Page 40 of The Prodigy 2: Rise of a Queen

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Malika

Mydaddywasdodgingme.

Which was weird, because he was blowing up my phone a week ago.

He was still mad at me, that much I knew, but that never stopped him before. Some of my favorite memories of him were from when he used to poke at me or crack jokes to get us over an argument. He could always get me to break, and then we’d laugh together and forgive.

This was different, though. I’d betrayed him by not telling me about my marriage until way after the fact. And, apparently, by marrying into a family he hated. And I understood that, I really did, but enough was enough. Time was too fleeting for us to be giving each other the silent treatment. He was the only parent I had left.

If he was still in town, I could pull up on him with some Popeye’s and make him talk to me. But that was impossible now. So I kept calling. Every thirty minutes. And after a few hours of this, I started getting nervous. Anxious. That always happened when someone ignored me. It was like nails being dragged across my heart.

I finally called Dionne, even though she wasn’t all that happy with me now either.

“Have you talked to daddy?”

She scoffed. “Hello to you, too.”

“Sorry. He’s not answering my calls.”

“Yeah, because you didn’t answer his.”

“Are we in high school? Why is his old ass playing silly games?”

“It’s not a game. He just doesn’t wanna talk to you.”

I paused. “Can you call from your number? I really wanna talk to him.”

“I’m just getting home from work. I gotta cook, and—”

“You don’t have to stay on. Just call so I can talk to him. Put your phone down or something.”

She sighed, and I could picture her rolling her eyes. “Fine. Hold on.”

I waited while she dialed my daddy and added the call, sucking my teeth when he picked uphercall on the first ring.

“Hey, baby girl!” He sounded happy as can be.

“Hey, Daddy.”

“Oh.” Just like that, his voice went flat. Disappointment dripped from his words. “What, y’all got me on three-way?”

“I had Dionne call since you were ignoring me.”

He paused. “I wasn’t ignoring you. I just…I wasn’t ready to talk. Plus, you ignored me first.”

“Can we get on FaceTime so I can see you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Daddy, please. I need you.”

He paused. “Alright. You set it all up.”

“There’s nothing to set up. When I call, answer as a face call. There’s a button—”

“Yeah, yeah. Alright.”

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