Page 40 of Waiting for Friday Night

Halle glared at her messy-ass cousin. “Kayla, hush.”

Imani started laughing, but the sound was thin and forced. “Oh man, look at the time. We better get things cleaned up. We only rented the park until four.”

Before the relief could settle in, Gregory held up a hand and looked back at Halle. “No, I want to hear this. And what, Halle?”

“Gregory, we can talk about this later, okay? Quinton is a good guy and there’s nothing to get worked up about.”

“Who’s worked up? I’m not worked up. I’m just asking a simple question.”

By now everyone was quiet and watching them. Damn Quinton for showing up and making cousins’ day awkward.

“He’s my dad,” Shania said. Loud and proud.

Gregory’s eyes widened and he spun toward Shania. “Your what?”

Quinton’s shoulders squared and he looked back at Gregory. “You heard her. My daughter.”

Kayla slapped her hands and cackled. “Finally. I couldn’t hold that in for much longer.”

Thirteen

“What’s this I hear about a grandchild?”

Quinton closed his eyes and barely suppressed his groan. When he’d received the text from his mom saying he needed to call her back immediately because it was important, he’d thought there was an emergency. He did not want to deal with breaking the news to his parents after the fiasco that just went down at the park.

All manner of hell broke loose after Shania announced to the rest of her family that he was her father. Halle’s cousins demanded answers. Halle had tried to defend herself. Shania had tried to defend him. He’d tried to defend them both. In the end, he’d been told by Mick that this wasn’t the end of things after Halle finally shut things down and said this was her life, her business and they could stay out of it.

What stuck with him out of everything was Gregory’s response. The way he’d looked at Halle as if she’d cheated on him with Quinton and given birth to Shania two days ago, not fourteen years ago. He didn’t like the way he’d looked at her and wanted to step in. Instead, he reminded himself that her relationship with Gregory wasn’t his business.

“Quinton! Do you hear me?” His mom’s voice sliced through his thoughts. “What’s this about a grandchild?”

“What grandchild?” He reverted back to his old high school tactic of playing dumb before admitting to any wrongdoing.

His mom sucked her teeth. “Boy, don’t you play with me. Do you or don’t you have a kid?”

“Don’t you lie to your momma. Give her a straight answer now,” his dad’s voice chimed in.

He must be on speakerphone. “Where did you hear that I had a kid?” He knew the answer. Dawn couldn’t keep a secret to save her life. As long as he could delay the inevitable, he would.

“Don’t worry about where I heard it,” his mom said, sounding exasperated. “Just tell me if it’s true.”

“Nah, I need to know where you heard it. If you’re calling me about a kid, then I want to know who told you.”

“Aha! So it’s true,” his mom exclaimed. “Why would you keep this from us? Thank goodness your sister is loyal.”

“You mean she can’t hold water,” Quinton mumbled.

“Hey!” his sister’s voice chimed in. “They forced it out of me.”

Quinton glared at his phone before putting it back to his ear. “I don’t even believe that. I’m surprised you made it this long.”

“Wait? How long have you known about this?” his mom asked.

His sister grunted. “This is his secret. Don’t get on me.”

“She’s right.” His dad’s voice. “Why are you keeping this a secret from us in the first place? Who is this woman and who is this child?”

Quinton sighed and sat on the couch. He leaned back into the cushions and swirled the whiskey he had in a highball glass with ice. “I didn’t keep it a secret from you on purpose. I just found out about her a few weeks ago.”

---