How you been with a thug fifteen years and don’t know how to shoot?”
“Because he ain’t never had me around none of that shit.”
“Exactly,” Maisie said.
I frowned at her. “What?”
“That man kept your ass green.”
“I wasn’t green.”
Maisie looked at me. “Lee, you did five years for that man and still came home not knowing what the fuck he really been doing.”
Damn.
I looked down at my plate because I couldn’t even argue with that shit. Anika reached over for a piece of bacon off my plate, and I slapped her hand away.
“Get your own.”
Anika sucked her teeth. “Well, since your scary ass don’t know how to shoot, I guess we know what girls’ night finna be.”
I frowned. “What?”
“Shooting range. Me, you, Nina, Wren. We all going.”
Maisie nodded. “Good.”
“Why you agreeing with her?”
“Because for once she said something that makes sense.”
Anika stared at her. “Damn. I don’t know whether to say thank you or be offended.”
That got a laugh out of me before I could stop it. It ain’t last long, but for a few seconds, I wasn’t thinking about JB, Hannah, babies, prison, or none of that shit.
After we finished eating, I went back to the room and got dressed while Anika helped Maisie clean up. When I came back out, Maisie was already on the porch fucking with them plants she loved more than people.
“You ready?” Anika asked.
“Yeah.”
Maisie looked up from one of her flowerpots. “Where y’all going?”
“I’m taking her home,” Anika told her.
Maisie pointed at me. “And do what I told you.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Locks first, Lee.”
“I heard you.”
“And cameras.”
“I heard you.”
“And-”
“Mama, damn.”
She waved me off. “Go on then.”
Anika and me headed to her car, and the closer we got to my place, the more my stomach started acting funny again.
I had only been gone one night, but everything about going back felt different.
Yesterday morning, I had gotten dressed in that house thinking JB was my man and somewhere out of town handling business.
Now I knew what the fuck he had really been doing when he wasn’t with me.
When we turned onto my street, I automatically looked toward the driveway. JB’s truck wasn’t there.
Anika pulled in and killed the engine. I reached for the door handle, but before I could open it, she popped the glove compartment.
“Hold up. Hand me my gun.”
I stared at her. “Bitch.”
“What?”
“We just had this whole conversation about guns.”
“Exactly. Hand me my shit.”
I carefully reached into the glove compartment and grabbed it. “Why the fuck you got this just riding around in here?”
“Lee, please. We can discuss gun safety after I make sure your crazy-ass boyfriend ain’t hiding in a closet.”
I handed it to her. “Boyfriend my ass.”
Anika looked at me for a second.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Then quit looking at me.”
She shut the glove compartment. “Come on.”
We got out and headed up the steps together. I unlocked the door, but before I could walk inside, Anika put one hand out in front of me.
“Stay behind me.”
“Girl, this my house.”
“And your ass don’t know how to shoot. Stay behind me.”
I rolled my eyes but let her go first. She checked the living room and kitchen before disappearing down the hall while I stood there feeling stupid as hell.
“Clear,” she called from the bedroom.
“You watch too many fucking movies.”
Anika came back down the hall. “And yet ain’t nobody hiding in your closet. You’re welcome.”
“Girl, put that damn gun up before you shoot something.”
She checked the back door too before finally putting it away, and I locked the front door behind us. Then I stood there and looked around.
Same quiet-ass house. My purse was where I had left it. My blanket was still thrown across the couch. A pair of my slides sat near the hallway where I had kicked them off and forgot about them. Everything looked exactly the same as it had yesterday.
That was the fucked-up part. The house hadn’t changed. I had just found out what JB had really been doing every time he wasn’t in it.
Anika looked over at me. “You good?”
“No.”
She nodded. “Aight.”
I caught the little look she gave me. “Don’t start.”
“I ain’t say nothing. Just glad you ain’t lie this time.”
“Shut up.”
I pulled my phone out and searched how to change a deadbolt.
Anika looked over my shoulder. “Girl, we can do that shit ourselves.”
“You know how?”
“No, but YouTube do.”
I laughed despite myself. “Aight. We need new locks.”
“And cameras.”
“I heard my mama.”
Anika grabbed her keys. “Come on. Home Depot.”
I looked back at the front door. By the end of the day, if JB came back, his key wasn’t gonna do shit.