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“You need anything while I’m out?” Q asked.

“No, I’m good.”

“I’ll bring him straight back. I promise.”

He kissed me before heading towards the driver’s side. I watched them pull off before going back inside. For the next two hours, I enjoyed the quiet. Khari eventually disappeared upstairs with her dolls, and I got through two loads of laundry without anybody asking me for anything. I even took a nap on the couch for twenty minutes. My phone woke me up when Jaharee called.

“Hey.”

“Hey, have you talked to Meek today?”

“No. Why?”

“I was just asking. Mama was trying to get in touch with him earlier.”

“No, I haven’t talked to him. Do you want me to try and call to see if he would answer for me?”

“No, I know how to get his ass to answer. Thank you anyway. How are the kids?”

“Ain’t nothing changed since they were with y’all last weekend. They’re both still the same spoiled behind kids.”

We shared a laugh before we ended the call. Before I could put the phone down, Q was calling.

“Hey,” I answered.

“Practice is over. I just wanted to call you and let you know we’re at District 12 for a minute.”

“Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. Kaiden is eating me out of a house and home.”

“You said I could order whatever,” Kaiden said in the background.

“You ordered wings, fries, mozzarella sticks, and a burger,” Q said, laughing.

“Practice got me starving,” Kaiden said.

“Can you put my child on the phone?”

“Hey, ma.”

“How was practice?”

“It was good. I ran routes with the older group today.”

“That’s good. Did you drink both bottles of water?”

“Yes, I drank both.”

“Okay.”

“Are you done interrogating the boy?” Q asked.

“Yes, I’m done for now.”

I heard a male voice in the background say something.

“Nah, tell West I’ll call him back. I got little man with me,” Q said.