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“Hello, sonny? You listenin’ to me?! That apple ain’t gonna tide you over ‘til tonight. So you go get that sandwich out of the fridge I made for you with that special ham you like and eat it on the way. Butdon’tbe driving that damn car of yours too fast…or with your knee like you like to do.”
“Language, language, nanny. Is that the example you’re setting for JJ?”
Irma’s face turned bright red as she slapped Jamal on the arm. “Hush, you. I wouldn’t have to curse if you’d listen to me once and awhile.”
Jamal smiled and went to the fridge to get the sandwich she had made him. Itwasdamn good ham, but it was the love that went into making it that meant the most to him.
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CHAPTER THREE
“Only five. More. Days! How does it feel, Callie? Are you nervous? What if you trip walking down the aisle? Oh man, that would be so embarrassing if you bit it!”
Callie rolled her eyes in exasperation. “JJ! Knock it off, girly! I’m already nervous and you’re not helping my anxiety!” She had picked JJ up from her pitching lesson. Thunder practice was running late, Irma was at the grocery store and Callie had just been in the apartment reading a book, so when Kyle had texted her she jumped at the chance to pick up Jamal’s feisty daughter. Tall and lanky with hardly a feminine bone in her body, JJ reminded Callie of herself when she was little. The only difference was JJ had Irma to cook JJ healthy food and keep her from looking like an orphan because she actually made JJ brush her hair and her teeth on a regular basis. When Callie was living with her dad, she lived off of ramen noodles and her hair was always in a lop-sided ponytail until she was old enough to learn how to fix it herself.
“Ok, ok. I get it. You don’t want any damn negative vibes. I’ll stop.” JJ tossed her softball high in the air and they both watched it land back in her glove with a soft pop.
“JJ! Language! Where do you even learn to talk like that, kiddo? You’re only eight. Shouldn’t you be playing with Barbies or something?”
JJ looked at her like she was an idiot. “I live with Irma and my dad. I know how to cuss like a sailor in English and Puerto Rican Spanish slang when I don’t want people to understand me. And besides, didyouplay with Barbies when you were eight, Cal? Hmmmm?”
“Point made, JJ. Now, what do you want to do before we head home?”
“Are we going home as in home to my house, your home as in your apartment that is about to only be your roommate’s, or Kyle’s home that is about to be yours?”
“Always with the sarcasm, kid.”
“Do youknowwho my daddy is?”
“Andanotherpoint goes to the girl holding the softball glove. Probably your house because it’s the closest. We’ll do our girl thang and head back to your house and wait for Irma to get back from grocery shopping. Well? What’ll it be?”
Callie could see the wheels in JJ’s head turning. “Well,” JJ finally said, “How about we go to Pinkitzel and get a cupcake and then to Academy to look at these new cleats I want?”
“Only if we can stop at the dress shop to see if yours is ready to pick up and Whole Foods on the way home.”
JJ wrinkled her nose. “Dress? Why do I have to wear adress?!”
“Because no matter how much I love you, I won’t let you walk down the aisle as my flower girl holding a bat in one hand and a glove in the other.”
“Fine, fine. But why do you want to go to ahealth foodstore?”
“Because organic food is good food, kid.”
“What is organic food?”
“For one, it’s food that doesn’t come from a can. Two, it’s food that hasn’t been treated with pesticide. And three, I love their Mexican lime soup.”
“And the truth comes out!” JJ exclaimed. “It sounds like Irma food!”
“Sounds like Irma is one smart lady then. Except for teaching you how to curse in Puerto Rican. We’ll need to work on that.”
“She didn’t teach me. I heard what she said and googled the words on the internet.”
“You’re too smart for an eight year old, kid.”
“So I’ve been told. Better than being a dummy.”
“That’s the truth.”
