On my way. I need to take you somewhere. She can come too – S
I pocket the phone and get on my bike. I have to do something to put my mind at ease.
***
I walk inside the house to find Ruthie and Rochelle sitting on the couch.
“Hey. Everything okay?” Ruthie asks.
I stare at her and shake my head.
She stands. “Skull?” Her voice wavers.
I want to tell her I’m fine, but I can’t speak past the lump in my throat. I walk over to her, bury my fingers in her silken hair and pull her to me. I press my lips to hers. “I love you.”
“Whoa. What happened?” She cups my face and tilts it to the left and right. Her hands run down my body.
“What are you doing?”
“Checking you for an injury.”
I laugh. “I had an awakening. I knew I needed to return home and come clean. I love you, Ruthie Gregg. Life is crazy. I have no clue what’s going to happen from one minute to the next. So I needed to tell you that.”
“I love you too.” Tears glisten in the Peridot jewels she calls eyes.
I smile.
Rochelle’s squeals make me flinch and ruin the moment.
“You guys are like some romance novel.”
I grimace. “Fuck that. This is real. Speaking of real. Get ready to go. We need to shop.”
Ruthie’s jaw drops.
“For the baby.”
“Oh, I take back everything I said earlier,” Rochelle says.
“I don’t know if I like you or not,” the words are out before I can filter and I wonder if the baby brain shit is catching.
“Hah. At least you’re honest,” Rochelle says.
“I know a man ain’t supposed to get between sisters, but I need to know where you stand with my Old Lady. When she needed you, you sided with your mom.”
“Damn, you called it, Ruthie. I wasn’t choosing a side. I love them both. Mom had just revealed a painful, dark secret. I couldn’t leave her alone. I knew Ruthie was hurt, but she’d be okay. I couldn’t say the same for Mom. I had to see where her head was at.”
“Obviously still up her ass, seeing as how she’s still acting like a crazy bitch.”
Rochelle flinches.
I stare her down daring her to defend her mother in my home.
“I don’t agree with what she’s doing. That doesn’t make her any less my mother.”
“Keep that shit separate from Ruthie. You don’t play messenger, or pressure her. You start stressing her out, and I’m going to step in.”
Rochelle looks to Ruthie.