by Tiece
Felisha sighed, and then quickly thought to herself, “Let it go, Felisha. What’s done is done.” She glanced over at Patrice who was enjoying her breakfast, and then she started to walk off in the direction of her office, but she stopped. “Patrice, I just wanna say thank you for coming back to work for me. I know that I’ve not been the best cousin in world, but I love you and I’m glad you’re back. You’ve helped me out a lot here in the shop and with the kids. I truly appreciate it.”
“No problem, Cuz. I love you, too.” Patrice said as she licked the buttery substance along with the crumbs off of her fingers from the biscuit. “I think you’ve come a long way in trying to get over Mark and I’m proud of you for that. I know you love him, but I’m glad to see that you’re putting yourself first and taking care of your business and your kids as a single mom. How is that going, anyway? You heard from Mark, lately? I haven’t heard you say anything about him and I was just wondering had he been still calling.”
“No, I haven’t heard from him in almost two weeks. I hate to keep the kids from him, but he doesn’t care about me or them. He was shacked up in Atlanta with another woman while I was here giving birth to his twins. He ignored my calls and text messages for almost two weeks after I’d given birth to them before he reached out to me. I don’t care if he was mad that I never told him that I was pregnant. When he’d heard that he was the father of twins that he knew was his, he should’ve came running to make sure that we were okay. But, he didn’t and that still hurts me.”
“I totally understand where you’re coming from. I guess any woman would be hurt behind that.” Patrice said with a disappointed shake of the head.
Felisha sadly glanced out the window that was next to the door. Her thoughts had drifted off as she watched the cars passing by. She’d zoned out thinking about her actions that had caused all of this to take place.
“You okay,” Patrice questioned. “Don’t let Mark get to you today. You’re looking very pretty like you’re ready to take on the world and from the money that your business is currently bringing in, you don’t need him.”
“I may not need him, but my kids do.” She somberly responded. “I guess you can say that I deserve most of this. I mean, who sleeps with their best friend’s husband, and then have children by him? Who tricks their best friend into playing auntie to a child that actually belongs to her husband? Who does that?”
Patrice picked up her plastic cup filled with coffee and drank some. She swallowed it hard as she cleared her throat. The only thing she could respond to that was, “Well, Fe I guess the answer would be you.”
“You’re right and I’ve hated myself for it being me. I’ve not been able to make out why I could never get over Mark. For years I’d sit back and watch him play house with my best friend and wish that it was me instead. For years, I’d wait for him to come to me without even giving a care in the world about another man. All I’ve ever wanted was for him to love me, but that has yet to happen. Even after everything that has gone on, he still won’t choose me. It sickens me to even think about it.”
Patrice simply shook her head. “You can’t help who you love, Cuz. So, don’t beat yourself up about it. The only thing you can do is move past this and hope that maybe Mark will come around someday.”
Felisha walked off with a disappointed shake of the head. “Or maybe not.” She said as she headed to the back of the nail salon to sit quietly in her office before the customers started coming in.
“Well,” Patrice called out. “I wouldn’t say that just yet.” She said looking out the window. “Mark is parking his car out front as we speak.”
Felisha’s eyes widened. She wanted to feel happy about it, but she definitely didn’t want to get her hopes up. “My God,” she whispered. “What is he doing here at my place of business?”
“What do you want me to say? He’s getting out.” Patrice said as she continued to watch him through the window.
“Just send him in my office.” Felisha said as she quickly headed into her office and closed the door behind her. She headed straight over to the body mirror hanging on her wall to make sure that she was on point and looking good. She hadn’t seen Mark in months. She’d only heard his voice over the phone which was good in her case, because all she wanted to do was get over him. Now, with him unexpectedly showing up, getting over him might be easier said than done.
***
Mark headed for the front entrance door of Felisha’s nail salon. He’d had about enough of her games and wanted to see his kids. Even though a part of him knew exactly why she was playing hard ball it still didn’t give her the right to not let him know how his children were doing. “This shit is gonna end today,” he mumbled as he entered the building.
Patrice instantly stood up from her seat to greet him. “Well, hey Mark. Long time no see.”
Mark looked over in her direction. “Hey Patrice,” he spoke in an unhappy tone. “Is Felisha here?”
“Yeah, you can head on in the back to her office. You do remember where that is don’t you?” she sarcastically questioned since it had been months when Mark was last there.
“Yeah,” Mark answered while heading straight to the back of the nail salon where Felicia sat behind her desk pretending to be busy as she anxiously waited for the knock on her door.
“Felisha, what is your problem?” Mark asked as he entered the office without knocking. “We need to talk.”
Felisha immediately stood up from her desk feeling surprised at how he just barged in making demands. “What is your problem? You don’t just come in somebody’s place of business like this.”
“Like what?” he pondered feeling like he hadn’t did anything wrong.
“Like this,” she responded. “You come in here like you got an attitude. Do you think that’s gonna get you somewhere with me? I suggest you sit down and talk like you got some sense or you can turn right on around and get the hell out of my office.” She stated in a serious tone.
Mark was taken aback. Felisha had never confronted him like that. She was always so submissive, but now she was holding her own and talking to him like he was nobody special to her. He stood there almost not knowing what to comeback with.
“Well, are you gonna sit down and talk like somebody or not?” She questioned now folding her arms as she stood there.
Mark frowned at first as he looked at her. “I’m gonna sit down and talk.” He finally responded. Something in that moment made him look at Felisha differently. Over the past few months of him not seeing her, it had brought on some kind of change. She seemed stronger and less willing to kiss his ass. As he walked over to the chair to take a seat he admired the burnt orange, spaghetti strap jumper that she had on. The color of the jumper made her light skin complexion glow as she stood there staring back at him. It fit her thick curves perfectly even though it wasn’t tight on her. Her hair was neatly pulled up in a stylish bun and her make-up was flawless. He could tell that she had on a pair of heels being that she was standing much taller than she normally did.
Felisha sat down behind her desk as Mark sat down in the seat across from her. “I’m sorry about barging in here like that. I didn’t come here to fight or argue with you. I just wanna see my kids.” He said feeling desperate at this point.
“You come here wanting to see your kids, yet it had been months that had passed and you hadn’t come to see Lil Romeo. He asked about you all the time and called, but you kicked my baby to the curve. Why? Maybe it was because of that woman you’d left here with that had your mind so gone.”
“Nobody had my mind gone.” Mark responded in his defense.
“I can’t tell. You’re still with her.” Felisha spat with a slick roll of the eyes. It was bad enough that she had to sit around and watch Mark be happy with her ex-best friend, but she be damned if she was going to do the same thing while he was with another woman. “What’d you say her name was, anyway?”
“Angel,” Mark responded. “But, this isn’t about her. It
’s about you and me and the kids.”
“Well, if it has anything to do with my kids then it’s definitely about me, but since you’ve been an absent father while running behind some pussy you hardly know then this would have nothing to do with you.”
Mark smugly grinned while shaking his head. “You’re really trying me right now, Felisha.”
“No, I’m not. I’m just letting you know how things are now.”
Mark was getting ready to say something, but he glanced out the corner of his eye at a picture of his daughter. It caught him off guard as he reached for the picture. Felisha just sat quietly watching him. Once the picture was in his hand he held it looking closely at the baby girl that resembled him so much. In that moment, his eyes watered as he thought about the loss of his daughter with Angel. She probably would’ve looked so much like the curly headed, beautiful baby in the picture that he was gazing at.
Felisha sat watching him with a concerned expression on her face. Seeing him for the first time when he barged in her office had her feeling pissed off at him, but now she’d began to soften a bit as the tears fell down his face. “What’s wrong with you, Mark?” she questioned in a worried tone.
“I just wanna see my kids.” He mumbled.
Felisha knew that he wanted to see his kids, but she didn’t think that seeing a picture of Monae’ would have him in tears. “Mark, what is wrong with you?”
“I need to see them. Please, just let me see them.” He pleaded in an unusually dismal tone.
“I don’t know if I’m ready to let you do that. One minute you wanna be around them, and then the next minute you’ll probably be back off to Atlanta to stay with your new girlfriend. I’m not subjecting my kids to your unpredictable behavior.”
Mark looked up from the picture as he stared Felisha in her eyes. “I don’t even know their names. You haven’t even had the courtesy of telling me that.”
“Monae’ and Marcus are their names not that it’d make much difference to you.” Felisha sourly stated.
“I wish you’d stop saying that. I just want to be a part of my kid’s life. Please, just let me be the daddy to them that you’ve always wanted me to be.”
“And how exactly am supposed to do that?”
“You can start by telling me where you’ve moved at.” He answered having gone over to Felisha’s old house a few weeks back just to see that she moved and didn’t tell him.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Felisha commented. “You’ve treated me like shit for years and I was too blind to see that it was never me that you wanted. You didn’t come to me when O’ left you. You went to another woman. How do you think that made me feel?”
“How do you think it made me feel to hear that you’d had twins, yet I knew nothing about the pregnancy?”
Felisha sighed with a shake of the head, and then responded. “Why should I have told you anything about me being pregnant when I knew that you had left to go be with another? If you would’ve come home to see your son then you would have known, but you left him hanging just like you’ve always left me.”
Mark sat quietly for a moment with thoughts heavily clouding his mind. Angel had been stressed and depressed and he felt overwhelmed with having to see her in such a state. He knew that if he could get Felisha to loosen her reigns and allow him to see the kids that maybe she’d even let him take them for a day or two. In his mind he was hoping that Angel would feel better if she was around them; especially his daughter being that they’d lost a daughter that would’ve been the same age as Monae’. He stared back at the picture feeling incomplete and helpless. The unexpected tears started to stream down his face again. It was like something had hit him in the gut and he couldn’t stop himself from crying. His heart was truly broken from losing a baby. If only he could see his kids he’d feel better himself.
“Mark, what is wrong with you? Just talk to me.” Felisha softly said. She’d never seen Mark so sensitive and vulnerable. She knew it couldn’t be just about the kids. Whatever had him so upset was much, much deeper and she wanted to know what it was. “If you talk to me then maybe, just maybe I’ll let you see the kids.”
Mark glanced up from the picture as he stared at Felisha with the saddest eyes ever, and then he confessed, “I lost a daughter.”
“You what?” Felisha pondered with confusion in her tone.
“I lost a daughter that would’ve been the same age as Monae’.”
Felisha frowned. “You what now?”
“Angel was pregnant with a girl and she had the baby prematurely on the same day that you had the twins. I would’ve had two girls the same age.”
Felisha sat back in her chair and took in a deep breath. She felt like the air was being taken from her body with such a low blow. She was never in a million years expecting to hear that.
“I’m sick, Felisha and I don’t know what to do. Angel has become depressed and it’s so sad to see her that way. Maybe if you’d let us see the babies and Lil Romeo then we’d be able to recover from our loss a little better.”
Felisha was still taken aback as she sat there trying to catch her breath. Hearing that Mark had gotten his girlfriend knocked up alone had her in some seriously unpleasant feelings. Knowing that they’d lost a child didn’t play on her emotions at all as she sat up in her seat and took in another deep breath. This time she blew it back out, and then said, “I can’t believe you. You come in my place of business acting like you miss your children so much, yet the only reason is because you’ve lost a baby by some random bitch that I supposed to feel sorry for. Nigga, I’ve been there for you since day one and this is the fucking thanks I get?” She irritably questioned as she stood up from her seat and walked around her desk so she’d be standing directly in his face. “You come in my office all teary-eyed looking at a picture of my baby and I’m so naïve and stupid that I actually felt sorry for you. When all along you’re sitting in here grieving over a baby you lost. Get out of my office.”
“Felisha, wait. Please wait; it’s not like that.”
“Yes the hell it is!” Felicia spat as her voice raised a little higher filled with anger. “You were hoping that I’d feel sorry for your dumb ass, but I don’t and you can kindly get your ass up and leave out of my office!”
“I’m not going anywhere until I see my kids!” Mark argued as he stood up. “And, you’re gonna let me-
POW!!!!
Without hesitation, Felisha had slapped Mark so hard in his face that spit flew out of his mouth. “I said get the fuck out of my office before I have Patrice call the police on you!” She firmly told him.
Mark grabbed his jaw as he stared in Felisha’s eyes. She was beyond pissed and he knew it. He’d only made matters worse by revealing why it was so important to see his kids, even though he was truly hurting inside from their absence. “Felisha-
“GET OUT!” she shouted this time.
Mark disappointedly shook his head. “Alright, I’ll leave.” He said as Patrice knocked on the door.
“You alright in there, Fe?”
“Yeah, Patrice. I’m fine.” Felisha answered, but she was far from fine as she walked over to the door and opened it. “Mark was just leaving.”
Patrice peeked her head around the door at Mark who was wiping his face with his hand. He then turned to face Felisha and Patrice as he headed towards the door. As he passed Felisha he stopped to look at her, and then he said, “This ain’t over.”
“Oh it’s over.” Felisha responded, and then added, “Good and over.”
Mark didn’t say another word as he exited the building. Once he was out of sight Patrice asked. “Are you sure that you’re okay?”
“I am,” Felisha said almost in a whisper just as their first client along with one of the nail technicians entered the building. “Don’t worry about me; just go check on the customer. Today is going to be a busy day. I’m just gonna sit in my office for a few more minutes and get my thoughts together. I’ll be out soon.”
“Hello,” she answered.
“Hey Felisha, how are you?”
“I’m good. Who is this?” Felisha quickly questioned since the soft voice was unfamiliar.
“This is Angel. Can we talk?”
Chapter 3
Zoe was sitting on the red leather sectional inside of her new condominium. She was patting baby Chloe softly on the back to make her burp. Holding her niece gave her thoughts of having a baby, but she was scared of the thought that Dillon’s past might come back to bite them both in the ass and she wasn’t having that. As she rocked while continually patting Chloe on the back, Dillon came from down the hallway with a white pair of Ralph Lauren cotton pajama pants on and no shirt. He headed straight into the kitchen to grab himself a Corona out of the refrigerator.
“That was a long shower, bae.” Zoe called out just as Dillon entered into the living room where she was sitting. “Are you feeling better?”