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Her face was still contorted after the pain had subsided.
“I’m fine. I’ll have a Tylenol and get through the next three hours before we’re finished here and can come home.”
“Alright. See you then.”
“See you.”
I felt awful for disregarding Aeir’s simple requests to allow her time with Aussie for the first two weeks, at minimum, without interruption. It was becoming clearer by the day that when it came to Aussie, she and I would bump heads if I didn’t do better. She’d adapted so well to motherhood in such a short amount of time that I’d think she carried Aussie for nine months and birthed her naturally if I didn’t know any better.
“You found a fucking clone, man?”
Stopping in my tracks, I took offense to the inaccurate revelation Hank thought he was having.
“She resembles Anna, yeah, but I didn’t find her. She found me. It’s called having a type… a preference. She fit the mold, but she’s not a clone.”
“Pipe down, my nigga. I’m just making an observation.”
“I’m good. Just stating facts.”
“Understood.”
“What’s on your agenda for the day? What made you stop by?”
“I heard you were in my neck of the woods yesterday. I didn’t believe a word of the shit until I pulled up to see you with the fresh fade, trimmed up and shit, looking like the nigga I once knew.”
“Yeah. I was out that way, fucking with them niggas. It was Mercer’s birthday. We picked up Pops and pulled down on that nigga.”
“Man, still can’t believe he’s out. This year has been full of goodness and mercy.”
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around all this shit, man.”
“I’m going to get my ass out of here. I need to catch up with the wife for lunch. Hit me up. I’m glad to see you’ve shaken back.”
“One love.”
“One love.”
Through the windshield, I laid eyes on Willie. He tossed a hand in the air. I responded with a nod before climbing the steps to my porch and waiting for my reading to be given access to my house. Promising to keep busy and stay out of the girls’s way, I locked myself inside of my office without plans of coming up for air until it was time to start dinner.
* * *
A knockon the door hours later tugged at my attention, forcing my eyes away from the screen where I replayed the same video for the twentieth time in the last thirty minutes. Identifying anyone by the small, faint shadow would be impossible, but I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to try.
“Daddy!”
I opened the door to find Aussie standing with her hands folded over her chest.
“What’s up, baby? How was school?”
“I’m hungry. Mommy said you’re doing dinner tonight. Can you make spaghetti? I love spaghetti.”
“I know, baby. Where’s Mommy?”
“Her is on the couch.”
“She, Aussie. She’s on the couch.”
“Ooopsie.”
