by Sasha Ravae
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Fifteen minutes into the drive, Jonah’s phone started going off incessantly.
“Babe, can you get that for me?” he asked never taking his eyes off the road.
Without responding, Trina reached over to the middle console and picked up his ringing phone. “Nope,” she immediately said shoving the phone in his face.
“Who is it?”
“Who do you think it is, Jonah? I promised myself that I was gonna turn over a new leaf,” she said breathing out, “I will not be put in a position to cuss this bitch out today, baby mama or not.”
Jonah took the phone from Trina’s hand realizing that Renee was the one on the other end of the phone.
“Ay, Renee, what’s up?” he said putting her on speakerphone, “I was running a little late, but I’m on the way now. You guys make it yet?”
“No.”
“Okay, why not? The drive hasn’t officially started yet, but the kids can go up there and play or get something to eat, and plus, I wanna see them.”
“When were you gonna tell me, Jo?”
“Tell you what, Renee?” he sighed. From her tone, he could tell that she was already on the warpath.
“You went to Lux last night for Dre’s opening, right?”
“Yeah, me and my boys went up there to support our brother, so what?”
“So what? So what?” she began to scream into the phone, “So you’re gonna sit here and pretend like you and that bitch weren’t up in there together?”
Trina flinched as the words left her lips, but she did her best to hold her tongue.
“What does Trina have to do with anything?” Jonah asked softly caressing her thigh.
“She has everything to do with it, Jonah. How are you gonna go out here and continue to embarrass me like this?”
“Embarrass you? Renee, what are you talking about?” he asked beginning to lose patience.
“Did you or did you not ask this bitch to marry you in a room full of our friends and other people we know?”
“Stop,” Jonah barked into the phone, “First off, we are not together. Me and Trina have been together for over a year now, so if you’re asking me if I proposed to my then girlfriend, to the woman I love in front of my friends and people I know then the answer is yes.”
“I told you that bitch wasn’t gonna be mommy to my kids.”
“Renee, you are missing the point. I have custody of the kids, not you. I thought that after I got you the car…”
“After you got me the car, I assumed that you finally saw that bitch for the snake she really is, but you go out and propose to her the same night? I thought we were…”
“But that’s just it, Renee, there is no we outside of our kids. I want nothing more than to be the perfect co-parent with you, but what we used to have is gone. I’m not that man anymore. I’m happy. Period.”
“We’ll see,” she said hanging up.
“Uhhhhhhhhh,” Trina screamed finally able to let out her frustrations, “That girl irritates me to my soul.”
“Don’t even trip off that. I knew she had some people in Lux last night, but she is not my girl. I refuse to hide my relationship with you from the world on the strength of Renee, man. I mean she didn’t give a fuck when she left me and the kids, but now, all of a sudden, she wants to be consulted on every move I make? Get the fuck outta here.”
“So that means that lil’ Jo and Tiana aren’t gonna come to the drive?” Even though she wasn’t much of a motherly figure, she had to admit that she missed the sounds of the kids terrorizing the house.
“Shit, probably not,” Jonah said shaking his head. Suddenly the car went silent.
“What you thinking about?” Trina asked after a few minutes.
“If I should try and push this trip back. I’m not playing with Renee when it comes to my kids. She always feels like she has some sort of fucking leverage over me.”
“How bout you talk to Franco and push the meeting back til next week. I know business comes first, but you won’t be all the way there like you need to be with all this drama looming over your head.”
“You’re right, baby. I’ll talk to Reko after the event, and we’ll reschedule.”
“We can have a movie night or something tonight,” Trina smiled.
“This is why I love you. You always keep me so level-headed. I swear I was ready to break this bitch’s neck.”
“And she would love that. You know she only does this type of bullshit for attention. I had to learn that the hard way,” she said looking down at her glittering ring in the sunlight, but Jonah just sighed as they finally pulled up to the rec center. “Inhale positivity. Exhale negativity,” she repeated more to herself.
“You ready?” he asked opening the door.
“You know I am. My job is just to stand there and look pretty, right?” she laughed.
“Look at you already getting to work,” he said stealing a kiss right before they made it inside.
“Bout time, nigga,” Reko said meeting them at the entrance, “I thought I was gon’ have to run this thang without you.”
“Never that, boy.”
“Jonah, oh my goodness, you had me scared to death,” Ms. Esther said pulling him towards the back.
“Ms. Esther, I am so sorry I’m late. KCRA 3 asked to do a story about the drive today,” he said motioning towards the entrance as Jake and all of his cameras flooded the area, “Now, Ms. Esther, you know this place like the back of your hand. I was hoping you could do me a favor.”
“Say no more, boy. I’ve never been one to shy away from the camera,” she smiled, “Let me take care of it.”
Just as Jake walked up, she grabbed his arm and pulled him in the opposite direction. “Are the cameras rolling yet?” she asked fluffing up her soft gray curls.
Jake quickly looked back over his shoulder as Jonah put both of his thumbs up in approval.
“Why you do him like that?” Trina asked laughing, “He may never come back fucking around with Ms. Esther.”
“I’ll go save him in a minute. I just need to holla at Reko right quick, and I would prefer if I didn’t have the news in my mix as I did. Speaking of…where’s Omari?”
“I think he’s still outside. He was helping setup booths the last time I saw him.”
“Baby, do me a favor. Go see if you can find Omari. If you see him, send him my way.”
“K,” she said kissing him on the cheek. She clutched her purse tightly as she tried to navigate through the crowd of volunteers. “Excuse me. Excuse me.”
As she click clacked across the linoleum floor, she couldn’t help but to notice Jonah’s vision once again coming into fruition. Blue and white balloons filled the rec center. Pastor Lee’s picture hung proudly above the main stage, and Trina couldn’t help but to see the similarities in father and son. She said a silent prayer in his honor.
“I promise to take care of him,” she whispered.
“Mic check. Mic check,” the center’s director said as a loud, metallic screech echoed throughout the room. Everyone immediately covered their ears hoping to shield themselves from the painful sound.
“My bad,” he said slowly into the mic, “If ya’ll don’t get this right, boy, I swear.” All of the A/V workers ran around him switching various cords.
Trina continued to head outside. When she walked out, she was amazed to see how many vendors were setup around the grassy area. Children of all ages ran about with brightly colored bags in their hands as ice cream cones, tacos, or nachos hung from the other. Without too much effort, she spotted Yari sitting across the walkway. She was sitting down with a blue snow cone in her hand, her legs crossed, a seat full of tickets, and an attitude smeared across her face.
“What’s wrong now?” Trina asked walking up and sitting down beside her.
“I’ve been in this same seat for hours. Here. Just me. Alone,” she whined.
“Where’d the snow cone c
ome from then?”
“Bitch, I gotta eat,” she said rolling her eyes, “Omari had been running around this mothafucka acting like Bob-the-Builder or some shit.”
“What should he be doing, Yari?”
“Over here with me. When Jonah asked me to hand out tickets to the kids, I was like cool cause I thought that me and bae were gonna spend the day together. Did that happen? Nope. As soon as that nigga got the chance, he was out.”
“Don’t be too mad at him. This shit is super important to Jonah. You should’ve seen him today. I’ve never seen him this nervous. I think it’s cause of the cameras even though he won’t admit it.”
“What cameras?”
“KCRA 3 wanted to do a story on him, his dad, and the drive.”
“Really? That’s what’s up.”
“Yeah, I’m glad I had my little Suzy Homemaker getup on today. I fit right in with Sister Jones and Sister Campbell,” Trina mocked.
“Shut up,” Yari laughed, “You look very First Lady-ish. I’m proud of you, girl. You finally put them titties away.”
“I was so tempted to throw on my gold, six-inch spiked heels I just bought, but I knew somebody was gon’ have something to say, so I had to remind myself that I’m here solely for Jonah.”
“Somebody like who? Renee?” Yari asked rolling her eyes.
“Yes, I’m all about keeping shit amicable with the broad, but I refuse to allow her to freely disrespect me. I’m really tryna tone it down especially since me and Jonah are engaged now, but she be begging me to molly wop her ass every time I see her. I’m sad that the kids aren’t gonna get to come here, but I’m definitely glad she’s not coming.”
“What happened? How are Tiana and Jo not gonna be here? What’s a news story about Jonah without his kids?”
“That’s the same thing I said, but unfortunately for them, their mama is a punk bitch. Girl, we’re on our way here, and she calls him. We were running late, so Jonah just thought that she was checking in to see where he was. Off top, she starts questioning him about where he was last night, who he was with, you know, her usual. Jonah and her go back and forth for a few minutes, and then she started crying about how he continues to embarrass her, and she thought he was gonna stop fucking with me to be back with her.”
“How is he embarrassing her if they aren’t even together?” Yari asked.
“Apparently to her, they are together, so imagine her surprise when she found out that Jonah proposed to me in the center of the club last night.”
“How does she even know about that? Was she there?”
“Of course not. She’s not stupid. She had some no label hoes in there lurking around, so you know they couldn’t wait to run back and tell her that I will be the future Mrs. Jonah Lee.”
“I swear she is so exhausting.”
“She’s delusional, but I’m not worried about it. She pulls no rank. Matter-of-factly, me and Jonah are gonna go pick up the kids together right after this.”
“Ooohh, she about to be hot,” Yari said laughing.
Trina just smiled. Suddenly she saw Omari from the corner of her eye. “Omari,” she yelled across the grass, “Omari.” Her voice fell faint over the music and the screams of the children who continued to run about. “Omari.”
Finally hearing his name, he saw Trina and headed towards her.
“I didn’t know who that was,” he said giving her a hug, “What’s up?”
“I wish you were here as promptly as this when I try to call you. I’ve been blowing up your phone for hours, Omari. Where have you been?” Yari snapped.
“Here we go,” he said sighing.
“Yeah, here we go cause you think it’s just cool to leave me by my-fucking-self like some other-ass bitch.”
“First off, you are not my child. You are so needy, blood, I swear. I am working this event if you forgot. You see this,” he said pointing to the beads of sweat that lined his forehead, “How you think these booths all popped up, chairs and tables pulled?”
“That’s you trying to do too much as usual. You could’ve paid someone to do all this.”
“But we didn’t, so now what?” he asked looking her in the face.
“Come on, ya’ll, you can do this later. There’s hella kids around,” Trina said noticing people starting to look their way more and more.
“I swear, Mar, ever since you and Tasha call yourselves being civil with each other,” she said using her fingers as air quotes, “you’ve been having an attitude with me like I did some shit to you.”
“You know what, Yari, you’re right. Me and Tasha have been fucking around again. That’s the mother of my daughter, and she’s not going anywhere to be honest. I thought me and you had something solid in the beginning, but I can’t with you. You always wanna be up under a nigga at all times, and eventually that shit gets played, blood. I can’t do this shit with you no more. I mean look, I’m fighting with you a kids’ backpack drive because I’m working too hard. How that sound? You need to reevaluate your priorities, baby.”
“So what are you saying?” she asked placing her hand on her small waist.
“What am I saying? Yari, I’m saying that I don’t want to be with you anymore. You’re a headache.”
“So you want to stop fucking with me to go back to that fat-ass bitch?” she yelled.
“You’re childish. Tasha has nothing to do with this. I’m just not fucking with you. You’re looking for a daddy, and I can’t be that for you. Now, Trina, what were tryna say?” he asked turning away from Yari.
“Ummm, Jonah just told me to tell you that he was looking for you,” she said with a crowd now surrounding them.
“Fuck you,” Yari spat lunging toward him.
“Yari, chill,” Trina said grabbing her by the arm, “Please don’t do this. Not today. Go bust out the nigga’s windows and all the shit after this ends, but I gotta keep everything smooth for Jonah. He would kill me if I did anything to embarrass him and that includes you too.”
“I’m good. I’m good,” she said snatching her arm back, “That bitch-ass nigga has been playing these games. He acts like he’s telling me something I didn’t already know. I went through his phone months ago and saw texts between him and that thirsty-ass bitch.”
“Why didn’t you say anything before then?”
“Say something for what? My bills were politely being paid. I was being taken care of, so why rock the boat, you know?”
“Because you’re not happy.”
“What does happiness have to do with anything other than financial security? Omari has been served his purpose. I got what I needed from him. I got something for him tryna show out in public though, but as far as my pockets go, I’ll be cool for a while. I knew me and Omari were on the way out. I mean he doesn’t even fuck me the way he used to. He’s been so distant. Why you think I was tryna hop on Ron’s fine ass?”
“Yari, don’t do that. The situation is already messy enough.”
“Come on, Trina, you know you can never have too much mess. I mean look at how you and Los used to be.”
“Exactly my point. Why would you ever want a nigga like Los?”
“Bitch, don’t act brand new. Los was that weak spot for you. We’ve all had that one.”
“Keyword ‘was.’ I was young back then. Sometimes high school sweethearts are just that. I’ve matured from beating up bitches behind Los to the woman you see before you today,” Trina said slowly spinning around.
“Ummm, but you still out here beating up bitches though.”
“Only when provoked, correction,” Trina said holding up her pointer finer, “I’ve grown.”
“Ummm, excuse me,” a girl no older than twelve interrupted smacking her lips, “Aren’t you supposed to be, ummm, passing out tickets or something?”
“Girl, don’t you see grown folks talking?”
“Yari,” Trina said grabbing the tickets out of her hand, “Here you go, baby. Sorry about that.”
The little gir
l rolled her eyes as she escorted her brother back over to the game section.
“Let’s just finish this, okay? I’ll go find Omari and…”
“Find him for what? He let me know what it is. What I look like? I may be clingy, true enough, but I’m far from a weak bitch,” she said throwing up the two as she returned to the ticket booth.
Trina let out a deep breath before she headed back inside. Well, that was a fucking disaster, she thought to herself, What else could go wrong? When she walked back into the auditorium, she saw Jonah on stage sitting right under his father’s portrait. Jake and his cameras were all fanned out making sure they captured everything as many of the kids, parents, and volunteers filled the room.
“What’s all this?” Trina mouthed to Jonah, but he just shrugged. Omari and Reko stood at the bottom of the stage, and the rest of RG were scattered throughout the crowd. Ms. Esther walked up to the mic with a bright smile spread across her face.
“Good afternoon, everyone,” she began, “Thank you all for attending the 20th annual Back-to-School drive. Although we are far from done, we have donated a little over a thousand backpacks filled with supplies to the most deserving of children along with endless clothes and shoes courtesy of Mr. Jonah Lee and his very generous donors. I had the pleasure of knowing Jonah’s father, and let me tell you that the apple did not fall far from the tree. Pastor Lee was an amazing man, and luckily for this community, Jonah embodies those same generous, self-less qualities as his father. Jonah, we just want to say thank you for all you do. You’ve blessed the church with our brand new facility, and although we haven’t been here long, we have managed to begin the healing needed in this city once more. For the first time in a long time, I honestly feel like our community is finally coming back together. Thank you for everything. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a huge round of applause to Mr. Jonah Lee.”
The room erupted as he shyly walked up to the podium. Dressed in an all-black suit, he felt presidential in front of all the cameras. As the lights continued to flash and flicker, he began.
“Thank you, Ms. Esther. Your words are too kind. I know how much my father’s church meant to him, and in his absence, it’s now my responsibility to continue what he worked so hard to build. My father started the Back-to-School drive because he would see how many of his parish needed help during this time of year. He did as much as he could, but he always depended on help from the community, and years later, you are continuing that promise. As a father of two little ones myself, I understand the desire to provide your children with what they need to be successful in life, but some are not always in a position to do so, so this is my way of saying you don’t have to do it alone. The clothes, shoes, supplies are just materials, but my hope is to provide you all with the peace of mind you deserve.”