This is about as awkward as a situation could possibly be. There is no greeting that would be appropriate, so I blow past and leave him for Aiko to deal with. Through the screen door, I see Kimba already outside on the porch, head bent over her phone.

Pulling the door closed behind me, I put my hand over hers. She snatches it back, shaking her head.

“Ezra, do not.” Her voice is steady, but her hand trembles around the phone, despite her death grip.

“Look at me.”

She doesn’t, training her eyes to the porch floor. I cup her face, locking my hands gently around the high cheekbones, feeling the tense muscles at her jawline.

“Please talk to me, Tru.”

I hear the begging in my own voice and don’t care. Nothing means anything if she leaves this porch without hearing me out, without giving me a chance. She pulls free of my hands and steps away.

“You have, let’s see.” She looks at her phone. “Three minutes before Lamont, my Uber driver, arrives. Talk.”

“You can’t let this come between us.”

She whirls around at that, her sundress flaring out and re-settling around her long legs. “Let this come between us?” She barks out a disbelieving laugh. “If Aiko is pregnant with your baby, there is no us, Ezra.”

“The hell there’s no us. You can’t say that.”

“What the fuck do you expect me to say? That I’m fine with it? I’m not. Don’t ask me to be. I can’t…” She presses her lips together and blinks rapidly. For a moment, I wish I didn’t know her as well as I know my own hands, my own heart. There’s so much hurt under her fury and I know her too well not to see it.

“I’m just hearing all of this for the first time,” I say. “Just like you. I don’t know what the hell is going on. Don’t know what’s true or—”

“But it could be true. You did sleep with her, right?”

“Once. One time in months, and we’ve lived together for ten years. You can’t actually be angry that I slept with my ex-girlfriend once weeks ago before you and I even started.”

“Not so ex.” She laughs, the sound void of amusement. “This is her home, that’s her bedroom, possibly your baby she’s carrying. Not so fast with the ex.”

“Chaz is literally standing at the door.” I take her hands, holding on when she tries to pull away. “If Aiko is pregnant, it could just as easily be his.”

“This is some Jerry Springer shit,” she says, her breath coming hard. “I don’t need this. If I were a client of mine, I would advise them to walk away and not look back.”