Page 16 of Buy Back My Love

“She got a funny way of showing it.”

“You know how Mama is.”

I looked away from her and back through the screen. “Yeah, I do.”

Anika leaned against the wall beside me. “She still mad you protected him.”

That pulled my attention right back to her. “She ain’t the only one.”

My sister didn’t respond, and she didn’t have to.

I looked through the screen toward the empty yard for a few seconds before asking, “You think I’m stupid?”

“No,” Anika answered, but she took just a little too long.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “You hesitated.”

“No, I didn’t.” Her face scrunched up the same way it used to when we were little and she knew she’d been caught lying.

“You did, Anika. I felt it.”

She sighed and turned toward me. “I think you love him. I think you loved him before you knew what loving somebody could cost you.”

I didn’t have anything smart to say back to that.

Anika reached for my hand. “I also think you got every right to be mad. Both can be true.”

I looked down at our hands. “Did he tell you everything he was doing for me?”

“Most of it.”

“And you helped?”

“Yeah.”

I looked back at her. “Even though you know what he did?”

Anika took a second before answering. “I helped because you needed somewhere to come home to. That don’t mean I forgot why you needed it.”

I nodded because I couldn’t even be mad at that answer.

She squeezed my hand once before letting it go. “You don’t have to figure everything out today.”

“I know.”

Anika tilted her head. “Do you?”

I looked back through the glass door. JB was standing near the kitchen island laughing at something Trevon had said. A second later, he glanced toward the patio like he was checking to make sure I was okay.

“No,” I admitted. “Probably not.”

Anika rested her head against my shoulder for a second before changing the subject like only a little sister could.

“You remember when we was little and you used to let me borrow your stuff?”

“Mmhmm.” I looked down at her. “Why?”

She lifted her head. “I’ma need to borrow that Chanel bag.”