Page 94 of Vega

“You did.”

His eyebrows lifted. “I did?”

“Yeah. Black and red ones.”

A slow smile spread across his face. “I knew I was a good granddaddy.”

“One of the best,” I said.

He squeezed my hand weakly, proud for a second before his eyes drifted toward the window. “Obama still in office?”

I nodded. “Yeah, Grandpa.”

“Good. Your granny won’t let nobody talk bad about that man in this house.”

Grandpa looked past me toward the hallway. “Your daddy didn’t come with you?”

I forced myself to keep my expression calm. “Nah, he stayed home.”

“With your sister?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Yeah, he’s with my sister.”

I blinked back tears, hating to see my grandfather like this. Dementia had taken away so much from him. He didn’t even remember the car accident that my mother was in when that caused her to lose her baby at eight months.

He blinked at me and just like that, the moment left him. His eyes softened, drifting back to the TV. “You hungry?” he asked. “Your granny cooking.”

By the time Knox and I left my grandparents’ house, my mind felt like it had too many tabs open. I didn’t say much once we got in the car. Knox didn’t force conversation. He just sparked a blunt, took two pulls, and passed it to me like he knew I needed it. I hit it with the window cracked, letting the summer air cut through the weed while the city blurred past us.

We hit a bar. I needed liquor, music, and noise loud enough to drown out my grandfather’s illness, Arielle and my father.

After the bar, I went to the home Novi was staying in. The house had been vacant too long. She had the basics, but not enough. Kash wasn’t here to help her, and since the Cartiers had placed her under our protection, making sure she was straight fell partly on me.

That was what I told myself when I drove to her spot, after dropping off Knox.

I stopped at the store for towels, laundry detergent, bottled water, paper plates, snacks, candles, extra pillows, a throw blanket, and a few other practical things the house needed.

When Novi opened the door, her eyes were red.

She tried to hide it fast, wiping beneath one eye before stepping back to let me in. “Hey. I wasn’t expecting you.”

“My bad.” I lifted the bags. “The house still needed some stuff.”

Her mouth trembled for half a second before she caught it. “Thank you.”

She looked so sad that it made me feel like I shouldn’t have been there. She still looked cute though, and I hated that I noticed. She had on a sage green lounge set, ribbed crop tank with matching drawstring shorts, her blonde hair pulled up messy, chocolate face bare, grief sitting all over her like she’d been crying before I knocked.

I carried the bags to the living room. “You been eating?”

“A little.”

“That means you haven’t.”

I started putting things away because standing still, that close to her, felt too intimate. That was when I saw the bottle of Prenatal vitamins on the counter.

My hand paused on the pack of paper plates.

Novi followed my stare.