Page 30 of Can I?

I frowned hard. “Wait a minute . . . Ain’t nobody said nothing about falling for nobody. I don’t know her well enough to be falling for her.”

“So youaretrying to keep your mind off her though, right?” my dad asked.

I huffed and rolled my eyes as they laughed. I swore I should have stayed home today. Slowly shaking my head, I said, “Yeah. She got a lot of shit going on, and I’m tryna reevaluate whether I wanna deal with her while she’s trying to resolve it.”

“Well, that’s only a decision you can make. Just don’t take too long to make it. Time waits for no one, son,” he said.

I nodded, recalling the words from Mr. Red. I supposed my decision would have to be made pretty soon if I wanted a chance at her heart. However, my heart was saying that she was waiting for me, because she was all in and trying to deflect Thursday, simply to avoid losing me. She needed me, but my decision would be made on the premise of if I needed her just as badly.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

MILANA

“You good, cuz?”

I looked up to see Jacob. I gave him a soft smile. “I’m cool. You?”

“I’m good. Did you get a chance to go see the baby?”

“Yeah. He looks just like KJ and Uncle Kenny. I wonder what they will call him.”

“Kendrall said they would probably call him K-three.”

I giggled. “That’s too cute. I can’t wait to hold him. I couldn’t stay long since we had to come back to the meeting.”

“Yeah.”

“How’s Mekayla?”

“She’s good. She’s dilated two centimeters, so she’s taking it easy. She’s only thirty-four weeks. We need lil man to cool out a lil longer.”

He chuckled. Seeing the happiness on him was infectious. Jacob had been unhappy for a long time, long before that bullshit with that bitch. His smile hadn’t really reached his eyes . . . since ever. He was a tortured soul, and I knew that was why Karima had taken him under her angel wings to look out for him, although he was older than her.

“Do y’all have a name yet?”

“Yep, but y’all won’t know until he gets here.”

I rolled my eyes playfully as he laughed. When Karima and Rhodes entered the room, everyone went to her, helping her to a seat and rubbing her belly. I loved that for her. She needed to be looked after. She was always looking after everyone else.

I chose to sit in the back corner. I really didn’t want to be here. I just wanted to go to bed and think about things I could do to win Ferris. He didn’t respond to my last text. I’d texted him after King told me he was still in Nome, hoping he would let me explain again and assure him that I was worth it. Seeing him burn off from the diner without a second look earlier sank my heart to my big ass feet.

I wanted him so badly. He was a good guy and had his shit together. Maybe I was too young and immature for him. I was really trying to learn from my bullshit and make better decisions. I was trying to do that before he came along. Losing my grandfather was a huge wake-up call.

When my mama, daddy, and brother walked in, I could see she was looking for me. Ryder J spotted me immediately and walked over to me.

“Why you sitting back here?”

“I just want to be in my own world right now.”

“Now ain’t the time. Come on. You can be in your own world after the meeting.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I stood and followed him to the front of the room. Uncle WJ smiled at me and winked. I smiled back at him. We hadn’t really talked, but I knew we were good. I didn’t talk to my aunts and uncles as much, . . . just Uncle Storm and Uncle Jasper, because of Maui and Ashanni being my best friends.

When Mrs. Taylor and Mr. Berotte entered, I knew the meeting was about to start, but I also knew when Watchful Eyes entered, the meeting would be way more involved than Ithought. I was more than sure Mrs. Taylor would excuse herself for that portion of the meeting. There were a few faces with them that I didn’t recognize, but I was more than sure we would be informed of who they were.

“Hey, family. Let me get everyone’s attention,” Uncle WJ said.

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