Page 59 of The Impossible

“Except that nigga, right?”

“What nigga, Hondo?” She opened the box, smiling like a fat kid.

“The one who was all in your fucking face.”

She laughed. “Actually no, and that shouldn’t matter, because the only nigga I like in my face is you.” She then held out a forkful of the brownie for me.

“Good answer.”

She laughed. “So my father has called a million times over the last several days trying to get me to meet him. And yes I know, that’s a no. But the way he acts oblivious leads me to question if he actually knew what was going on.”

“He may not have known explicitly, but I refuse to believe he was all the way in the dark about that shit, Nic. He’s been in this game too long to be so naïve.”

She nodded. “I hear you. Now can I ask something and you not get mad at me?”

“Shoot.”

“Where is my brother?” Her eyes bored into mine, looking for an answer.

Instead of responding, I pulled my phone from my pocket and dialed Otto on speaker.

“Yo, what’s up? I’m kind of in the middle of something, nigga. You good?” he asked all in one breath.

“Yeah, I’m straight. Nic was looking for you.” I looked from my phone to her and her expression was comical. I told her them niggas weren’t her family.

“Yo, what’s up, sis? You good?” Otto asked.

She mugged the shit out of me before responding. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Cool. I’ma have to drop by the sanctuary. I’m tryna see why I ain’t met the family tiger yet.”

She laughed. They talked for a few minutes about Zar before he said he’d call back. As soon as we hung up, she nailed me in the chest.

“Otto is my brother, but you know that’s not who I was asking about.”

“I told you those niggas weren’t your family and I meant it. Now stop being stingy and share some more of that.” I motioned toward the box in her hand before pushing my hand under the sweatshirt and resting it on her stomach.

She laughed, then dipped the fork into the box and pushed it toward my lips.

“So, tell me about your day.”

“Nothing to tell really. I had a couple meetings and some business with my lawyer. My day was long and nothing interesting. Too much shit to be handled and not enough handlers.”

She nodded. “Speaking of handlers, I really think my sister may be coming back here. She asked if I was serious about her being able to stay here.”

“You told her yeah, right? In-law suite wouldn’t be used any other way.”

She sighed. “Yeah, I did. She’s just iffy and feels like she’s impeding. I told her this is a lot of house, that she wouldn’t be. But that’s Paige. I think she’s overthinking everything with my father and grandfather.”

“I’m handling that shit soon, so don’t stress.”

She looked at me for a while, her eyes studying mine before she nodded. “Okay.”

We settled into lying on the sofa, my head in her lap and my hand against her still flat abdomen. She’d run me through her day, her excitement at the sanctuary, then her thoughts about the zoo as a whole. She was ecstatic about the freedom and had a million ideas for it.

“What do you think it is?” Her hand covered mine on her nonexistent belly.

“My daughter.” I grinned at the thought.