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“He ain’t got nothing,” Kaiden said, looking up from his phone.
“Anyway, good morning,” Q said.
“Good morning. Why are you feeding them like you live here?”
“Q is making me some pancakes,” Khari said.
There she goes with those pancakes. At least she wasn’t begging for Kyenna’s pancakes. I grabbed my coffee and leaned against the counter. This was the shit I had been scared of. A man fitting into my house too easily. Kaiden had gone from interviewing Q every time he walked through the door to arguing about football with him like they’d known each other for years. Khari didn’t even ask if Q was coming over anymore. If he wasn’t there, she asked where he was.
At first, I worried that meant everything was moving too fast. Then I realized my kids weren’t stupid. They knew Q wasn’t their daddy. They just liked him. That didn’t have to be a bad thing. I had to find a way to get out of my head. Right now, I needed to enjoy the moment because, just like Rah, this could all fade away at any moment. I took a sip of my coffee as Q fixed the kids’ plates. I sat at the table with them and just took in how all three of them interacted with one another.
Kaiden had practice at noon, and Q had volunteered to take him before I could open my mouth. I wasn’t mad about it. I had been driving to practices, games, camps, and workouts for a while now. Shameek would take it off my hands too, but it still was a lot because he wasn’t obligated to do anything for us. Sitting home for a few hours while somebody else handled one ride wasn’t going to kill me. Still, I gave him instructions while they ate.
“Make sure he has both water bottles because he’ll drink one and act like hydration is optional. His cleats are in the mudroom. He needs the black compression shirt under his pads, not the white one, because apparently the white one is uncomfortable now.”
“Ma,” Kaiden groaned.
“What?”
“I know what I need.”
“Last week you forgot your mouthpiece.”
“One time.”
“I got him, Averie,” Q said.
“I know. I’m just telling you what he needs.”
“And I’m just taking him to football practice. Not across the country.”
“Thank you,” Kaiden whispered.
The doorbell rang before I could respond. I looked towards the door.
“Who is that?” I asked.
Kaiden shrugged, so I looked at Q.
“I ordered something.”
“What did you order to my house?”
“Relax, please.”
He got up and headed towards the door. I followed because I didn’t trust him when he said relax. A man was standing outside with a large box. Q signed for it, thanked him, and dragged it inside.
“What is that?”
“For Kaiden.”
“I told you not to buy my kids expensive gifts.”
“It ain’t expensive.”
Q opened the box as Kaiden was coming around the corner. Inside was one of those training rebounders football players used to work on hand placement and reaction time. Kaiden’s eye lit up.
“Yo!” Kaiden said excitedly.
