The cop had stopped paying attention to him, shoving Kanani to a sitting position as the second cop got out of his car, and Serene finally felt some relief.
"Officer Wu," she called out.
The officer glanced her way. His brows shot up and he walked toward them.
Everyone knew Officer Wu. Serene met him when she'd wiped out on her skateboard a few months back. He'd helped her to her feet, asked her how she was, told her to be careful. She always waved to him when she saw him. They all did.
"Serene," Officer Wu said. When he was a few feet away, his eyes roamed over their group. "Taylor."
"We stopped to say hi to Taylor."
The cop who pulled them over began to talk over her.
Ron joined them. "You know him?" He asked Serene, pointing at Sweetness.
"He's a friend." Her throat felt tight and, for the first time, she was aware of Erica sobbing. Ron's face softened when he looked at her, and then his eyes fell on Taylor and he reddened before staring at Kanani, who sat on the curb, hands cuffed behind her back.
"Fucking ass, pulls us over for no reason, jus’ cause we slow down to say hi to her." Kanani gestured with her head toward Taylor.
"That's no way to talk," Ron said sternly.
Kanani glared at him but then lowered her eyes. The officers had walked away to talk amongst themselves and now they were coming back. Officer Wu asked Sweetness for his license, registration and insurance card. After some minutes of looking everything over, he handed everything back and told him to go home.
"I just need to take her," Sweetness said softly, pointing at Erica.
Serene gave Erica a hug and then nudged her toward the car, where she climbed into the front seat, lip trembling. After Sweetness pulled away, Officer Wu gave Kanani a dressing down before unlocking the handcuffs and telling them to go home. Ron offered to drive them the short distance, but Serene said they were okay to walk. He blushed again and then jogged across the street to his car, leaving the three girls to make their way down Jackson.
Five minutes into walking, Taylor said to Kanani, "You've got a mouth on you."
Kanani gave her a once over. "That's right, sis," she shot back. "We should've never stopped fo’ talk to you, ass half hanging out your shorts. You look like rape bait."
Taylor stopped walking and then threw her head back, laughing, which made Kanani chuckle.
They parted ways at Serene's, Taylor walking over to Enzo's. Hips sashaying, she glanced back at them and winked. Inside the house, Serene almost tripped over the suitcase sitting at the entrance. Aarav was just coming into the living room, holding a second suitcase, a look of resignation in his dark eyes. A haze of smoke lingered in the room, the scent of weed overpowering. Darpan sat on a beanbag, toking a joint.
"What's going on?" Serene asked.
"I found an apartment." Aarav set the case down.
"What? Why?"
Serene watched her stepdad go to the little table in the dining room where the phone was kept alongside a small pad of paper and a cup with a broken handle holding a few pens and some pencils in need of sharpening. He wrote something down on the paper.
"That's my address."
"We don't want you to go, man," Darpan said.
"Where's Ramani?" Serene asked of Aarav.
"Upstairs," Darpan answered for him, his speech lazy, a bit slurred.
Aarav opened the door, grabbed both suitcases and walked out. Kanani shut the door after him, taking in the scene alongside Serene before giving her a look. Serene marched upstairs to find her mother bent over, scrubbing something off the floor. She took in the new ripples of fat on the backs of her thighs, her shorts stretching tight over her bottom, which suddenly seemed much bigger. And then it hit her as Ramani stood. Serene's eyes traveled to the small bulge of her belly. There was panic in Ramani's eyes, her features pinched with sadness, but she flashed Serene a smile.
"Your hair looks good."
"Are you pregnant?"
The smile faltered, then held firm.
"As a matter of fact, I am."
"Why is Aarav leaving?"
"You'll have to ask him that." Ramani gave a small toss of her head and ran her hand over her frizzy hair, which was so much thicker and longer than Serene had ever remembered.
"We told him we didn't want him to go."
"Who? You and Darpan?"
"Who else?"
"Aarav is your husband, Ramani, not that snake you went pick up on the side a the road!"
Her mother held her gaze and then tossed the rag in her hand onto the kitchen counter. "Serene, stay out of my love life and I'll stay out of yours."
The sound of the car starting up had Serene going to the window to look out. "You gave Aarav the car?"
"I told him he could borrow it."
37
Steve - February 2020
Steve opened the gate with the remote and watched Dora make her way across his front yard. She had called him crying last night about her relationship with Erica, begging to come by, so Steve had sent Tera and the kids away so they could talk. A lot of what she'd said was incoherent, and he wondered if she'd been drinking, but he managed to understand that she wanted to come over immediately. He'd been forced to tell her no. Sara was still sulking over the incident that happened during Dora's shopping trip with the kids at T.J. Max, and Jesse was acting like a little shit to Tera. His girlfriend had always been patient with his kids, but yesterday it seemed that some of that patience had finally worn thin. She'd snapped at Jesse a few times and pulled Steve aside, asking why they had the kids yet again when it wasn't their turn. Were they going to be taking the kids every time Dora couldn't handle them? Schedules
