Darious didn’t have any kids, and he was going to adore Tammy for giving him his first, where Chris had a kid by someone else, and was more than likely to bring that drama Tammy’s way. Darious’s family welcomed her and her kids. Chris’s family hated Tammy, and had disowned her years ago. After clear thoughts, the scale tipped heavily in favor of Darious. There was no question as to whether Tammy still loved Chris. She did, and was probably still in love with him to a certain degree, but the reality of the situation was that she had to move on and leave the past behind her.
* * *
After Lamar finally got baby Jordan to fall asleep, he stepped outside on the porch for a little fresh air. It was a good thing he had the next two nights off work, because Jordan was giving him hell lately. It was times like this when he needed Falisha around, because she always knew how to sooth him in the middle of the night when he got cranky. Lamar was starting to think that he may have bitten off more than he could chew in his pursuit of getting custody of Jordan.
Lisa’s car coming down the block made him pick his head up. She drove right past his house, then parked toward the corner of the block. It was funny that Kim was with her, because he had been thinking about her all day.
“I see y’all gon’ party every night,” Lamar said as Lisa and Kim walked by. “Y’all bring me some food?”
“Shut up, boy. And where is my li’l man?” Lisa asked, walking across the street to where Lamar was. “He better be asleep.”
“Finally,” Lamar answered with nothing but stress in his eyes. “I think I might have to quit my job. It’s hard as hell trying to find a night sitter, especially when the nights belong to him,” Lamar said, nodding toward the house. “He’s liable to wake up any minute now.”
“Oh, well, let me get my ass in the house. I’m through with getting up in the middle of the night.” Lisa laughed as she headed back across the street toward her house.
Kim started to follow suit, but Lamar grabbed her hand. “You gon’ leave me too?” he asked, holding on to only her finger.
“Not if you really need me to stay,” Kim shot back, looking in Lamar’s eyes. “I’m not that good with babies.”
“Nah, I just need you to sit and talk to me for a little while. It’s been a long time since we did that.”
Kim smiled and took a seat on the steps. “So what do you wanna talk about? I see you got a lot on your mind,” she spoke. Lamar couldn’t lie. She knew him too well for that. He did get quiet for a second until he got his thoughts together.
“Man, I dropped the ball back then,” Lamar started. “I had something special, and I let it go.” He shook his head. “Do you know how many nights I bumped my head against the wall thinking about what my life would have been like if I had moved out to Philly wit’ you? That decision might have been the biggest mistake of my life.”
Kim felt his pain. She too had some regrets from when she and Lamar were together.
“You wanna know what my biggest mistake was?” Kim said, looking into Lamar’s eyes. “The day I got that abortion.” Tears rose to the surface, but she fought them back. “I was scared and didn’t know if you even wanted to be a dad. When I see how much you love Jordan and the things you would go through for him, it makes me wish that I had kept our baby,” she admitted, unable to hold back the two tears that fell down her face.
Not a day passed by that Kim didn’t think about it. It always seemed like a part of her was missing. Like that innocent baby took a piece of her soul with it, and even if she had a million kids in the future, she would never be able to forget her first.
Lamar put his arm around Kim, giving her a shoulder to lean on. “Can I ask you something?” he said, needing to know for his own self. “Is it too late for me and you?”
“What do you mean, Lamar? How can that even work?” she asked.
“What if I told you we could run away together? Me, you, and Jordan could take off and go anywhere. We could move out west. We can move to Philly, find jobs and start over.”
“You would move off of this street?” Kim said in a sarcastic way. “You will never leave Charlotte. You love it here.”
“I would move with you to the other side of this world if I had the chance to again,” Lamar said with certainty.
“What about Falisha? She’s not gonna let you just take Jordan.”
“I’ll find a way, just trust me,” Lamar assured.
As good as it sounded, Kim couldn’t give him an answer right then. She still had a lot to think about, and other issues of her own she needed to deal with. Lamar had definitely laid it on thick, and Kim could tell that he was sincere. With more than enough on her plate, she decided to take it down for the night.
Chapter 10
Wanting to spend a little time with Darious before they got married, Tammy decided to drop the kids off at Chris’s. She had the whole day planned, including an early lunch, a movie, a walk in the park, dinner, and maybe even visit each other’s family members. Darious was all for it.
“Give me ten minutes,” Tammy told Darious when they pulled up to Chris’s house on Walton Street.
She got out of the car and got the kids and their overnight bag situated before walking up and knocking on the door. It took a minute, but eventually the door swung open, and to Tammy’s surprise, Amy was standing there with a tank top, shorts, and a pair of house slippers on. She had the nerve to be looking good.
“Oh, you want Chris?” Amy said, turning around to call him. “Come on in, if you like.”
The kids were already through the door when she said that, so her comment was basically aimed at Tammy, who just stood there with a dumb look on her face. She had to dig deep in order not to keep from lashing out like she wanted to. It wouldn’t have been a good look on her behalf, especially with her fiancé sitting in the car. She had to stay cool, but she moved from the outside steps to the indoor porch, just in case Darious was watching her.
Chris came down the steps while Amy went back up to the room. He could see the anger in Tammy’s eyes the moment he walked up to her.
“Why you got dis bitch in our house?” Tammy asked through clinched teeth. “You know you dead wrong.”
“I know, that’s my bad. We went out last night and didn’t feel like driving out to the county,” Chris explained.
Tammy wasn’t buying it. She was really offended and wanted to run upstairs and beat the hell out of Amy for being so disrespectful. Again, Darious was sitting out in the car, so Tammy didn’t want to make a scene. The one thing she couldn’t do was stand there looking at Chris.
“I’ll come pick them up tomorrow. Anthony needs to be fitted for his suit, and I got some last-minute running around to do. But me and you will have a talk about this,” Tammy said in a low voice before turning and walking out the front door.
Chris couldn’t help but to smile, knowing how hot under the skin Tammy was. He had achieved the desired effect. The fact that she was mad let him know she still cared about him. Tammy wasn’t aware of it yet, but Chris wanted to indirectly sabotage her marriage before she walked down that aisle. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to marry her, but at the same time, he’d be damned if he was going to let somebody else do it. She was his baby mom, and if it was left up to him, that’s the only title she would ever have . . . until he was ready to change it.
* * *
Kim adjusted the camera on top of the computer screen for her 2:30 p.m. Skype appointment with Brian. Since having that conversation with Lamar the other day, she was confused and needed to know a few things before she made the official choice to try to work something out with him.
“I’ma go meet up with Nate for lunch. Do you need anything?” Lisa asked as she passed Kim’s room on her way out.
“Yeah, I have to ask you something real quick,” Kim answered, waving Lisa into the room. “I know you tryin’a get to ya man, so I’m not gonna hold you up,” Kim joked.
Lisa shook her head, smiling at the sound of her having a man. “A
’ight, girl, what do you want?” Lisa asked in a playful way, taking a seat next to her on the bed.
Kim put her head down. She was embarrassed to say how she was feeling. She didn’t want Lisa to look at her differently. “Would it sound crazy if I told you that I still had love for Lamar?”
Lisa figured that was what this was all about. She knew from the first day Kim was back in town. The first person she asked about was Lamar.
“Nah, girl, it don’t sound crazy. One thing I know about love is that no matter how much people think they know about it, love always finds a way to dance to its own beat,” Lisa said. “Now, my thing is, do you think that it would be wise trying to rekindle some old flames with him while he and Falisha are going through what they’re going through? It looks ugly right now, but it’s about to get even messier,” she advised before standing up. “Now, if you don’t mind, can we talk about this later? I have somewhere to be right now.”
“Yeah, girl, go ahead and get out of here. You gave me more than enough to ponder,” Kim responded.
Lamar did have a lot of drama going on in his life, and now probably wouldn’t be the ideal time to try to get back with him. Even before Kim could even consider trying to get back with him, Lamar needed to clean up the mess he made, then close the book on Falisha, this time for good. Only then would Kim even entertain anything he had said the other night. Kim was damn near ready to call him and tell him just that, but Brian’s face popped up on the screen, which, in turn, brought Kim to another realization. She too had some issues to take care of, and she was ready to tackle them, head-on.
* * *
Falisha pulled up to Lamar’s house in an attempt to pick up baby Jordan, but she was in for a surprise. She honked the horn several times before finally getting out of the car. Her numerous knocks on the door went unanswered, and she knew he had to be there because his car was parked out front. As soon as Falisha was about to pull out her phone and call him, the front door opened. Lamar stepped out onto the porch brushing his waves to the front . . . without baby Jordan with him.
“Come on, dude, bring my son out here,” Falisha snapped like she was trying to rush him. “I got somewhere to go.”
“I don’t know when the last time you been over ya mom house to check the mail, but I think the courts wrote to you and told you that I have primary custody of Jordan now,” Lamar said, taking a seat on the ledge of the porch.
“Stop fuckin’ playing all the time,” Falisha based, slinging the door open and running into the house.
Lamar didn’t move from his spot. He sat there and waited while Falisha ran through the house checking every room—every room that she went to and baby Jordan wasn’t there. She panicked. She even checked the basement, and still, baby Jordan was nowhere to be found.
“Where da fuck is my son?” she yelled, coming back outside.
“You’ll see Jordan when I say it’s OK.”
Falisha lashed out. She walked up on Lamar and started punching him in his face. He quickly got control of the fight, gripping her up and throwing her against the wall.
“I hate you. I hope you die!” Falisha screamed, charging Lamar with another round of punches. “Gimme my son!” she cried as the tears fell from her eyes while she continued throwing punches. “Let me go. Let me go!” she yelled.
Lamar wrapped her up in his arms to the point where she couldn’t do anything. “Nah, shawty. This is what you wanted, right? This was the game you wanted to play,” he spoke in a low tone as she tried to wiggle out of his hold.
Jordan had been with Lamar for over a week, and during that time, Lamar went to family court, told the judge Falisha had abandoned their son and that he didn’t know where she was living. He said that Falisha was on drugs and alcohol real bad and sometimes went missing for days. On the spot, the court tried to reach Falisha, but was unsuccessful in catching her at her mom’s house, the only phone number Lamar gave them for her.
With that, the judge granted Lamar temporary primary custody of Jordan and set a court date of ten working days from that date for Falisha to come forward and challenge custody. If she didn’t show, Lamar would get full custody of Jordan indefinitely.
Falisha wasn’t just mad, she was hurt. She finally got out of his grasp, then spit in his face. Some went into his eye, blinding him for a second. By the time he got his vision back, Falisha was in the car. Before he could get down the steps, she was pulling off. It’s a good thing she did, because Lamar was going to clean the streets with her body after he knocked her out. She may have gotten away with it now, but Lamar had a whole bag of tricks he was going to use on her. She was going to see once she got into that courtroom.
* * *
“Where did you just go?” Brian asked when Kim sat back in front of the computer screen. “And why you breathing so hard?” When Kim heard Falisha yelling and screaming outside, she ran downstairs and watched the whole fight from the window. She thought about intervening, but instead, decided to stay out of it.
“Shut up, boy. I left my food on the stove,” Kim lied. “Now where were we? I believe I asked you where you see this thing that we have going.”
“To be honest wit’ you, Kim, I really don’t know. I try not to get caught up with living in the future when it’s not even here yet. I think the question that you wanna ask is if me and you are together as a couple right now.”
Brian didn’t like to cut corners. He was known to get straight to the point. That’s one of the things Kim liked about him. “Well, what’s the answer to that question then?” she asked.
Brian sat back in his chair and looked into the screen. “I would like to think that me and you were in a relationship, but the truth is, we’re not. We never established that, and I always thought that you never planned on staying in Philly. You left me with the impression that you was going back home to stay for good eventually. I figured you was just using me as something to do while you were here.”
“Aww, don’t say that. You mean more to me than you think. That’s why I’m trying to figure out where we at. I don’t wanna do something stupid, then end up missing out on the chance of me and you being together.”
Kim had only recently realized how much she cared about Brian. He was hundreds of miles away, and every time she looked at another man, or in Lamar’s case, she thought about being with another man, all she could think about is how Brian would feel about it. If she didn’t know any better, Kim would have thought that she was in love with him.
“Well, listen, I gotta get ready for work,” Brian spoke. “But I need you to ask yourself one question. Do you really want us to be together right now? When you come up with that answer, and you’re sure beyond a shadow of doubt, you let me know. Then I’ll tell you exactly where I see this thing we have going,” he said before shutting down his computer.
Kim flopped back onto the bed and went straight into deep thought. She had been through so much in her life that she didn’t know where to begin. The question that Brian told her to ask herself wasn’t going to be an easy one to answer. Kim definitely needed time to sort out her mess, and she hoped that Brian would still be around when she got it right. One thing she’d learned about the men in Philly was that they didn’t sit around and wait for no chick, and not even she was an exception.
* * *
“Mommy, where are we going?” Naomi asked as she and Lisa got out of the car. “I hate surprises,” she mumbled, thinking Lisa didn’t hear her.
“I thought that we should go out for dinner tonight, and since you don’t like surprises, I think I ought to tell you that I invited a friend of mine to come eat with us, if you don’t mind.”
Naomi was the center of Lisa’s world, and she didn’t care how nice of a guy Nate was to her. If Naomi didn’t like him, it was pretty much a wrap. Lisa wasn’t giving him a whole bunch of chances either. If he couldn’t hit it off with Naomi on his first try, then it was back to the drawing board with the relationship.
“Who’s your friend, M
ommy? Is it my godmom, Kim?” she asked as they entered the restaurant. “Where is she? Where is she?”
“No, it’s not Kim. He’s right over there,” Lisa said, pointing to the table where Nate was sitting.
“Hhheee?” Naomi said, placing her hands on her hips and scrunching up her face. “Your friend is a boy?”
Naomi was too much for her own self, looking up at Lisa with a little fake attitude on her face. Lisa could tell that Nate was in for a long night, or maybe short, depending on how he handled himself around Ms. Growny Naomi.
When they finally got to the table, Lisa and Nate hugged, and then Lisa introduced Naomi and Nate. To be dealing with a little girl, Nate was somewhat intimidated by her. She stared at him for a minute, making him feel a little uncomfortable. There was only one thing left for Nate to do, and that’s put on his charm. He lowered his head some, then raised his hand a little and waited to be called on.
Naomi kept staring, but found it to be a little funny. She ended up cracking a smile, then pointed to Nate’s hand so he could speak.
“Thank you, Princess Naomi. Being as though this is my first time meeting a princess in real life, I wasn’t sure what to order for you,” Nate playfully spoke. “What do princesses eat?” he asked, looking at the menu in confusion.
Naomi was sort of feeling the princess game, so she played along. “Princesses like cheeseburgers and chili cheese fries,” she answered. “And the princess’s mommy likes Chicken Alfredo.”
“Now, I know the beautiful princess and her mommy are going to need something to wash all that food down with, so what royal drink should I order for you?” Nate continued.
Naomi giggled a little, seeing that he was still referring to her as a princess. Lisa smiled too because Nate had Naomi’s full, undivided attention with the princess theme. Lisa was impressed, but she knew that the night was far from over with Naomi. She wasn’t the ordinary six-year-old, and winning her over with simply calling her a princess and ordering her a cheeseburger and chili fries wasn’t going to be enough. Nate was going to have to step his game up if he intended to make it through dinner.
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