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eight?” Trisha asked. “Quick! Quick! Quick!”
    Delia rolled her eyes. “Kiss my ass, bitch.”
    Trisha laughed and said, “Hey, I got some news for you.”
    “What?” Delia asked.
    Trisha looked over at Candace. “Can I tell her? If you told Rilla, it’s over with anyway. Everybody gonna know by tomorrow.”
    Candace couldn’t help but laugh. Trisha was such a gossip, she would talk about you even if you were in the same room.
    “I’m sitting right here,” Candace said. “Don’t you want me to tell her?”
    “No! I wanna tell her,” Trisha said. She looked down at her baby and pulled him away from her milk bag. Willie Jr. was full. Candace was happy to see that titty get put up.
    “Go ahead and tell her,” she said.
    “Candace pregnant,” Trisha said without pause. She wore a smug look of satisfaction.
    Delia smiled. “You and Rilla having a baby?”
    I sure hope so , Candace thought. “Yeah,” she said. She brought her hand to her face and nibbled her thumbnail unconsciously.
    Delia sneered a little. “Not me, girl. I’m not finna have my body all stretched out and nasty . CC knows he gets no babies here . He have to get some other bitch pregnant if he want a baby.”
    Candace didn’t want to get anywhere near responding to that. Her palms were sweaty. The whole room was hot. Beads of sweat formed under her nose. She stood and stretched nonchalantly.
    “I’ma go and get started on my homework,” she said. “Go ahead,” Trisha said. “One of us need to do something with our lives.”
    “Uh, excuse me ,” Delia said.
    “Bitch, you ain’t doing shit, and you know it,” Trisha said.

Chapter 5
    THE B SIDE
     
    Rilla crept up behind Candace as she washed dishes. He kissed the side of her neck and wrapped his arms around her. He had to use a lot more of his arms to hug her nowadays. Four months had passed, and Candace looked like she had a basketball under her shirt.
    “How my ladies doing today?” he asked.
    Candace jerked her shoulder up and caught him under in the chin. “Leave me alone, Rilla.”
    He took a step back. “Damn, baby. It’s like that?”
    “What time did you get in last night?” she asked. “I don’t know. Two? Three?”
    “Where were you?”
    “On the cut, baby. Why?” He stepped forward again and palmed her booty with both hands. She kicked backwards and caught him on the shin this time.
    “ Ouch! Damn, girl, why you hitting me?”
    She turned to face him. At nine o’clock in the morning, Rilla was already dressed and ready to go. He wore baggy jeans and a long T-shirt that hung to his knees. Candace was dressed, too, but she hated her clothes. She had to get a new wardrobe to compensate for her changing figure, and all of the maternity outfits looked tacky to her; her pants were built funny, and her blouses were ugly and loose. She had classes until one o’clock today and another appointment with her doctor at one-thirty.
    “Rilla, you said you were going to finish your CD.”
    “I’ma finish it this week.”
    “I’ve been with you a year, Raul. A whole year .”
    “I know, baby. Why you trippin?”
    She looked down at her stomach and then back to his face. “You don’t see this?”
    “Yeah, I see it, Candace.”
    “You said you were going to get your music straight,” she nagged. “You said you weren’t going to be selling drugs by the time she gets here.”
    “I’m trying, girl.”
    “How are you trying, Rilla? You don’t have your CD ready. Nobody can look at it if you don’t record it. A whole year and all you have is that same album— Rilla Time . Nobody’s listening to that. You’re not even doing concerts anymore.”
    “I’m trying.”
    “How are you trying, Rilla? Tell me exactly what you’re doing to fix this. I really need to know.”
    “I don’t have to explain myself to you,” he said and turned to leave the room.
    “ Yes you do! ” Candace followed after him, tears already welling in her eyes. She didn’t know