Page 72 of Until the Ink Dries

He looked over at me. “You don’t wanna go back to the party? My mom told me it was a cook out.”

I shook my head. “I’m where I need to be.” I stood from the couch with Charlie in my arms. “Where’s your room?”

His eyes lingered on mine briefly before he stood and motioned for me to follow him. We made our way upstairs and to his bedroom. I could tell that his parents had updated it, but it still had remnants of his childhood on display, like trophies, medals, and awards. My parents had done the same thing with my childhood bedroom.

Walking over to the bed, I kicked off my shoes and climbed in with Charlie. Cradling her to my chest, I made myself comfortable. Benjamin climbed in and settled behind me, wrapping his arms around both of us. He rested his head next to mine and expelled a deep breath.

“Just a nap,” he said.

“I’m here as long as you need me,” I said.

“Thank you, Willow.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Benny.”

“I do. You could be anywhere, but you’re here with us. That means more to me than you know.”

He placed a kiss on my cheek, then snuggled closer. The room fell silent and before long, both of their light snores filled the air. Relaxing into the warmth of his arms, I closed my eyes.

Yeah, I was right where I needed to be.

Ifinally made it back to my parents’ place. All I wanted to do was lay down and take a quick nap. I needed a second to breathe and decompress from everything I had been dealing with the last couple of weeks. Charlie was back in school, which I was happy for. She needed something to focus on other than the shit her mother pulled. Not to mention, I had gotten her into therapy. She was having her second session this week.

My insurance was beating me upside the head by paying for her to go. That’s what happens when you work for yourself. The prices on insurance just don’t look the same as when you work at a nine-to-five job. I hadn’t been back to the shop since everything went down. I planned to go over to the house to take a survey of the complete damage. I was certain I wouldn’t be able to live over the shop anymore. If I was being real with myself, my time of staying there had come and gone a long time ago.

When Charlie was a baby, it was cool and convenient. But as she got older, I was feeling as if this wasn’t the best environment for her. Not to say I allowed crazy shit to go on in my establishment, but you couldn’t control the situation entirely when someone walked in. I released a breath and drifted to sleep until the doorbell rang.

“Benny, answer the door!” My mother yelled from the top of the stairs.

I groaned and swung my fist at the air before getting off the couch.

“Aight’.”

I glanced through the peephole to see Jordan pacing on the porch. I pulled the door open and stepped aside so he could come in. He dapped me up and glanced up at my mom, who was still standing at the top of the stairs.

“Hey, Ma. How are you doing today?” he asked her.

I shook my head and made my way back to the couch to lie down so they could talk. I wasn’t there long before Jordan pushed my feet from the couch so he could sit down. I groaned and sat up.

“You could have sat in any of those chairs, but you needed to be over here. What you doing out this way? You the most in the NBA, but never there nigga I know.”

Jordan chuckled but stopped, looking back at me with a frown.

“Man, why didn’t you tell me what happened with Tierra? I had to find out from other folks?—”

I shook my head before interrupting. “Other folks, huh? You mean Shirah?” I asked.

“Does it matter?” he asked.

I looked over at him, and he leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees.

“Nah. It never occurred to me to reach out. I was too damn concerned about my baby, man. She hasn’t been right since all of this happened. I will never get the look of stark fear I saw in her eyes out of my head. I’ve never felt so weak in my entire life, but that day showed me what I was made of.”

Jordan reached over and gripped my shoulder to get my attention.

“No, that showed what Tierra was made of. To go as far as she did to cause any moment of fear being in lil’ bit’s eyes is enough. You can’t blame yourself for the actions of someone else.”

I’ve heard this repeatedly, but none of them experienced it.

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