Page 152 of When a Soul Cries

“I ain't on nobody's side.”

“Well, it damn sure don't sound like it.”

I tightened my grip on the wheel.

“She standing there looking at me like *I* did something to *her*. After everything that girl did. After all that shit she caused.”

Denise sighed.

“Trice—”

“And she got a baby.”

Silence.

“A baby?”

“Yep.”

“How old?”

“The fuck I know? About one, I guess.”

“A girl?”

“Yeah.”

Denise went quiet again, but this silence felt different.

“What she look like?”

I frowned. “Like a damn baby, Denise. What the fuck you mean?”

“You know exactly what I mean.”

My stomach tightened.

“No, I don't.”

“Trice. Who the baby look like?”

I stared straight ahead.

“I don't know.”

The answer came too fast.

“And I know that bitch ain't trying to say that's Mack's baby.”

“Did Soleia say that?”

“No.”

“Did that man say it?”

“No.”

“Then why did your mind go there?”