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“You remembered. You’re so sweet and thoughtful. And kind. Thank you, Aspen.”
“You’re welcome.”
We got everything set up on one of the high-top tables on the right side of the room. As we ate, her phone rang repeatedly. I could tell the weed had started to kick in, or maybe it was the food, because she hummed and rocked while she ate with a smile. That smile didn’t drop until we went back to the couch, and she grabbed her phone.
“Shit. I didn’t mean to do all that.”
“Do all what?” I asked, looking at her phone. “Damn!”
The picture was of a mouth with chipped teeth, cut cheeks, and swollen lips.
“Ugh, let me call him back.” After pressing a few buttons, she plopped down on the couch and put her phone to her ear. “You ca—”
Her eyes closed, and I heard whoever she was talking to yelling on the other end of the phone.
“Yes, I saw the picture… I don’t care. She shouldn’t have been running her smart-ass mouth.” Malaysia huffed. “What did they say?” She chuckled and licked her lips. “See, no. This is too much, Peyton. She has to go. All right… You have until tomorrow morning.”
We sat in silence for a while after she disconnected the call before I asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”
She said yes, and I listened intently as she told me about her man’s cousin, the fight today, how Jereka was threatening to press charges, and how his uncle was threatening to press charges against anyone harboring his runaway daughter. He said he was coming to Memphis to look for her and his grandchild himself.
“Why won’t he just tell his uncle where she is?”
Malaysia shrugged. “Brooklyn can’t stay with him because of his wife, and she has some anger and resentment because of that. She can’t stay with her mom because of the lie she told to protect her baby daddy. The only help she really had was from her godmother and the woman who runs the daycare. I guess she and Jereka are close too. So because she’s upset and hurt over what her parents said and did, she doesn’t want them in her or the baby’s life.”
“Is she capable of making that kind of decision?”
“Not to me, but I don’t have a say. It’s his family. This shit is getting worse, and I’m over it.”
“Can I help you?”
“I doubt if there’s anything you can do.”
Chuckling, I took her hands into mine. “You don’t know my reach… who I am. Let me help you.”
She nibbled her cheek. “How?”
“Get me Jereka’s last name. I’ll make sure she gets justice without it affecting you. I will also make sure his cousin isn’t in the system as a runaway. If she is, y’all won’t be charged for helping them.”
“I want to ask how you’d be capable of doing either, but I’m mentally exhausted.” She sighed and sat back. “I was feeling better until I called him back.”
“Then let’s get back to what was making you feel better. If you allow me to help, though, I can promise you I’ll make it better.”
Malay thought it over for a while before giving me a sad nod. I hated that she’d even answered the phone. We’d made great progress, and now we had to start all over again. That was cool. I’d spend the rest of the day with her if that was what I had to do to make sure she felt better and understood her relationship needed to come to an immediate end.
7
Malaysia
Late September
Dallas and I stared at Enjell. She was casually telling us about her decision to enter into a fake marriage with Dejvi to avoid him having to deal with his crazy ass best friend who was trying to sue him for a baby. If it wasn’t happening to my sister, I wouldn’t have believed something like that was even possible.
When I agreed to meet her at the farmer’s market, I wasn’t expecting this to be the topic of conversation. I didn’t even know what to say, so I continued to eat my chicken on a stick.
“Well… what do you think?” she asked, looking at me then Dallas. She was walking in the middle of us as she often did when we were together.
“It doesn’t matter what we think,” I said, “because the choice is yours.”
