“If he hasn’t done it before, why would he do it now?” Shay asked.
I opened my mouth to answer, but came up with nothing. I shrugged helplessly. “Maybe he’s embarrassed?”
“He might be,” she admitted. “He was definitely hurt by all of it.” She paused, braiding the section of hair she had been working on. “But do you think he wants to make a spectacle out of it in front of your parents?”
“Considering he doesn’t have a lot to lose now, probably?”
Shay hummed as she continued to work on her hair. “I’m not gonna go to be a buffer between you and your brother. This is gonna take me a bit.” She paused and eyed me. “Should I do braids?” She paused as she looked in the mirror. “I think I have enough money in the bank to get somebody else to do it too.”
I sighed, letting her change the subject. “I like the braids. Especially when you put different colors in them with the little shiny beads.”
“Oh,” she grinned at me, “I do like the filigree tubes. I think I have a few.” She pouted and met my gaze. “But I can’t do any fun colors. They’ll call it unprofessional, and I’ll have to spend more money to get it fixed.”
“Shit, I have to be professional too,” I whined, and flopped back on the couch. “Why am I doing this again?”
“Because you decided you wanted to have a relationship with three men,” she began as she continued to work on her hair. “You thought you could get one of them their job back by working for your dad. Your dad is trying to maintain a relationship with you, and your mother misses you. Honestly, that neither one of them has come barging in here and demanded attention from you is surprising.”
“They just have my phone number,” I told her quietly. “They don’t know where I live.”
“And Kyle never told them?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know that he did. I don’t know if they even bothered to ask him.” I shrugged. “They haven’tshowed up. The only thing my dad has done is fish for me to come over for dinner.” I pulled my phone from my pocket to get a grasp of the time. “I was gonna wait until they got out of church and get there early, so I have an excuse to leave early.”
She nodded like she approved of my plan. “Is your brother gonna be there?” she asked, not looking at me.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. But since she mentioned my brother, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to bring up hers. “Yours wants an apology from you.”
Shay snorted at first, braiding another section of hair. She used it as an excuse to not meet my gaze. “I’ll apologize to my brother if you suck it up and tell yours you are sorry for all of this.”
“Fuck that noise,” I grumbled, and went for my mug. I wasn’t awake enough for this conversation.
“What’s the difference here?” Shay asked, dropping her hands into her lap. She raised an eyebrow as she looked at me. “We both did some trifling shit. What we did would be considered terrible to any outsider, and you know it.” She folded her arms and directed her attention to the movie I put on. “I have a better relationship with Darius. I should apologize, and I will eventually swallow my pride and do it.” She gave me side eye. “But, honestly, you took everything from Kyle. Boy has no close friends now. He deserves more of an apology than Darius does.”
I sniffed, taking a heavy pull from the mug. I looked back at my phone. It was just after noon, and it would take my parents half an hour to get back home. That was assuming they didn’t stop for lunch. I could leave now, take two buses to get to the suburbs, and it would probably take me about the same amount of time to get to the house. And it would save me from having this conversation.
“Look,” Shay said, making it clear she was watching me. “If you want to move forward, if you want any chance for anythingto be successful, you need to do the right thing.” She shook her head. “You can’t fix the relationship your brother has with his friends. But you can try to do something about the relationship you have with your brother.”
“Maybe I don’t want to fix the relationship I have with my brother,” I grumbled. “That was sort of the point to all of this.” I gestured to my phone. “All the fucked up that I am is his fault.”
“And none of yours?” she asked, sounding doubtful.
“Fuck off,” I huffed, getting up. That was the deciding point right there. “Let’s not pretend that Darius never got you into trouble when you were doing dumb shit.” I went to the kitchen, finishing my coffee off. I put the mug in the sink.
Unfortunately, Shay had followed me. “I’m just saying. You want me to set things right with my brother? I’m fine with that. But if I have to, you do too.” She leaned against the door frame. “You can only avoid doing the right thing for so long anyway.”
I didn’t want to face the truth and admit she was right, so leaving early for my parents would be my best escape.
Chapter 21
Grace
“Oh, honey!” Mom genuinely looked surprised to see me when she walked in the door. She immediately wrapped me up in a hug. “If I had known you were going to be here, I wouldn’t have had your father stop for lunch.” She held me tightly. “But I’m so glad to see you.”
“I didn’t think we were going to see you today,” Dad said from just behind her. He smiled, pleased to see me too. “But I can’t complain.”
“I have a roast in the oven,” Mom said as she pulled away. “It’ll be a little while for it to be done. But I’ve got a few things that I found while I was doing some tidying up in your bedroom. We can go through them. If you want to keep them, you can take them with you.”
“You don’t need to do that now,” Dad protested, giving my cheek a kiss. “We just got in the door. Let’s sit down and relax.” He didn’t hesitate to walk into the living room. “I believe there’s a few games today.” He hesitated for a beat, turning to squint at me. “Do you like football?”