Then Came You (Accidentally in Love Book 3)

by Nicole Falls

  ***

  Another few weeks passed without us hearing a word from Jami. I reached out to a buddy of mine from high school that ran a staffing agency and we’d gotten a temp to come in and cover her shifts. So far this new woman was working out fantastically and I had hoped to extend a permanent offer to her soon. I was just waiting for the results of her background check to come back to make sure we were in the clear.

  After doing some detective work, Ty found out a rather surprising fact about Jami that still had my head spinning. Apparently she had an on again, off again boyfriend who stayed in and out of jail. When he was in jail, her life was going fine, but when he was out? Her life was in shambles. The erratic behavior that Ty had mentioned was a direct effect of her relapsing, back to doing oxy with ol boy. The last anyone had seen of her, she was headed west—the boyfriend allegedly had a job waiting for him in Arizona and she was hot on his heels.

  I’d also managed to find another assistant pastry chef, so between her, Ty, and myself we were cranking out all of the breakfast pastries, breads, and muffins in record time, leaving less of a stressful turnaround time for the rest of the sweet treats that we peddled in the afternoons and evenings. The new pastry chef, Kia, was a perfect fit into our company culture, too. Ty and I went back and forth talking shit all morning as we prepped and she jumped right on in on day one. It made me feel good to know she was that comfortable with us immediately. I wanted the culture of Sweet Thang to be grounded in comfort and lighthearted and so far so good.

  I was in my office balancing my books when Ty peeked in saying there was a woman up front asking for me. I walked into the front of the house to see an unfamiliar woman chatting it up with our new cashier, Denise. I walked over and introduced myself.

  “Dame Patterson, you requested to see me?” I said, extending a hand.

  She met my hand with a firm grip, pumping it once, “Yes, Damon, we’ve spoken before, but I figured I’d come by in person to pin you down.”

  As soon as I heard her voice, I smiled, shaking my head.

  “Alisha, I promise I have not been avoiding you. It’s just been kind of crazy around here lately. I know I was hesitant about doing the profile initially, but I think I’m going to do it.”

  “Damn!” she said, snapping her fingers, “You capitulated pretty quickly. I came all prepared with a song and dance about the necessity of this piece for the culture. I had a whole monologue about the important of the Black man entrepreneur within our society and the hashtag black boy joy of being a man who lives outside of conventional or societal norms and you were already in.”

  We both laughed after her grand declaration and I invited her back to the office so we could talk through the particulars. I needed to know more about how she was crafting this profile—what she needed access to, who she’d want to talk to, and how soon I could expect for it to be out in the world for public consumption. I knew that it was an amazing opportunity for free publicity for Sweet Thang; so saying yes was a foregone conclusion. I had to be comfortable, however, with how I was going to be portrayed. After speaking with Alisha for more than an hour about her vision for the piece, I was left completely satisfied with the fact that this collaboration would work out perfectly.

  After Alisha left, I headed out myself, leaving Ty and Denise to close up shop. In addition to my standing date dinner date with Dorian, Reema, and DJ, I’d also added Danny and Leila into my rotation. Look…I could make all the desserts in the world, but my cooking left a lot to be desired. I had to rely on my sisters in law for home cooked meals whenever they were willing to let me come by. The life of a bachelor…

  I pulled up to Danny and Leila’s to see the boys outside playing basketball in the driveway. In addition to JR, Danny and Lei had four more kids. I stopped by their house less frequently because while I loved every single one of my nieces and nephews, their place was a constant hubbub of activity with no quiet moments to be found. I don’t know how they survived, honestly. They must have loved it, however because every time I turned around Leila had another bun in the oven. Though, that could also be the result of my brother loving the act of making those babies a little too much. I exited the car, walking straight through the kids’ game and stripping the ball from JR mid dribble. Immediately he and another kid that I recognized as Patricia’s son came over to try and get steal the ball back. A little fancy footwork and quick ball handling, gave me a clear path to the hoop, where I stuffed it while yelling, “In y’alls face!”

  “Nobody likes a showoff, Uncle Dame,” my niece Tatianna said from the sidelines where she sat in a huge pile of dirt, ruining the dress that I was sure Leila forced her into. Tati was a tomboy to the fullest, preferring tree climbing and playing rough and tumble with her brothers to being the delicate pinnacle of femininity that her mother seemed hell bent on turning her into. That’s the hazard of growing up in a house full of boys, I guess. I ruffled her hair as I passed.

  “Nobody likes a know-it-all, either, Lil Bit.”

  Danny was barbecuing tonight, so instead of going into the house I walked straight into the backyard where he stood over the grill with an amused look on his face.

  “You see ya stepson out there?” Daniel teased.

  “Chill,” I said, looking back over my shoulder making sure no one heard him and his nonsense, “Your brother talks too much, man. Ain’t nobody tell him to tell you my business?”

  “Wait…what are you talking about? You just told your own business. Remember the night of the opening, talmbout she finna be your wife. You actually shot the J?”

  Ah shit…I just assumed that Dorian had told him that Patricia and I were seeing each other, completely forgetting about what I’d told him and Nico the first night we met. I lifted a hand to scratch my head, trying to think of a way to clean up my reaction and coming up short as a sheepish grin spread across my face.

  “Nothing like that, man. We just…coolin’.”

  “You fucked?”

  “Yoooo, chill. We are not having this discussion right now. What the hell is going on on this grill, though? Why you out here frontin’ like you can really que?”

  “Negro please. You know I’m the Grill Master.”

  We went back and forth talking shit while he grilled and then once everything was done, rounded up the tribe and sat down at their outdoor table to grub. Leila’s line sisters were over tonight as well so it was a full house between them, me, Danny, Lei, their kids, and PJ. I was kinda surprised to see him over here as Patricia hadn’t indicated he’d be hanging out with my fam tonight. Not that she had to run anything by me, after all these kids knew each other before I even knew she existed, but I just found it curious that she hadn’t mentioned anything.

  As we sat down, I wound up next to PJ who was a nonstop chatterbox. That boy talked about everything from the girl he had a crush on to the fact that his mom went out to dinner with an old friend tonight and luckily allowed him to come hang out with JR and crew instead of being stuck at home with his normal old neighbor who watched him whenever his mother went out. He was just being a kid, speaking freely without a filter, but a part of me was getting a little upset. Not that I had any claims on Patricia—her doing, certainly not mine. And she wasn’t duty bound to inform me of every move in her life, but this information from her son had me feeling a bit off center. I thought our little groove we had going was progressing nicely and hoped I wasn’t about to get my face broken messing around with her.

  I pulled out my phone to shoot Patricia a text.

  We still on for tonight?

  My phone pinged instantly. I’d barely hit send before her reply came back.

  Absolutely. And as always, I need you buck nekkid, ready for me to climb aboard. – Fine Ass Patricia

  You got it, I replied, with a smirk on my face. Whatever old friend she was out with couldn’t have been anybody important, otherwise she wouldn’t have responded to me so quickly.

  PATRICIA

  After weeks of badgeri
ng I sat in Perk waiting for Cal to arrive. Somehow he’d managed to procure my number and had been blowing my phone up incessantly. He wanted to talk to me about Patrick and I was really hesitant to even broach the subject. To be honest, though more than a decade had passed my feelings about the Cal situation and Patrick’s parentage was still a bit raw for me. Did he have the right to know he’d sired a child? Sure…I guess, whatever. Was it my responsibility to seek out the information about where he was locked up, make arrangements to be on a damn visitors list and tell him this information as our palms pressed against Plexiglas, straining as if we could actually permeate the damn thing and touch for real? Nope. Not at all. I wasn’t setting my child up for a lifetime of bimonthly visits in a sterile room full with guards posted in the corner while we snacked on food from vending machines and informed daddy of major milestones. I was super good on that.

  I flicked my wrist upward, getting annoyed that Cal had yet to arrive before remembering I was early. As I looked at the clock, it changed to seven o’clock on the dot and the door opened with Cal striding through.

  “I know you’re a stickler for time, so I made sure I got here right on time,” he said, sliding into the seat across from me.

  I said nothing, simply inclining my head in acknowledgement of his presence. I sipped my latte before speaking, steeling myself with a hint of caffeine as I considered how to broach this conversation in the least conflict filled way possible.

  “Cal, I…I will take responsibility for not informing you that you had a child in this world. But…you gotta see where I was coming from, right? I was scared and I wanted to protect my baby and hell, myself from whatever the hell you had going on.”

  “Bir…Patricia, you have to see where I am coming from right now though, right?” he responded, echoing my question.

  I tried not to go on the defense, but I felt a little attacked. I remained quiet, giving him the space to keep going if he wanted to.

  “You could have at least told Jah, so he could pass the word to me. You know I would have made sure that y’all were taken care of with or without me here.”

  “I wasn’t involving a child in our business, Cal. And I certainly was not going to ask him to pass along a message as serious as one regarding a child and our future.”

  “You could have sought me out, Bird. I mean, c’mon baby, let’s not act like you aren’t resourceful. Just admit that because the illusion of me being the perfect man was shattered, you wanted revenge. But you don’t get a nigga back like this. Denying me the chance to know my seed. That shit ain’t right.”

  “I’ll own that, but you need to respect the fact that I didn’t want my child around whatever fuckshit you were dealing and…” I trailed off with a sigh, looking away from Calvin and rubbing the hair at the nape of my neck “Look, what happened happened and we can either keep talking about it or we can talk about whatever had you blowing up my phone incessantly for the past few weeks.”

  “I want to know him. I want him to know me…and Jah. We’re his family, too. You owe him that much. Hell, you owe me that much.”

  “Be clear, I don’t owe you shit, Cal,” I bit back instantly, “So let’s not go down that road. I don’t even know what you’re doing with your life right now? For all I know you could be on that same shit you were on when everything went awry. What do I look like letting my son get to know you and getting close to you and then some shit pops off again, huh Calvin?”

  “Here you go with this doomsday bullshit. I’ve let that shit go. I’m damn near sixty years old, Bird. I don’t have time to be out here running these streets and keeping up with these young cats out here.”

  I must have looked skeptical because he pulled out his phone to show me a picture of him and Elijah standing in front of a car wash I recognized from the next town over.

  “Me and Jah own six of these in the area, turned that dirty money into helping people get clean,” he said with a smile.

  I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped. I was a sucker for a corny joke and Cal knew it. He teased me mercilessly about my humor when he and I were together.

  “You do know that this is something I can’t just spring on him. Let’s say I do decide to let you be a part of his life. I can’t just have you over to the house one day and say ‘hey…remember that dad I told you was from a test tube? Sorry baby, mama lied, here’s daddy!’ It doesn’t work like that Cal. I have to take into consideration the effects of something like this on my son’s life. I’m not completely shutting down the possibility…I’m just asking you to please let me work through doing this on my own time.”

  “I understand where you’re coming from. I truly do, Bird, but…time isn’t promised to anyone so please don’t take too long to make up your mind. I’ve missed so much already. And I’m hoping you make the right decision, so we don’t have to bring legal action into this,” Cal replied, smoothly.

  “Is that a threat?”

  Cal’s hands shot up instantly, assuming a posture of innocence.

  “Not at all. I’m just letting you know how serious I am about getting to know my son. If I have to get a court ordered DNA test and fight for custody, visitation, whatever comes my way. I’m ready for whatever it comes to.”

  I sighed, picking up my latte and taking another sip.

  “It won’t come to all of that, Cal. I just…give me some time to figure this all out. I never meant to hurt you in all of this; you have to know that. I did what I thought was best at the time for my son and me. Had he come to me at some point seeking to find his biological father, I would have eventually told him the truth, but I wasn’t going to initiate it.”

  “You keep saying you did what was best, but are you sure you even know that? Your example of parenting wasn’t exactly…” Calvin trailed off.

  “Low blow, Cal. And fuck you for taking it there,” I replied, grabbing my bag and latte before rising out of my chair, “I’ll let you know my decision either way.”

  I walked out of the coffee shop and hurried to my car, feeling my chest get tighter with each step. It had been years since I’d had a panic attack, but the beginning stages of one was beginning to manifest and I wanted to be seated in my car to ride it out. I slid into my car quickly, laying my head against the headrest with my eyes closed as I employed the deep breathing techniques taught to me by a therapist from years past. About fifteen minutes later, I felt calm enough to put the car in gear and drive home. Gratefully, Patrick was spending the night by one of his little friends’ houses tonight, so I had a little time to decompress before I had plans with Damon later that evening.

  I’d barely been driving for a few minutes when I phone rang. Looking at the display I saw that it was Raquel calling and I knew I had to answer. She and I had been playing phone tag over the past few weeks due to her busy schedule and my newly occupied nights of visitation sessions with Damon. I was barely in the mood to talk after this mess with Cal, but I knew I’d never hear the end of it if I didn’t answer the call. I pressed the button on the steering wheel to answer the phone via Bluetooth.

  “Hey, Quel,” I sighed.

  “Oh! Patty Cake done finally crawled from up under the Bakerman to answer my call,” she yelled.

  “Here you go…” I said, laughing at her ridiculousness.

  “Wait…are you driving?” she asked.

  “Yes, you’re on Bluetooth though, Quel. It’s fine.”

  “Nope, you know the rule. Call me when you get home. I’m in for the evening and we’re overdue a catch up.”

  “Girl you don’t even have the slightest idea. I’m about to be pulling up at the house in a minute. I’ll Face Time you when I get inside.”

  “All right, sis. Talk to you in a minute.”

  Raquel acted like a little old lady sometimes and it was hilarious. She refused to talk to me on the phone if I were driving. Never mind the fact that technology had come so far that hands free calling was a reality; she did not play about being distracted while driving. I
remember when Oprah started that no texting while driving pledge, Quel literally made a contract for me to print, sign, and fax back to her ensuring that I’d take the pledge. She was hypersensitive about driving safety since her younger brother’s life had been taken by a reckless teen who had been texting and not paying attention and ran head on into Ramon’s car.

  As soon as I got in the house I grabbed my iPad to initiate a Face Time call to Raquel as promised.

  “Well if that isn’t the face of a woman who is getting thoroughly dicked down then I don’t know what is,” Raquel said in lieu of a greeting, “Bih you are shining shining shining shining yeaaaaaah.”

  “Can you not?”

  “Girl, please. You never looked this good when you and Tamera Campbell’s daddy were doing the do. Let me find out I need to go on over to Le Cordon Bleu and grab me one of these pastry chefs. Sheesh!”

  “Something is seriously wrong with you, girl,” I replied, joining her in laughter. She has insisted for years that Tim—my old work—looked like Tim Reid, the guy who played Ray Campbell on Sister Sister. She rarely let a mention of him go by where she didn’t reference this.

  “So what’s going on? Because besides that good dick glow on your skin, you look like hell.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “Nah sis, you look like you’re on the verge of tears, barely holding it together. So…what’s to it?”

  I sighed deeply trying to steel myself for a rather huge revelation that would either shock her into silence or spark the most epic cuss out I’d ever received from her in over thirty years of friendship.

  “Do you have wine?” I asked, stalling for time.

  “Oh shit…” Raquel responded, sitting up from the reclining position she’d been in, as she peered at me a bit closer, “Patty, you’re…you’re okay, right? There’s nothing…wrong with you, is it?”

  “I’m fine, sis. Nothing’s wrong with me…or PJ. It’s just, okay before I tell you this I need you to promise me something.”