“Ay, lady! It’s not a no.”
I sighed. “I’ll take it.”
A knock sounded at the bedroom door.
“Come in!” I called.
The door opened, and I was a little surprised to find Juvie standing there.
“What's wrong?” I demanded.
He gave me a faux-hurt look. “Something gotta be wrong for me to check in on you? I thought we were friends, and this how you treat me? I'm calling Granny--”
“Julien! Cut the bullshit,” I snapped.
“Look, I know you planning something for my OG birthday. I can help,” he said excitedly.
I glared at him. “You absolutely cannot.”
“I can! I like surprises.”
“And? No!”
“I don’t understand why I can’t help,” he complained.
“Because it’s a surprise, and you can't hold ice water.”
He looked genuinely offended. “You not supposed to hold it. And you being real dismissive of how much I help around here. I helped pick your office furniture.”
“Juvie. Ms. Joia told me you suggested a stripper pole.”
“It would’ve brought the room together. Plus, you know how many problems girls work through on them stripper poles? Put the music on, get in your zone, and writer's block be damned. Then you happy, my OG happy, the marriage happy. But nobody wants to give ol' Juve credit.”
I pointed toward the door. “Leave. Now.”
He muttered something under his breath about people not appreciating his artistic vision and stormed out. Pip laughed again, but this time it was lighter.
“What we gon' do with him?” she asked.
I rolled my eyes. “Granny Nette says we gotta keep him.”
She chuckled. “I guess. Sit down so we can finish now. You done moved so much, that wing looking like an isosceles triangle.”
I gasped and ran for the mirror. “Pip!”
“Come on, before your husband sees you, Goth Girl!”
“I hate you!”
She pursed her lips. “You do not.”
I looked at her then, my beautiful, troubled, gifted little sister. I smiled. “Nah,” I said softly. “I do not.”
By the time we pulled into the driveway, the clock on the truck’s dashboard read 11:43. My husband looked at me suspiciously. The problem was that I had spent all day surprising him. He didn't know what to expect next. I'd worked hard to figure out what to give a man who needed nothing material. I wanted to celebrate our firsts for his birthday.
First, Granny Nette and some of my other family had ambushed him over FaceTime from the living room where we’d first met. They spent fifteen minutes talking about how obvious he’d been. Awestruck, Granny said. Pawpaw claimed Targen had looked at me like a man who saw his wife.
Targen denied everything. Nobody believed him.
