Page 64 of Blind Spot
I peered at her from the kitchen and snickered. She was bent over trying to pull her toes to her nose to see if they stunk for real. I used to get her like that all the time when we were kids.
“My toes don’t stink!” She stood up from the couch and headed back to the bedroom. My phone rang, and I headed back to the living room and grabbed it off the table.
“Hey.”
“Boy, where you at?”
“I’m at the cut.”
“You said you were gonna come through, Dom. Wassup? You bailing on me?”
“No, Joaquin. I’m just trying to relax things around here before we roll that way.”
“Well, you know Mamá won’t eat until everyone is here. She’s not letting us eat without you, and I’m starving. And everyone’s waiting on Charly’s mac and cheese. It’s not Thanksgiving without the mac.”
“Nigga, why you gotta be so extra? Who is there, anyway?” I asked, clearing my throat as Charly appeared at the hall entrance.
“Everybody. The usual. Our parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins . . . your brother.”
I sniffed. “Yeah, a’ight.”
“Then come on, flow through. You don’t have to stay for long. I mean, just an hour tops to say you flowed through.”
“I’m coming. I’m not about to miss out on my favorite holiday with my favorite peeps because of one asshole.”
“Knock that shit off, Dom. I’ve been talking to him already. That’s all we’ve been doing this last week. You’d be surprised about how much responsibility he’s taking over that situation.”
“Yeah, that’s with you. His ass ain’t said shit to me.”
“Nigga, if you whupped my ass the way that you did his, I might not have anything to say either,” Joaquin replied with a chuckle.
“Yeah, a’ight. Let me get dressed, and we should be rolling through in about an hour.”
“A’ight. I’ll let Ma Dukes know.”
“You do that.”
“Don’t forget the mac and cheese, Dom.”
“I won’t,” I replied, chuckling.
I ended the call, and Charly released a low exhale that had her shoulders slumping. “Time to pay the pied piper?”
“Time to pay the pied piper,” I acknowledged. I walked out of the kitchen and to her. Pulling her into my arms, I rested my chin on her head. “Listen, I haven’t had a chance to really talk to anyone since all of this went down. I’ve heard what Avriella had to say, and I’ve talked to my parents, but I haven’t talked to a lot of other people. I don’t know what the temperature is out there, but if it’s anything other than what my dad and cousin are saying it is, then we’re bouncing. I’m not about to kiss anybody’s ass, and I’m not about to subject you to anything uncomfortable. You feel me?”
She nodded. “I do,” she replied in a voice so soft that I barely heard her.
I kissed the top of her head, smacked her on the ass, and declared, “A’ight. Let’s get dressed so that we can roll out.”
Charly worean oversized off-the-shoulder camel-colored sweater with light blue distressed jeans and thigh-high camel-colored boots. She held my hand tightly as we climbed the steps to my family’s home.
“Chill, baby. Everything’s good,” I reassured her as I gripped the doorknob with one hand. I leaned in and kissed her nose before I kissed her lips.
“Man, if you don’t get your soft ass in here, boi!” my cousin, Jaquez, greeted me as he pulled the door open out of my hands.
“Wassup, boi!” I returned his greeting, freeing my hand from Charly’s and giving him a one-armed hug as I pounded his back. We had a way of saying boy down south that sounded more like “bwoy.”
“Long time, no see,” he stated when he pulled back and looked me up and down.
