Like a Sister(21)

This time her “what” was because I was avoiding looking at her. “Nothing,” I said. “It’s just that pregnancy and partying don’t exactly go together.” Partying. My code word for her increasing drug intake. “You’d have to stop.”

“Right. And I would.”

She sounded way too confident. It instantly annoyed the crap out of me, but I played it cool. “The only pills you could take would be prenatal vitamins.” I reached for the plan B. But instead her hand grabbed mine. “Hey!” I said, finally turning to her.

She looked me dead in the eye. “You don’t believe me?”

“I do,” I said. She sounded so certain. I was obviously the only one here who didn’t believe a word she’d said. “If you do get pregnant, I better be the first person you tell. Even before the daddy.”

Letting go of my hand, she stuck out hers as if offering some blood oath. “Deal.”

I grabbed the box and giggled for a full five seconds before I realized she was serious. So we shook. Then I said, “Now that’s settled, I need to find some water to wash this down.”

I stared at the pregnancy test as questions came at me like darts. Was that why she had come to see me? To tell me I was going to be an aunt? Or to tell me she needed help because someone wasn’t happy it was his? Or wasn’t happy it wasn’t? My blood ran colder than an Alpha Phi Alpha chant. Had he followed her up to the Bronx? Gotten her high on cocaine, shot her up? Had he intended for her to overdose, after all?

I leaned back so hard my head banged against the wall, but I didn’t even feel it.

Desiree, what did you get yourself into? And why did you die before you could tell me?

“You sure everything’s okay?”

Erin knocked this time. I’d forgotten she was there.

I stood up, gripping the test so hard I was surprised it didn’t break. There was nothing to be accomplished hiding in here. I bent down, picked up the crumpled paper, wrapped it around the pregnancy test, and stuck the whole shebang in my back pocket. Then I washed my hands. Twice.

I came out to find Erin checking her phone. Even though she’d just knocked, she jumped when she saw me, like I was some manager who’d caught her slacking at work. She quickly shoved the phone into her back pocket and hurriedly finished putting a pair of Desiree’s shoes in a suitcase.

Seeing her cell reminded me of Desiree’s. “Did you and Desiree have Find My Friends set up?”

“Wish we did. The police said her phone was missing.” She paused for a second. “What was that noise in the bathroom?”

She probably already knew about the pregnancy test, but still, I played it cool. “Something fell. What did you mean before when you said she didn’t have a new dealer? Had she been using a lot lately?”

Erin grabbed the pile of clothes off the bed. “No, despite my best efforts.”

“When did she stop?”

“Honestly, I don’t remember. It was like one day we went to get margaritas and instead she got water.”

“Two weeks ago? Two months ago?”

“We were in Cabo, whenever that was.”

Three weeks ago. The secret social media stalking finally had been good for something.

“All I remember is that she didn’t want to talk about it,” Erin said. “Made a joke it was some ‘mid-year’s resolution.’”

I nodded like I was thinking it over when I was really thinking about how if Ms. Like a Sister hadn’t known Desiree was with child, Desiree hadn’t wanted anyone to know. The least I could do was keep her secret—while figuring out prospective fathers. Factor in the four weeks on the test and the Cabo trip, and I was looking at a point of conception seven weeks back. I just needed to figure out who she was having sex with at that time.

“Was it because of a guy?” She looked at me strange so I kept on. “You said she and Naut were off again. Thought maybe she’d already found a replacement, as part of her mid-year’s resolution.”

She shook her head. “They broke up a couple of months ago, but it was one of those long-drawn-out things, and she wasn’t seeing anyone new yet.”

Shitnuts. Figures it wouldn’t be that easy. Desiree was not above an occasional one-night hookup.

“I was surprised she invited Naut last night,” Erin said. “Surprised he came.”

I wasn’t sure how he factored into all this—ex-boyfriend, friend with benefits, baby daddy—but he was the one who’d told the police Desiree needed to see someone: me. That made him worth talking to as soon as I could. “You have his number?”

I motioned to the phone stuffed in her back pocket making her butt look as lumpy as an at-home Brazilian butt lift.

“I don’t. I tried to stay out of their relationship. She dragged me up to his place in Harlem once. They were arguing so much I finally said I needed to run to the drugstore and instead went to see a movie across the street. I can get his number, though.”

“That’s okay.” As soon as she’d mentioned the theater I knew exactly where he lived. “Let’s keep in touch, though.”

In case I had more questions. She rattled off a number with an area code I didn’t recognize. I immediately keyed it into my contacts, then texted her. “Get it?”