“Okay,” Lisa says. “See you this weekend?”
“Nah. I’m not allowed to go anywhere.”
“Dang. What did you do?”
That’s a loaded-ass question. “You know how it go. I’ll holla at you.”
We tell each other “I love you” like we always do, and I hang up with a deep breath. “Li’l Man, you almost got me in trouble.”
He stop sucking his bottle long enough to stretch his mouth and yawn. He clearly don’t care.
He halfway done eating. Guess I gotta burp him now. Ma said hold him against my shoulder and gently pat his back. I pat once, twice, three times—
He hiccup. Something warm ooze down my back.
“Ill, man!” I hop off the couch. This boy puked on me. He cry, and shoot, I wanna cry. “Ma!”
“What now, Maverick?” she says, and come to the doorway again. She got the nerve to smirk. “Welcome to parenthood, where clothes never stay clean.”
“What should I do?”
“Put a towel over your shoulder next time. For now, finish feeding him and burp him again.”
“I gotta sit here with puke on me?”
“What I tell you? It’s not about you anymore. You gon’ learn. Looks like you got the best teacher.”
He could’ve kept this lesson to himself, for real.
The doorbell ring. Ma peek out the front window first. After the Feds bust into your house, you’ll always be careful. She open the door. “Hey, Andre baby.”
“Hey, Auntie. Did y’all get the test—” He notice me and my son, and his eyes get wide. “Yooo! He really is yours?”
“Yep. He mine.”
“Daaaang,” Dre says as he step into the house. “He do look like you, so I shouldn’t be real surprised.”
“Mmm-hmm. And he’s already putting Mav through it.” Ma chuckle.
Glad somebody think this funny. “Man, I burped him, and he puked on me.”
Dre crack up. “Gotta have the towel at all times, cuz.” He come around to see Li’l Man as he rest against my shoulder. “Hey, itty-bitty cuz. I’m Dre. One day I’ll teach you how to ball since your pops can’t.”
“Forget you,” I say.
“I only speak facts. You keeping him overnight or something?”
I sit on the edge of the couch, get Li’l Man situated, and feed him again. “I don’t know. Iesha and her momma bounced.”
Dre lower the bottle I’m holding. “Don’t feed him fast. What you mean they bounced?”
“We took him to the restroom to change him, came back, and they were gone.”
“Shit—shoot.” Dre try not to cuss in front of Ma. “Did y’all look for them?”
“We went by the house, and nobody was there,” Ma says. “I shouldn’t be surprised that Yolanda’s trifling behind would pull something like this.”
“Dang,” Dre says. “Well, hey, if y’all need a crib, we still got Andreanna’s old one in storage and her stroller. I can bring them over later.”
“That’s sweet of you, baby. Thank you.” Ma grab her purse off the couch. “I’m gonna go pick up some dinner from Reuben’s. Lord knows I am not in the mood to cook. Y’all behave while I’m gone.”
“Yes, ma’am,” we both say. Even though Dre twenty-three, he do whatever Ma tell him.
She leave, and Dre sit beside me on the couch. He watch me feed Li’l Man.
“Damn, Mav. You really a father.”
“I still can’t believe it.”
“I get that. Fatherhood is a trip, but I couldn’t imagine my life without my baby girl. Even as bad as she is.”
I laugh. “She can’t be that bad. She only three.”
“Shiiid. She think she know everything, and she get into everything. People say twos are terrible. Nah, three. Three is next level.” He get quiet for a second. “I’m gon’ miss her li’l bad butt after I drop her and Keisha off.”
A couple of years ago, Keisha moved outta town to attend Markham State and took Andreanna with her. It’s only two hours away, and Dre visit every weekend. He stay in the Garden to help Aunt ’Nita with Uncle Ray after Unc had a stroke last year.
“Hold tight, man,” I say. “Before you know it, Keisha will be graduating and y’all will be saying your vows in July.”
“If I can survive all this wedding stuff.” He grab the back of my neck. “You good?”
Hell no. My life got thrown into a blender and I’m left with something I don’t recognize. On top of that, I’m suddenly somebody’s pops and I wish I had my pops.
Nah, man. I can’t freak out. I gotta handle mine, on some G shit. “I ain’t tripping.”
“You know it’s okay to be scared, right?”
“Scared of what? A li’l baby?”
“Of all the stuff that come with having a li’l baby,” Dre says. “First time I held Andreanna, I cried. She was so beautiful, and she was stuck with me for a father.”
I look at my son, and damn, I feel that.
“I decided I was gon’ be the kinda father she deserved,” he says. “I had to man up. That’s what you gotta do, Mav. Man up.”
“Fool, I’m a man already,” I say.
Dre put his hands up. “My bad. You a man. You such a man that you slinging behind me and Shawn backs.”
I almost lose my grip on my son. “What?”
“You heard me. You buying your girl expensive necklaces, rocking new sneakers every week. I know how much money you pull in, working for us. I made sure it’s just enough so you can help Auntie Faye out a little bit. Where you getting this extra money from?”
I hold my son against my shoulder and burp him again. “I told you I do odd jobs.”
“Yeah, right! Don’t bullshit me. Who put you on? Where you getting your supply from?”
“I ain’t no snitch, Dre.”
“Ohhhh, so you are doing something on the side.”
“Nah, I didn’t mean that!” I say.
“Yeah, you did. I bet it was King, wasn’t it? Yeah, he seem like the type to go rogue.”
Shit, shit, shit. “Dre, I can’t—”
“I won’t rat you out to Shawn,” he says. “You claim you a man, prove it. Men own up to their shit. Own up to yours.”
Damn, he had to put it like that. I gotta admit I felt real bad hiding this from Dre. He the big brother I never had. We never keep secrets from each other. And even if I don’t admit it, he gon’ find a way to get the truth. That could be real bad for King.
I set my son back in his car seat as he fade off to sleep. I can’t let my homeboy get in trouble. I gotta take this one for the team.
“A’ight, yeah,” I say. “I been selling other drugs on the side. Nobody helping. I found a way to get it myself.”
Dre sighs. “What the hell, Mav?”
“I wanna make money! You and Shawn wouldn’t let me sell nothing but weed.”
“’Cause we looking out for you and the li’l homies. Selling that other shit is dangerous in more ways than one. You don’t need to be doing that.”