AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll cook for you, Mama,” I said. “Why don’t you rest?”
When Mom saw Imani behind me, she shook her head. “No, João. I’ll do it.”
Imani must’ve picked up a couple new words because she stood up beside me and shook her head, giving my mom a soft smile. “It’s okay. We can do it.”
After Mom nodded, she took Ana in the back room to prepare her for dinner.
Imani followed after me to the kitchen, clapping her hands together and giving me a smile. “What are we cooking?”
I grabbed a couple things from the cupboard. “You aren’t cooking anything.”
“Ensin-ah … meh?” Imani said, scrunching her nose. “Is that how you say it?”
“Are you asking me to teach you?”
“No,” Imani said, eyes wide. “I’m telling you to teach me.” She stood on her toes beside me. “Teach me how to make your favorite Brazilian dish and then maybe teach me some Portuguese. Ana was just flying through the words during her show.”
My lips curled into a smile, and an unknown lightness was in my stomach. Imani actually wanted me to teach her Portuguese and how to make my favorite dish that Mom made? I almost didn’t believe it.
So, I handed her some ingredients and a bowl, watching her crack an egg against the counter. When she put it into the dish, I leaned against the counter.
“What’d you and Landon talk about the other night? He seemed different this morning.”
Imani tensed and stirred the ingredients. “We talked about my mom.”
“About how she gives you everything?”
“No,” Imani said, voice harsh. “About how controlling she is. She grounded me the other night, forced me to study for ten hours straight, and refused to give me any privacy anymore.” Imani’s lips trembled. “You think I have a perfect life, João—I know that you think that. But I don’t. I want to be normal sometimes, too.”
Brows furrowing slightly, I stared at her for a long time, trying to peel apart her lie, searching her face for any kind of deceit, but it wasn’t there. Imani was telling me the truth about her family as much as I didn’t want to admit it.
After a couple moments, she placed the spoon down and turned toward me, frowning. And then, to my surprise, Imani wrapped her arms around my torso and rested her chin on my sternum. “I don’t know what you’re going through with your sister, but … I hope things work out. I hope she gets better.”
My entire body tensed. Why was she doing this? Why did she care?
“If there is anything that I can do to help, I will help you.”
“No, you won’t,” I said, the words coming out as a mere whisper. “I don’t believe it.”
“You don’t have to believe me, João.” She pulled away from me and returned to stirring, her back turned toward me. “You think you’re the only one who has problems. You think nobody else is nice enough to actually help you, but that’s because you don’t ask for help. You assume we’re all bad people.”
“I don’t assume,” I said, my throat closing up. “I know.”
“How?”
“My dad.” Those two words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them.
I expected Imani to turn on her heel, snarl at me, and ask what on earth a scumbag like him could do to someone like me, but she continued stirring.
“He works with Jace Harbor’s father. He has all the fucking money in the world, just like your parents.” I stepped next to her at the counter, but I didn’t look in her direction. “But the rich don’t give a fuck about anyone, even their own children.”
Imani glanced over and pushed some hair off my forehead. “I know that all too well.”
I dug my fingers against the counter until they turned white. “When he lived with us, my father did drugs for as long as I could remember. One night, he had a party, had a bunch of his shitty fucking friends over to get high, got my mom drunk enough that she couldn’t stand straight. Used needles all over the floor from his friends. My sister …”
Pain shot through me at the memory. I should’ve fucking been there to stop it.
“Ana wasn’t even fucking two yet.”
Imani widened her eyes. “What happened?”
“She crawled on a bunch of used needles. One of those sons of bitches gave her HIV.”
