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“Thank you,” Raelynn waved. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”

“Your friend is something else,” a grin hung at the corner of Jamie’s lips as Rae closed the door after exiting.

“I know. That’s my girl, though.”

Nodding, he headed for the door. I tugged lightly on his hand to stop him. He paused, craning his neck to gaze down at me.

Out of all of the thoughts swirling around in my head, the only three words I could manage to get out were, “Thank you, Jamie.”

Smiling, Jamie leaned far enough to brush his lips against my forehead. “You’re welcome, Nyx.”

Chapter Twelve

JAMES

“Nice of you to have made time for your father.”

I fought the urge to turn around and walk right back out of the door the minute the words hit my ears. I hadn’t been feeling my Pop’s demeanor since he’d texted me earlier that morning asking me to come by and help him fix the weather stripping around the front and back doors. I could feel his attitude through the phone but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Now, I was feeling like I should’ve kept my ass home.

“Why you being so needy, Old Man?” I tried to keep things light, shrugging out of my jacket.

“All I’m saying is that if you can find the time to spend with everyone else around here, it seems like you could manage to find some for me. Every time I’ve called you to invite you over, you’ve brushed me off for your mother or your brother.”

His demeanor was off. And his combativeness was a sign that he was looking to pick an argument with anybody just to have a sliver of attention. If he thought I was the guinea pig, the nigga was going to be disappointed.

“A’ight,” I kept my reply simple, refusing to give in to the drama. “What do you need me to do?”

He ran down what he needed, and I got moving around the kitchen, looking for various tools I needed to get the job done. The sooner I finished, the better.

“Randy, the one who lives around the corner, came by the other day talking about your brother and that store of his,” he revealed, as I was on my search. “He said Jude helped him find a piano teacher for his grandson. I still can’t believe that boy went and did that behind my back and against my wishes. It’s disgraceful and disrespectful.”

You couldn’t have paid a nigga to keep his mouth shut any longer. “What’s disgraceful about it, Pop? Besides the fact that Judah went against your will and did what he wanted?”

“I’ve always taught you boys that the safe options are where the security is. Not in some pipe dream that can barely be kept afloat. You did as I asked and pull in a six-figure income without blinking. Jude has no financial stability. How’s he going to afford a woman, or provide for a family? That’s considering he’ll find a woman willing to settle down with him and create one in the first place. That⁠—”

“Staccato isn’t a pipe dream,” I cut him off, surprising the both of us. “It was something your kids wanted to do. And a way to profit off what we love.”

“If that’s how you want to spin it, fine. Doesn’t matter. You were smart enough to leave him to drown on his own.”

“No, I wasn’t,” I revealed, dropping the items in my hand onto the table.

Placing his palms against the flat surface, my father glared at me angrily.

“I partnered with Jude to open the store. I just didn’t say shit to you about it because I know how you act. And it does damn well for itself. We both could support multiple families from the income we bring in if we chose to. Not to mention, Judah makes more than a decent living from his gigs.”

“So all this time, you’ve been walking around here lying to me?”

“No. All this time, I’ve been working my ass off to try to make life easier for you and broker peace between you, Ma, and Judah. You act like our family falling apart only affects you.”

I had no idea how we’d gotten to this tipping point, but it was long overdue. He was a grown-ass man, and it wasn’t my responsibility to fix his mistakes for him or shrink myself into being someone I wanted him to be proud of, instead of who I was.

“The state of things with your mother and brother have nothing to do with me.”

“It’s crazy how you can always find fault with everyone but yourself,” I argued back. “You are the problem, Pop. Prime example, you’re sitting around here with an attitude for what? Because someone was bragging about Judah? The only thing you should be upset with is that it was someone else instead of you.”

“Listen here, boy,” he wagged a finger at me. “You’re not going to stand in my house and talk to me that way. I’m your father.”

“Then be one. To both of your sons and not only when they’re living life the way you want them to.”