Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
MAUI
“When is your next appointment?”
“In two days. You wanna take me? Daddy is going to be in Houston with Mama.”
Seven rubbed his hand down his face. “I guess. Bali can come pick you up though.”
“Do you know how you sound? Bali is not going to leave her office to come pick me up for my appointment. That’s so unprofessional.”
“Whatever. What time is your appointment?”
“At ten. I didn’t want it to be too early or too late.”
“You oughta ask Shaydon’s ass to take you. I heard he had his ass up here in your room last week.”
“Yeah. He’s coming to town today. He got dinner from Houston’s. Hopefully it still tastes okay when he rewarms it. It’s to make up for him missing my birthday gathering.”
“I don’t know why you wasting his time. You don’t even want him like that.”
“Despite all that, we’re friends, Seven. I tried telling him, but he told me he didn’t give a fuck about him. He knows what he wants,” I said, lowering my head.
“Well, he and I agree on that shit. I don’t give a fuck about that nigga either. I wish you were on that same wave.” Holding his hand up, he said, “Don’t even say it. He’s the father of your baby. I know. I wish he wasn’t though.”
“I wish you would have told me about that sooner.”
“Yeah. I don’t like getting y’all involved in bullshit though. Y’all my sisters. Unless I’m having issues with a woman, y’all won’t know.”
“Speaking of, Mythic said you talked to him about a woman. You interested in her?”
“Iesha? Yeah, she’s cool. Reminds me of Mama a lil bit.”
I frowned slightly, and he chuckled. “Not in the looks department, although she is a BBW. I meant that she was a good girl, but she also has some spice to her. She’ll fight if it gets to that. Dad said Mama was like that when he met her. Being with him mellowed her out.”
I smiled and slowly shook my head. “Is she older than you? Mama is older than Daddy.”
“Yeah, by like six years. That’s why she won’t give a nigga no play. She said I’m too young. She’s twenty-eight, almost twenty-nine.”
“Well, you have a lot of growing up to do, Seven, so I can understand her hesitancy,” I said as I rubbed my belly.
He shot the finger at me.
“You’re proving my point, SS.”
“Well, whatever. She gon’ be mine eventually. I’m Storm Henderson’s son.”
I rolled my eyes. Daddy told this nigga way too much of his business.
Seven thought he was Daddy reborn. There was only one Seven Storm Henderson.
He was just a carbon copy. I had to remind him of that shit all the time.
That was why he was junior not senior. He used to get so mad when I would say that.
I would always follow it up with that he needed to be his own man and stop trying to be Daddy. Who God made him was just as great.
I never tore him down and left him there like the twins did.
They would clown the hell out of him. When he was younger, he would literally be in tears and running to tell Mama by the time they finished with him.
He knew telling Daddy would get him nowhere.
He would only tell him to man up and quit all that damn whining.
Finally, he said, “A’ight. I’ll see you tomorrow about nine thirty.”
I frowned. “You act like you’re not staying here tonight.”
“You never know. Iesha may give in to a nigga and let me stay over.”
I rolled my eyes. If she was as much like Mama as he thought she was, she would send his ass packing back to Highway 1009. I didn’t bother to shoot him down this time. Instead, I just said, “Bye, nigga.”
He chuckled and left my room as I sat up more in bed.
This bed rest shit was on my last nerve.
When I went for my appointment, Bali would let me know if I could do more or not.
I wasn’t looking for her to release me though.
I was still having headaches and cramping at times.
Plus, I would get dizzy if I moved around too much.
While I was on blood pressure medication, my blood pressure would still rise if I got stressed.
I tried my absolute best not to get that way, but sometimes I couldn’t help it. I missed Mythic so much.
I felt like a fool sometimes for still loving him even after what I knew.
Then I would make excuses, convincing myself that what he did was reflective of who he used to be, not the man I fell in love with.
Truth was, Mythic was still who he used to be when I fucked him in the grocery store parking lot.
He didn’t start evolving until after that.
Milana had said it right a couple of months ago when she said I fell in love with who his potential said he could be.
No one else could see that potential but me, although I wanted to believe they were starting to see it now.
As I grabbed my phone to play a game, it rang.
I smiled when I saw Ashanni’s number. I was so proud of her.
She fell into being a wife and mother so effortlessly.
I knew it was because she and Asad were meant to be.
However, it also caused me to think that Mythic and I weren’t meant to be.
Why was there so much turmoil around us being together if we were?
“Hello?”
“Hey, Maui? How’s your day going, boo?”
“It’s going okay. What about yours?”
“It’s dragging. Chas ain’t making shit no better.”
I giggled as I heard Aunt Chas cuss. I slowly shook my head. They did the same shit every day. Aunt Chas should have been used to it by now. Ashanni only kept doing it to get a rise out of her. I was sure Aunt Chas probably liked it by now anyway.
“Just because you’re a married woman now don’t make you grown. Get fucked up in here.”
“I would hate to send my mama to jail for putting her hands on a pregnant woman.”
My eyebrows lifted. “Shani! You’re pregnant? Oh my God! Congratulations!”
“Thank you, Maui! I’m still somewhat in shock, because I only quit my birth control a couple of months ago. I shouldn’t have gotten pregnant so fast.”
“Well, I guess Asad’s soldiers were glad to be home, girl.”
She fell out laughing. “You’re a nut!”
I laughed, too, thinking about how our kids would be best friends just like we were. I hoped we both either had girls or boys. Our dads were brothers and best friends first. It would make it more ideal if we had the same sex.
“Besides that, I called to ask if you wanted something from the diner. I know Aunt Vida is out of pocket today.”
“God bless you. Can you bring me some stuffed chicken? I’ve been dying for it. Aunt Vida is a great cook, but I miss Aunt Jen’s and Aunt Chrissy’s cooking.”
She giggled. “I got’chu, boo. I can’t wait to see you. Chas been keeping me busy as hell. By the time I get off, I just wanna go home eat, shower, fuck, and go to sleep.”
I slowly shook my head. One thing I could always count on Ashanni to do was keep it real.
She never faked anything with me, and I loved her for that.
She always tried to see things from my standpoint, even this thing with Mythic.
She didn’t understand my feelings for him, but she was willing to accept them.
She was more accepting than my sisters .
. . than anybody. I was in desperate need of her during the time away from my family.
I couldn’t go to Nome just to see her. I really would have gotten dragged.
Things were too hot for her to go to Liberty at the time as well, so our bond suffered big time.
At this point, it was like we never had a hiatus. When I came back home, we just picked up where we left off. Although she was a married woman and mother now, she still made time for me. She spent almost all her lunch breaks with me.
“Well, let me get off the phone so I can get to the diner before it gets crowded. See you in a lil bit.”
“Okay. Bye.”
This bedrest stint was going to have me putting on pounds like crazy.
Brix’s gym was gonna see me nearly every day once I had the baby.
My small frame might have trouble handling extra weight.
I grabbed my iPad from the nightstand and pulled up my plans for the house.
Ashanni and I had done our floor plans together almost two years ago.
They were nearly identical. We were looking forward to getting our money and building our homes next to our cousins in Henderson Village.
That neighborhood was intended for anyone to be able to purchase plots to build homes, but it seemed as though it was mostly Hendersons there.
I wasn’t upset about that, and I didn’t think Nesha was either.
Homes were being built. That was the entire goal.
They were still talking about building affordable housing on the other side of the area though.
After I gave up my initial plans of being a dentist, I thought I would go to the land development portion of the business.
They just didn’t seem busy enough for me.
Working in the office with Aunt Chas, Ashanni, Jakari, Uncle Philly, and Rylan was where I was meant to be.
Not only did we have endless work, we had fun.
We truly enjoyed being around each other.
The men tended to steer clear of us most days, but it didn’t make us a bit of difference.
We cut up daily in there, especially, Aunt Chas, Ashanni, and me.
I couldn’t wait until my money cleared the bank, so I could start building.
I changed my plans to include a nursery.
While I knew my baby wouldn’t stay a baby forever, I didn’t plan for this one to be the last either.
I’d already forwarded my plans to Nesha.
By the time they got to it, my money should be available.
Not that they needed it to start anyway.
I just didn’t want them to start until I could pay them.
After a few moments of me scrolling my plans and scrolling TikTok, I heard the back door open. “The chicken has made its landing!” Ashanni yelled.