Page 90 of The Prodigy

“We have a dinner thing tomorrow. Handling some business, so I need you to dress nice.”

“Uh, okay. I don’t think I have anyth—”

“Get up with Jaz. She’ll know what to get.”

“Okay.” I smiled. Retail therapy was exactly what I needed.

Neitherofusfeltlike traveling to Atlanta, so we hit up Macy’s at Overbrook mall instead. That was fine with me, especially because I was lucky to even get Marshall’s clothes growing up. Macy’s might as well have been Chanel. But Jaz, of course, was slumming it, and not at all happy about it.

“So where is this dinner at?” she asked, snapping her bubblegum like a big kid.

She was sifting through racks of clothes like an expert. Watching her was like watching an artist at their canvas. She had a knack.

“I forgot to ask,” I answered.

“Always ask, girl. How else you gon’ dress for an event?” She eyed an emerald green pantsuit, shifted her eyes to me, then shook her head. “Not the right shade of green for your coloring.”

“Is this a regular thing, these business dinners?”

“Girl, I don’t know. I don’t pay attention to none of that. I just go where I’m told and do what I’m supposed to do.”

“Is there anything else you’d wanna do? Like maybe…stylist for example? You’re so good at it.”

Her face lit up. “You think so? I’ve heard that a few times before. It’s crossed my mind.” She pulled a white skirt suit off the rack and held it up in front of me. “My mother told me to get by on my pretty and don’t worry about work. I think she thinks Ican’tdo anything but that.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s a mean thing to say to your daughter.”

“Honestly, Malika? I don’t even let that lady faze me anymore. That shit rolls right off my back.”

“How’d you get to that point?”

“Don’t know.”

“Why do you think she acts like that with you?”

“Oh, she’s jealous of me. I been knew that.” She pulled a gray dress off the rack. “She was the queen bee when it was just my daddy and my brothers. When I came, she wasn’t the only woman anymore. I was the princess.” She smiled. “My daddy’s princess.”

I nodded. “How are you doing with that?”

She shrugged. “Just taking it day to day. I appreciate that you asked, though. Don’t nobody really check on me like that.”

“Jakari doesn’t?” I made a mental note to get on him about that.

She shrugged a shoulder. “He got a lot on his mind right now.”

“So if you don’t mind me asking…what was it like to be your daddy’s princess?”

“It was cool. He never told me no. Ever.” She laughed. “Gab hated that, too.”

“I bet.” I laughed with her. “It sounds like y’all had a special bond. I love that for you.”

“You not close with your daddy?”

“Not really. He was there. He just…he was nothing like yours. Believe me. I mean, he wasn’t bad, he just wasn’t…it wasn’t special.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah. But anyway, I’m grown and it’s in the past. Can’t do shit about it now.”

---