Page 76 of The Prodigy

“No, of course not.”

“Lord, have mercy,” he said, to himself. “This some bullshit.”

“Daddy. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

As we sat there in silence, I started wondering why I went this route. I could have saved my daddy the pain he was feeling by just keeping the marriage to myself and riding it out until we could get a divorce. But I didn’t do that, so I had to question if maybe, somewhere deep down inside, I was actually thinking about…staying married.

The thought was too ridiculous to consider, and yet here I was. Considering it.

“Well, congrats,” he said flatly. “Anybody I know?”

Shit.

Might as well rip off the band aid.

“Jakari Windermere.”

“Wait, what? Did you sayWindermere?”

“Yes.”

“You married one of theWindermereboys?”

“Yes.”

“Goddamit!”

He was so loud, I flinched and yanked the phone away from my ear.

“Of all the families in the entire state of Georgia, you married into the Windermeres?”

“Daddy—”

“No. No. Don’t say shit to me. Not when you’re mixed up with those people.”

“They don’t…they’re not doing that anymore, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

I waited, listening intently.

“Doing what, Malika?” he said quietly.

“You know.”

“No,youknow. You knew what they were about, and you did it anyway. I taught you better than that, little girl.”

“It’s not…I—”

“I gotta go. I can’t deal with this shit right now.”

The phone went dead.

I ended the call and tossed my phone to the end of the bed. I knew he wouldn’t take it well, but to hang up in my face? He’d never done that. Not when I ran into a mailbox in his car. Not when I got caught stealing from Piggly Wiggly. Not even when I failed all of my classes one semester.

This was different.

I threw myself backward, landing on my pillow. I didn’t even have the energy to cry. Or maybe I didn’t have the emotions to cry. Because honestly, I wasn’t sad. I felt bad for disappointing my daddy, but I didn’t care that I didn’t have his approval. After everything I’d been through on his watch, I didn’t look up to him as an authority. I simply thought I owed it to him to let him know.

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