"Can you hurry up? We've been in the mall for hours." Shy complained as I picked up a pair of Jordans.
"You invited yourself on my mall trip and you want to complain? We will leave when I get ready, you can always catch the bus back home." I shrugged.
"Annoying."
I held up the shoe, "Do you like these?"
"I really do."
"Okay." I nodded. "Can you check if they have them in Juju's size?"
"Yessuh massa'." She said in a shaky slave voice.
"And I'm supposed to be the annoying one?" I laughed.
"Can I help you?" I turned to see a sales associate behind me.
"Yeah, uh, can I get these in a size seven and eleven and a half."
"No problem." He said taking the shoe from me before disappearing into the back.
I headed to the register just at the same time the guy had brought the shoes I had requested over and Shy walked over with a pair for Juju.
"Look at y'all with the family goals. You and him have been acting all crazy in love since coming back from your weekend in Atlantic City a couple of weeks back."
"Bye Tiana." I waved her off as I inserted my card into the chip reader.
"Don't be calling my government like that." She smacked her lips. "you guys are cute though. Where is my best friend at anyway?"
"Her and her best friend Quan went roller skating."
"Aww." Shy cooed. "I really love their relationship."
"Me too. He really takes care of her as if she belongs to him and my baby loves her some Juan."
"Do you mind that? I mean he's not her father but sometimes he acts like it."
"She knows that but it honestly doesn't mean anything. I appreciate the fact that he is an acting father when he doesn't have to be."
"Does she still ask about Justin?"
"No and she doesn't ask about his sorry ass parents either. They stopped contacting her and I stopped reaching out for them to. I'm not going to beg them to be in her life." I told her as we walked over to the Auntie Anne's kiosk. "You want a pretzel?"
"Hell yeah."
--
"Mommy, Juan fell when we went skating." Juju told me as soon as I walked through the door.
"Juju I thought we weren't going to tell Mommy that."
"Oh yeah." She shrugged her shoulders not really caring that she had spilled his secret. "We made you dinner with love."
I had heard what she said but I couldn't acknowledge it because I was too busy staring at her mouth. She was missing a tooth. "Juju, did you lose a tooth today?"
She looked confused and then shocked. "Oh my goodness Mommy! I forgot to tell you." She turned to Quan with an angry face. "Juan why didn't you tell her?" She fussed at him.
"My name is Quan, not Juan." He said.
Petty.
"Juan, Quan, same thing." she told him.
In that moment, I couldn't control the laughter that I was trying to hold in. This whole time the little girl probably knew how to say his name properly.
