Page 63 of Honey's Special Roux

Mama gasped. “Really? What did he say? What happened?”

“I ran before we could have a real conversation. I panicked.”

“Well, shoot. What do you plan on doing? You know his aunt and uncle still live next door, so it’s only a matter of time before you run into him and he sees Quis. Do you have a plan?”

I shook my head and added the broth to the pot of vegetables. I stirred the broth until it came to a light boil. Then I added the additional vegetables, which included carrots, peas, and potatoes.

“I don’t have a plan yet. I know it’s inevitable for us to cross paths again, but I’m not sure what I’ll say.”

“Will him being out make you not want to stay here?”

I shook my head. “No. Y’all need me, so I’m going to be a big girl in the situation.”

Mama nodded. “That’s really mature of you, baby girl.”

“I knew the day would come. I really hope Quis doesn’t hate me for keeping his father out of his life.”

“He won’t hate you. When he gets older, he’ll understand you did it to protect the both of you.”

I sighed. “Then why do I feel like poop?”

“Because it’s a tough situation. Don’t dwell on it too much. God got you.”

“He does.”

I smiled and returned my attention to the pot of soon to be chicken and dumplings. Tonight was a savory night, and tomorrow, when the family arrived, I’d have two pans of chicken Alfredo to share amongst everyone.

Hopefully, I had time to plan a meeting with Marquise before he saw my child—our child.

“Man,I need to know everything Honey has done in the last six years,” I announced as I entered my cousin’s apartment.

Dayari lived by Hermann Park. The apartments were nice but expensive as hell. I told her she could get a house for the same price, but she preferred the luxury style apartments instead.

“You don’t knock?” Dayari asked from the kitchen. She drank from her wineglass as she looked at me with an uninterested expression on her face. She looked a lot like Aunt Dee, which made the face even funnier.

“I don’t.”

“You also don’t have any manners, walking into my shit without as much as a hi, hello, or how are you…” Dayari rolled her eyes in my direction.

“This is important. I can’t find her on any socials, so I figured she blocked me. I need to use your phone to look her up.”

“She blocked me too. I don’t have access to any of her personal pages. I’ve seen her business pages come across my feeds a few times, but I don’t know much. You didn’t try Google? You could find all of her information on Google.”

“I ain’t even think about that. You got some snacks?”

I walked into the kitchen and opened her pantry door. I grabbed a bag of Lays potato chips and made my way to the couch.

“Before I Google her, do you know anything?”

I pulled out my phone and opened the Google search bar. Dayari sat on the couch beside me and sighed.

“All I know is Honey’s been doing the damned thing in the culinary world. She’s opened a couple of locations around LA. She’s been on a few book tours. She’s dropped cookbooks and shit like that.”

I smiled. “I knew she’d be successful.”

Dayari resumed whatever reality television show she’d been watching prior to my arrival.

“Honey Hix.” I whispered the name as I typed it into the search.

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