Hard Hit (IceCats 3)

“Okay. Well, I need help.”

I go still. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, of course. I’m sorry, that sounded worse than I intended,” she says. Though, I highly doubt it. I get my dramatics from my mother. “Your father is on a golfing trip, and I got a flat tire. I got AAA to take me to the tire shop, but they can’t replace my tire until tomorrow when the tire comes in. Can you come pick me up?”

I shouldn’t hesitate, but stupidly I do.

“Child, why are you pausing! It’s ‘Yes, Mother. I’m coming right now.’ I gave you life!”

I make a face. “Actually, it was Dad that gave me life, and you—”

“Jaylin, come get me. I’ll send you the address.”

She hangs up, and I drop my phone to my thigh. Celeste babbles something, and I nod. “I agree. This is becoming one hell of a pickle.”

I kiss her head and then grab Kirby’s keys to go get my mother.

In his truck, with his daughter.

This should be completely uneventful

“What am I going to say?”

Aviva has been laughing since I called her to update her on my current situation. “Girl, time to come clean.”

“Time to come clean? Aviva, coming clean is telling my mother I am dating a man who has a child. Not showing up with said child without her knowing anything.”

She’s still laughing. I want to wring her neck! “I mean, you did tell her you were dating, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, so you didn’t tell her the whole story, but it’s okay. Celeste is a doll. She’ll be completely taken with her.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Oh, I am. But she’ll lose her shit on you first.”

“Wow, thanks.”

“Keeping it real, sis.”

“Jesus,” I say, shaking my head. “I still haven’t heard from Jean or even Kirby—”

“Nico told me they had a lot of meetings today. Tonight is a big game before they come home for two games. They are ironing out some things, according to my baby daddy.”

“Oh, okay. Jean is so scared she’s in trouble.”

“It’s her dad. Kirby won’t mind, and Celeste is in good hands.”

“That’s what I said, but thanks. I feel all adult and shit.”

She scoffs. “You’ve always been really good with kids. I have no doubts Celeste is having a blast.”

“She is,” I say, looking in the rearview mirror that reflects a mirror facing her that shows her sleeping sweetly. Then again, I think everything she does is sweet and cute. I might be bewitched by this little angel. “She helped me work.”

She laughs. “I bet she did. You got nothing done?”

“Not even a full sentence typed,” I laugh with her as I pull into the tire shop. “Okay. I’m about to pick up the mother lady. I’ll report later.”

“May God be with you.”

“Thanks, I need Him,” I say, hanging up as my mom walks toward the truck with a look on her face. A very disgruntled and angry look.

She opens the door, throwing her purse on the floorboard as she asks, “Whose truck is this?”

“A friend.”

“A friend?” she asks incredulously as she heaves herself up in Kirby’s high-set truck. “Looks like a man’s truck.”

“Yes, my manfriend’s truck.”

She side-eyes me, and her tone is very deep and suspicious when she mutters, “Mmm-hmm.” I grin as she shuts the door, but she is in anything but a good mood. “I told your father to take my car in for a tire change a while back. He didn’t listen. Just like you, no one listens to me.”

“Home, Mother?”

“Yes, please.”

I take off, and I’m surprised again by how easy it is to drive Kirby’s truck.

“It’s unlike you to miss work. Is your friend okay?”

She’s looking at her phone, and I’m unsure if I should tell her there is a baby in the back seat. Maybe I won’t need to. Maybe I can play this to my advantage. Though, that does feel a little weird. “I don’t know yet. I haven’t heard from her. Her dad is sick.”

“Oh, I’ll say a prayer for him. What’s his name?”

“I don’t know. His last name is Espinoza.”

I don’t have to look at my mom to know her eyes are shut and she is praying to the good Lord above. “Her name?”

“Jean.”

I smile, saying my own little prayer for Jean and her family as I drive toward my parents’ home. They live about twenty minutes from the city’s center, and I hope that Celeste stays asleep. I’ve decided I’m not going to openly admit to having a child in the car.

“Okay. Hopefully, he’ll be okay.”

“Hopefully.”

“What did she need you to do? And why do you have this manfriend’s truck? Is the manfriend the man you’ve been dating while you’ve been refusing to meet all my friends’ single sons?”

“I have been refusing because I’m done with the men you set me up with. Yes, this is his truck—”

“Hmm. What’s his name?”

“Mom—”

“Jaylin, you’re dating him, so he must be special. It’s been a few weeks now, correct?”