“Talk to me, shorty. What’s up?” I pried, pulling on her hands, that were covering her face in an attempt to keep me from seeing her cry.
“I don’t know what to do… I can’t… we can’t just drop her off anywhere. I know this
is not what you want, Miami. It’s not even what I want, but don’t make me do this,” she cried, looking at me with sad eyes.
Big tear drops fell from her eyes when she looked at me. Shae’s heart was one of the things that made me fall in love with her in the first place. I say that shit all the time that her inner and her outer beauty was some shit that attracted me to her from the get-go. Here she was, didn’t even know the first thing about this little girl, and her heart was so fuckin’ big that she couldn’t just drop her off. Any other woman would have left Maya in the garage where she’d found her.
I used my hands to wipe away the tears on her face, and I didn’t say shit. First off, I would never make my shorty do some shit that she didn’t want to do, so why the thought of me having her just drop Maya off somewhere even registered in her mind was beyond me. I turned toward the backseat and looked at Maya, who had been looking in the front seat at Jashae and I the entire time. She was a pretty little girl, which is why I was having a hard time understanding how anyone could just throw her to the wolves like that.
“You hungry, Maya?” I asked.
Her head was down, and she shrugged like she didn’t know if she was hungry or not. I let out a laugh. All the while, my eyes were still on her.
“You hungry or not, lil mama? What you want to eat?” I asked.
Her head was still down, and she hadn’t said anything yet.
“Pizza,” she literally mumbled. I mean, I practically read her lips to see what she said because that’s just how low she was.
“Pizza it is then. You want pizza, shorty?” I asked Jashae, and she let me know that pizza was fine.
I had a little spot in Miami that I liked to go to, which was called, Andiamo! Brick Oven Pizza, so that’s where I decided to take them. The entire way to the restaurant, no one said anything. I was pretty sure that everyone was wrapped up in their thoughts about what was going to come after this. To tell you the truth, I didn’t know what the outcome would be. Not to say that there was anything wrong with Maya, but lil mama wasn’t my daughter, and neither was she Jashae’s daughter. Not to sound selfish, but I just didn’t see how she should be our priority.
I wasn’t even putting this shit on Trip because that nigga was locked up, and he wouldn’t be able to do a damn thing with Maya because it wasn’t like she could be in the cell with him. I put this shit on his raggedy ass baby mama and her raggedy ass mammy! I had no thoughts of just dropping Maya off anywhere, but at the same time, I don’t necessarily agree with Shae and I having to be the ones to raise her either. My mind was going into overdrive, and to stop those thoughts, I ended up turning on the radio in hopes that it would block out the voices that were in my head.
Almost twenty minutes later, we pulled up to the restaurant. There really wasn’t much of a wait, so we were able to walk right in and get seated. We sat at a booth, where I sat on one bench by myself, and Maya and Jashae sat on the other side together. The waitress had given Maya a coloring sheet and some crayons, which she had yet to pick up. My daughter would have had that crayon in her hands, ready to play tic-tac- toe, although her little ass didn’t know how to play for shit, and she was only three. She would be four in a couple of months, though.
“What kind of pizza do you like?” Shae asked Maya.
“Chh… Chesse” she responded.
Maya liked Shae; that much was so obvious. She wasn’t as timid around her.
“I like cheese pizza too. I think I want to try the pineapple pizza this time, though. You like pineapples on your pizza?” Jashae asked Maya.
She quickly shook her head no, as if that was disgusting. That shit was disgusting, and it had me looking at Shae funny. I looked at her the same way I looked at her last night when she put mustard on the donuts that she made me go out and get her at almost eleven o’clock at night.
“You don’t ever put pineapples on your pizza. Your ass don’t even like pepperoni,” I reminded her.
“I know, baby, but I want to try something different,” she said, and then she focused her attention back on Maya.
I didn’t say shit. I just continued to scan the menu, although I already knew what I wanted.
“Is… ssh… shee… going… tt… to co… come back. ff… foorr me?” Maya asked, looking up at Shae.
More than likely, she was referring to her raggedy ass mama. I could tell that Shae didn’t want to answer that question, but she did it anyway.
“Maya, I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen. Who else watches you besides your mama and nana?” Jashae asked.
“Me,” she sadly responded.
“You want to try calling your mommy?” Jashae asked, and Maya nodded her head that she did.
Jashae looked over at me before she said something.
“I have her number from the DM. I’m going to try it again,” she let me know, and I nodded.
I watched as Shae dialed the number, and she passed Maya the phone. She reached her little hand out and placed the phone to her ear. I could see it in her eyes that she was anticipating her mom answering the phone.