Page 65 of Pink

Then, Lev tickled Arely’s cheek with the tips of two fingers. She squealed her giggles, falling into the pink and yellow print of her bed coverings. Until she quieted again and stared up at him with those big blue eyes that matched his own.

She still had questions.

He knew it.

Lev just didn’t know how to answer them. Maybe someday he would. Or shit, maybe someday she could even have what she was missing in the form of a woman in her life who gave her that motherly love and affection she so clearly needed.

Just not today.

Unfortunately.

“I know some people have two daddies or mommies … or some kids even live with their mom and their dad lives somewhere else. Or whatever,” he muttered, rubbing a hand down his newly clean-shaven jaw. Arely complained his beard was scratchy whenhe gave her kisses after picking her up from daycare, and that was that. He shaved it off while they handled their nightly routine. Andino would be pleased. “And then there’s people like us, you know? No matter what, we’re still a family. Even if ours doesn’t look like somebody else’s.”

Arely’s lips pursed in her thoughts before she sighed and nodded once. “Okay.”

“Really, okay?”

“Yeah, Daddy. More duckies?”

Lev picked up the book again, feeling like he dodged a bullet the whole time. How much longer was he going to be able to dodge it before one finally landed? “Yeah, dove, let’s read more about the duckies.”

• • •

“How’s Martha Mae?”

Nessa shrugged as she placed her messenger bag to the kitchen counter. “Still smiling. She finally agreed to let me move her out of that shitty apartment building.”

Lev nodded and continued drying the pile of dishes he’d finished washing shortly before Nessa arrived. He had a dishwasher to do the job but the many years of working behind a bar taught him that there was something therapeutic about handwashing dishes. Maybe it was the time it gave him to think, who knew?

Whatever it was, he liked it.

“Into your place?” he asked, turning back to the cupboards to place the cup in its spot. “Or somewhere else?”

“My place. She decided that was better than the home social services was suggesting because of her age.”

Lev swore under his breath. “I can already imagine how that flew over for her.”

“Yeah, not well.”

The young woman’s tired laughter told him all he needed to know about her current situation with her ailing, aging grandmother. Martha Mae didn’t want to admit that she could no longer live unassisted … not to mention, the apartment building in Harlem that she managed for the better part of twenty years had recently been sold to the city for some housing project.

It all spelled the same thing.

Martha had to move.

She didn’t want to.

“So …” Nessa drawled out the word slowly, the amusement in her tone clear even though Lev wasn’t facing her to see it. “Are you not going to tell me why you asked me to babysit tonight? I can’t remember the last time you wanted me to look after Arely at night.”

“Three months ago. A Wednesday night.”

“Right … because you had to run across town for something for your boss. But it’s Friday and you’re wearing a button-down and pressed slacks.” The squeak of the stool he used for Arely to eat breakfast at the island in the mornings echoed, giving away the fact that Nessa had leaned up from the chair. “And you’re wearing those loafers you say pinch your toes.”

“I talk a lot under my breath, don’t I?”

“Yes.”

“You should stop listening.”