Satisfied 2X

I threw my hands around his neck. “I love you.”

He laughed. “Love you too.”

As soon as Dylan was gone I looked around my office. It hadn’t been an easy journey to get here. I had cried. I had sleepless night. Nights when I was so scared I didn’t know if I could make it work the next day. I started with a fifty-year old broken desk and now I was surrounded by beautiful art. I looked at the watercolor of us.

It was the only thing that mattered in this world—my true family. I pressed my palm to my stomach. “Ok, baby. Daddy number two is right. We’re going to fight for the Warriors because this team is going to be yours one day, if you want it.” I smiled. “You don’t have to have it. I won’t force you to have it, but I’m going to fight so you can make that decision—not your crazy uncle.”

I picked up my pink leather bag and marched to the elevator.

Candy called after me. “Do you need me to do anything?”

“No.” The doors started to close. “I’ll be out for a while.”

Forty-Four

Vanessa

Something felt off when I climbed the steps to my grandmother’s house. Gretchen wasn’t smiling. She had an odd look on her face.

“Hi, Gretchen.”

“They’re in the Warriors room.” She looked down and closed the door, taking two quick steps before she disappeared.

The Warriors room was what we called the room my grandfather had decorated with every piece of Warriors memorabilia collected since the team’s creation. Rugs, curtains, lamps, coasters. If they made something with the Warriors logo on it—it was in that room. As a kid, I thought it was fun. As an adult, I thought it was the height of tackiness.

I walked to the back of the house. I heard arguing. Their voices were getting louder. My grandmother was practically screeching.

“Grammy? Danny?” I looked between them.

“Nessa,” my grandmother called, trying to change the tone of her voice. I pretended I hadn’t heard them shouting two seconds ago. She scurried past the Warriors bookcase and presented her cheek for me to kiss.

“We didn’t know you were stopping by. It’s good you’re here.”

“Is it a bad time?” I asked.

I hadn’t seen them since last week. Danny’s unusual appearance in my office was the last visit.

“No, come on in, sis. Gram and I were just discussing my inheritance.”

“I’m not Gram,” she scolded. “It is Grammy and has been since you were born.”

“Gram, Grammy. We’re adults. Why can’t I say Clementine?”

She twirled to face him. “You are my grandson. Show some respect.”

He shrugged. “Sis, want to weigh in on this topic.”

I was hesitant to walk deeper into the room. “I’m not sure if I should, but I’ve always preferred Grammy.”

He scoffed, “Not about her name.”

Grammy shook her head. “He insists that since he has depleted his inheritance that you and I should split ours and contribute to replenish his trust fund.” She pinched her lips together.

“What?”

Danny spread his arms across the couch. “I can’t be the head of the family, if I’m the poor one. It wouldn’t look good.”

I was tired of it. Tired of the damn charade. Tired of his flippant attitude. My grandmother may have created this monster, but I hadn’t forgotten what Charlie said. She was still a woman mourning her son and husband—she was just desperate to cling on to a life that was buried. She didn’t deserve to be stripped of her money in her golden years so my brother could spend it on a stripper in Thailand. She didn’t deserve his treatment. Granddad wasn’t here to stand up for her, so I had to. Someone had to.