Page 8 of Can I?

My heart only sank more. “Yeah, yeah. Go to bed so you can be rested for tomorrow. I love you too,” I said then stood and made my way back to the bedroom I was sleeping in.

When I walked in, I could see my phone vibrating on the nightstand. I answered when I saw it was Ashanni. “Hello?”

“You ain’t gon’ believe this shit!”

“What?”

“Girl, after you left, Red Squared was tryna holla at Noni.”

I frowned. “Well, I already know she didn’t let him down easy. What did she say?”

Ashanni laughed and said, “That heifer told him to focus on his lil career if he ever wanted to be as good as his daddy.”

“I know she didn’t.”

“Yes the fuck she did! I think he gon’ wear her down though.”

“Why you think that?”

“Because Bali’s ass was being extra friendly with Carter!”

“Carter? Lil Legend?”

“Lana, that man is almost twenty-seven years old. I doubt he wants to be called lil anything.”

I giggled. “I guess you’re right. He goes by Carter Legend, right?”

“Yeah. He seems to be feeling her too. I hate you left before you could witness that shit for yourself.”

“Shiiiid, me too, because I can barely believe Bali’s mean ass was in a nigga’s face. She’s meaner than Noni.”

“Right!” she said then laughed. “Did you call your mom?”

“Yeah. She sent me to voicemail.”

“Okay. Don’t give up.”

“I can’t. I can’t live my life without her, Shanni. I mean, I know you understand because you and your mama are close. Y’all spend just as much time together as we do.”

“Yeah. I get it. I’m with Chas all day at the office, working and acting a fool.”

“You better watch that Chas shit,” I heard Aunt Chas yell.

I chuckled. They always went back and forth like that, and it was funny to me. My mama and I had more of a mentor/mentee relationship. It was all love, of course. I admired the hell out of her and everything she accomplished despite the naysayers. Ashanni and Aunt Chas were more like homegirls.

“My bad, Ch—I mean, Mama.”

Ashanni laughed, making me miss my mama even more. “A’ight, girl. I had to call and tell you that. The twins leave in the morning, and Maui and I have to go to work, but we’ll come by when we get off. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Love you, Lani.”

“Love you too.”

She ended the call, and I plugged my phone to the charger. I lay in the bed and stared at the ceiling. My sleep schedule was all over the place, because it seemed that was all I was doing. I couldn’t even practice. Karima’s horse was at my mama’s barn too. No one else had a barrel racing horse. So if I rode anyone else’s, it would just be for a casual ride. My heart wasn’t even in it right now. My heart wasn’t in much of anything.

CHAPTER FOUR

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