Page 25 of Love Always, Nova Black
I opened the door and watched her as she stepped onto the front porch. “You’re not upset with me, are you?”
“Not at all.”
“Are you sure?”
Cracking a smile, I said, “Nova, everything is fine. We’re fine.”
She sighed. “Okay. Call me before you leave.”
“Will do.”
I gave her one last kiss on the cheek and waited as she turned around to walk to her car. My insides were overwhelmed with emotions that I wished didn’t exist.
Yeah, there was no way I could be here and play cool after today. No damn way.
* * *
“Hey, son, are you okay?”Kierra’s mother said as she came around the couch in her wheelchair.
“Oh…yeah…I’m good, Miss Jewel.”
“You sure? You’ve been kind of quiet ever since you got here.”
“My bad, it’s just been a long day.”
Letting out a heavy sigh, she said, “Well, your long day couldn’t have been that long without that busy body little girl back there. You should’ve seen her when she ran back in this house. Miss thang was completely covered in mud, and she swears up and down that her papa gave her permission to get dirty like that.”
Shaking my head, I laughed. “Dakota will come up with any reason to get dirty. The more dirt, the better.”
“Yeah, well, now she’s in my tub dirtying it up. She should be ready shortly though. Are you hungry? I’ve got some spaghetti in the kitchen. It just finished cooking.”
“No, I’m fine. Thank you though.”
She tilted her head to the side and looked me over. “What’s going on with you, Don? You look like you have something heavy on your mind.”
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Is it about Kierra? If so, I understand your frustration. Her sentencing has made us all feel some type of way. I just can’t believe my baby girl is going to be in prison for the rest of her life.”
“I can’t either.” I shook my head. Honestly, I was tired of talking about it. It wasn’t like it was going to change anything. “But what’s done is done, and now it has to be figured out.”
“Yes, it does, and I’m sure it would be helpful if my other daughter wasn’t breathing down your neck.”
“Thatwouldbe helpful.”
“Yeah, she told me what she said when she saw you. She was pretty heated and crazy when she told me, so I can only imagine how it went when the two of you were face to face.”
“It wasn’t a pretty sight,” I replied. “Honestly, I’m tired of dealing with Aunie and her attitude. I get it, she felt some type of way about me not telling her that I was in town. But we both know that I have my reasons.”
“Understood.”
“But I do apologize for not telling you. I’ve just had a lot on my plate.”
“It’s okay. I get it. Just know that I’m always here to help, but you have to allow me to do that.”
I nodded.
Asking for help wasn’t something that I was good at. I was all about getting shit done myself. And if I couldn’t do it, then it must not be important enough to get done. But when it came to Dakota, I would go to the moon and back for her. But lately, that trip to the moon had become a little exhausting.
