Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give, #0)(76)

The buzz go off, and the inmates come in. Today, Pops one of the first ones out.

I stand up. My heart seem to beat along with his footsteps. He look older, but that ain’t possible. It’s only been a couple of months. I think it’s the bags under his eyes that age him.

He reach the table. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

We just look at each other. I can’t hug him after how I did him. He obviously don’t wanna hug me either, since he ain’t moving.

I sit back down. “Thanks for agreeing to see me.”

Pops take the seat across from me. “I’ll always see you, you know that. Faye said you wanted to talk.”

I watch my fumbling fingers. “Um, yeah. I um—”

Pops dip his head so I can see him. “My name not ‘Um,’ and my eyes not down there.”

I look at him. This man oughta go off on me. Let Seven treat me how I treated Pops, and I’d put his behind in check real quick.

In Pops’s eyes, there’s a whole lot of things he ain’t saying, like I love you and I missed you. I’m pissed at you ain’t one.

It make my throat close up. “I’m sorry, Pops. I shouldn’t have cut you off like I did.”

“Aw, Mav Man, I’m not tripping. You were right that day. I had a lot of nerve coming down on you after all I’ve done. I wouldn’t have talked to me either. I forgive you. I’m willing to forget too. A’ight?”

He reach his fist across the table even though he not supposed to. I lightly bump it.

A smile stretch across his face. “My main man. What’s going on with you? How’s baby boy and Lisa? Her pregnancy okay?”

“Ma didn’t keep you updated?”

“She did. I wanna hear from you though. My son. Don’t tell me you forgot how to talk these past few months, big as your mouth is.”

“Who I get it from?”

He let out one of them gut-busting laughs. “Okay, you got me, you got me.”

“I know. Seven good. He crawling now. I dread when he start walking. He already wanna get into everything. Lisa good. Her pregnancy fine, in fact.” I dig in my pocket and put the sonogram picture on the table. I got it from Lisa’s appointment last month. The baby ain’t a li’l blob no more. It’s starting to look like a real baby.

Pops pick up the sonogram. “Would you look at that? That’s definitely the Carter family apple head.”

“Maaaan. He just gotta grow into it, a’ight?”

“He? Y’all found out it’s a boy?”

“Nah, but I know it is. Lisa think it’s a girl.”

“Then it’s a girl. Always listen to a woman’s intuition. Won’t ever lead you wrong.” He hold the picture toward me.

I wave him off. “That’s yours. I thought you’d want a picture of your new grandson.”

Pops laughs. “A’ight, stubborn. How’s your momma? She told me she fine, but I know she don’t want me worrying if she not.”

“She good. Ummm . . . Moe might be moving in with us.”

“Oh.” Pops quiet for a minute. “You cool with that?”

It feel like he drew a line in the sand with that question; he on one side, and Ma on the other, and I gotta pick who I’m with.

I tiptoe down the middle. “I’m cool with whatever make Ma happy. That’s nothing against you—”

“I know.” There’s another pause. “You think your momma’s in love with her?”

I picture that light in Ma’s eyes that she only get when Moe around, and that’s all the answer I need. It may not be what Pops wanna hear. He and Ma been together since they were my age. That’s twenty years of love I could be messing with. “We shouldn’t talk ’bout this.”

“I’m fine, Maverick. Be honest with me. I can handle it.”

“A’ight.” It take me a moment regardless. “I think Ma is in love with her.”

Pops let out a long sigh. “I had a feeling.”

“She love you, Pops, but—”

He put his hand up. “This isn’t for you to deal with, Mav Man. I shouldn’t have asked you no way. Me and your momma can work through this ourselves, a’ight?”

“A’ight.”

Pops tiredly wipe his face. “Man. Enough of that. What did you wanna talk to me about?”

I tried to figure that out the whole three-hour drive up here. I honestly ain’t sure why I came in the first place. I know I gotta kill Red, no question, but it’s like I need to talk to Pops. Need to hear him say that I’m doing the right thing. Need him to tell me that I’m being a man.

My foot won’t stop tapping. It don’t help that we sitting in a prison, surrounded by guards. “I just . . . I wanted to tell you I got some business to handle for Dre.”

“What kinda business?” Pops asks.

“I found out who shut him down.”

Pops’s eyes get big, but only for a second. He straighten up, sneak a quick glance at the guards, then look at me. “Was it green?”

In other words, Garden Disciples. I shake my head. “Red, actually.”

“Red,” Pops says, slowly, and he seem to figure it out. “You sure?”