by Tiece
“I think we should go shower together,” Angel suggested while grinning to herself as Mark jumped up from the couch.
“I’ll meet you in there.” He grinned while quickly scurrying to the master bathroom suite. This in turn caused Angel to laugh out loud. It was a laugh that she’d needed for a long time and it felt good.
As she headed down the long, narrow hallway the doorbell rang catching her attention. “I’ll be there in a second, babe.” She called out to Mark, and then she swiftly turned to head back towards her front door. The minute she got to the front door she unlocked it, and then opened it up. Her eyes widened at the sight of who was standing there.
“Olivia,” Angel said with hesitance. “What brings you to my house?”
Olivia stood there alone. She was really ready to take it to Angel’s ass, but giving her a fair warning first was what she’d do as an alternative. “Hm, let me see. Your unpredictable behavior is what has brought me here.” Olivia answered.
Angel slightly jerked her neck while feeling somewhat annoyed by Olivia’s presence. “What do you mean by my unpredictable behavior? Is this about me watching your daughter?” She questioned, but before Olivia could respond, Angel continued. “I didn’t mean any harm by that whatsoever. I was going to speak to you, but I got caught up watching your pretty baby. She looks so much like her dad that it just took me by surprise.”
“Well, I can only imagine.” Olivia sarcastically said. Since Zay had told her about Angel calling his phone, her phone had been ringing with the same foolish going on. Not only that, but Zay’s phone went off at least three times through the night with someone just listening and not saying nothing. That alone made an impatient Olivia jump out of bed with only one thing on the agenda for the morning and that was paying Olivia a visit. “Look, I feel that we should definitely keep our distance. You’re not my friend and I’m certainly not yours. We definitely don’t have to pretend to be something that we’re clearly not.”
“I never said that we were friends. Furthermore, I never would’ve known that you even knew where I lived.” Angel added with an irritated expression on her face. “Look, you don’t have to make any more house calls, especially if you’re uninvited. I get what you’re saying and I’ll do my best to stay away from you and your baby.”
“And my man, too.” Olivia added. “Yeah, he told me about the way that you’ve been calling him and just listening to his voice or the background. He also told me that you forgot to block your number one time. I guess we can safely say now that the culprit has been you all along.”
Angel smacked her lips with an irritable shake of the head. “I don’t know what Zay told you, but I’ve not been calling his phone.” She quickly lied. “My phone may have mistakenly called him, but not on purpose. I was over him the minute he moved on with you.”
Olivia laughed a little. “If that’s what you’d like to tell yourself to feel better. Anyway, my fiancé is off limits. Act like you know it.”
“I’m with somebody so your little fiancé doesn’t cross my mind like that anymore.” Angel shot her way.
“Yeah, the person that you’re with happens to be my ex-husband. Tell me that something isn’t wrong with that picture?” Olivia shot back as she looked Angel from head to toe. She was surely looking rough standing there in a red silk robe tied around her waist and a straggly ponytail sitting on the top of her head. “Are you out to get everything that I’ve had?”
“Listen bitch, you’re working on my nerves now.” Angel impatiently stated with a quick roll of the eyes. “I had Zay first so that would mean that you ended up with my leftovers. And, as far as Mark goes; I can’t help that he saw something special in me that he didn’t see in you.”
Olivia shook her head while trying her best to maintain her composure. “Just stay away from my family or you’ll be sorry.” She told her with menacing eyes.
“Fuck your family!” Angel shot.
POW!!!
Before Angel knew it, Olivia had struck her so hard across the face that she literally fell back into her house. The blow landed right under her right eye and stung like she’d been hit by a swarm of bees.
“BITCH!” Angel shouted while charging at Olivia, but was stopped by Mark who had walked up behind her to see what the commotion was about.
What the fuck is going on here?” Mark questioned as he and Olivia’s eyes connected for the first time since their divorce.
“Turn me a loose.” Angel begged as she tried to squirm loose.
“Yeah, turn that psychotic bitch a loose!” Olivia shouted.
Mark was taken aback. First off, he hadn’t seen Olivia in months and now she was at his door ready to fight Angel. “What the hell is going on? Call down,” he told Angel.
“That bitch just slapped me.” Angel said still trying to break free.
Mark looked over at Olivia who standing there like she wished a nigga would say something out the way to her. “What happened, Olivia?”
“Get this bitch from in front of my house before I kill her!” Angel shouted as Mark tried to hold her tightly so she couldn’t get away.
“Your bitch happened.” Olivia told him. “Just make sure you keep her muthafuckin’ ass away from my family or I’m gonna kill her ass!”
“Huh?” Mark pondered with a confused frown on his face. “Stay away from your family?”
“Ain’t nobody been around her family,” Angel yelled out still struggling in Mark’s arms.
“Bitch stop lying! Tell Mark how you been calling Zay, and then hanging up in his face. Check her phone records.” Olivia suggested.
“Bitch!!” Angel screamed out as she was able to take a swing at Olivia’s face, but Olivia swerved and she missed. However, Olivia came back with two quick licks to her face. This really pissed Angel off since she couldn’t hit her back. “You gon’ let that bitch hit me!!!” She shouted at Mark.
“I didn’t let nobody hit you. You need to calm the fuck down!” Mark demanded. “Olivia, please leave before someone calls the police.” He said while seeing that a couple of neighbors had stepped out on their porches to be nosy.
“Y’all better call somebody, because if I get loose she’s gonna need the police to come see about her.” Angel hissed. She was still struggling, but was definitely tiring herself out.
“I’ll leave, but have your bitch checked. Something is off about her and I don’t like it. Keep her away from my family or that nine I carry inside my purse will be used to stop that ass in her tracks. I mean it.” Olivia said, and with that she walked off while heading in the direction of her car.
“I wish that bitch might shoot me!” Angel hollered out at her. “Bitch, I got a license to carry, too!” She said as Olivia smugly grinned and got inside of her car.
“Man, calm the fuck down. She’s gone now.” Mark told her as he turned her a loose and closed the front door shut. In just that little bit of time, Angel and Olivia had showed their asses and he was still confused as to what had just happened.
“Why’d you let that bitch hit me?” Angel questioned while feeling pissed off.
“I told that I didn’t let her hit you. I was trying to hold you back. My intentions were never so she could get in any licks.” Mark fussed feeling like now Angel was trying to turn this around on him.
“You still love that bitch?” Angel cried out.
“Huh? What?” Mark frowned. “No,” he answered, and then continued. “What the fuck is wrong with you? I’ve let whatever Olivia and I had go. She has clearly moved on with someone else and so have I. So, why are you gunning for me?”
Angel took in a deep breath, and then let it out. “I’m not gunning for you,” she said trying to calm down. She looked over at him trying to shake off the stress and tension that was irritably building up inside of her.
By this time Mark didn’t know if he should be mad or concerned. Clearly there was something with her and he had to get to the bottom of what it was that had her so caught up in those unreso
lved feelings. “Are you okay?” Mark questioned out of concern.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Angel responded as she pushed the straggly strands of hair up like she was trying to tuck each piece inside of the elastic rubber band that held her ponytail in place. Her hands shook a little as if she was nervous, and then she looked over at Mark with an uneasy smile. “Let’s just go shower and put this incident behind us.” She said, and then turned to walk off, but Mark grabbed her by the wrist of her arm.
“Wait a minute.” He said. “Look me in the eyes.”
Angel gradually glanced up in Mark’s handsome face. “Babe, I’m fine. You would be a little on edge too if somebody just showed up to your house accusing you of things that aren’t true. And then on top of that, putting their hands on you.”
Mark thought about it for a moment. “Well, I guess you are right.” He said as she slightly smiled at him, and then turned to walk off again. Mark stopped her again, not letting go of her wrist. “Are you okay, though?”
“I’m good and will be better once we get out of this house.” She said still trying to evade his question.
“Those accusations that Olivia said about you. Are they true? Were you calling that nigga’s phone?”
Angel batted her innocent looking eyes. “No,” she answered. “If somebody was calling him it wasn’t me.”
“Are you over him?” Mark questioned with a serious look on his face.
“Yes,” Angel responded. She gently shook her wrist from Mark’s grip. “Now, are you coming to shower with me or no?”
Mark stood there watching as she walked off. His thoughts were running one thousand miles an hour. One thought after another. The main thing that stood out to him was helping Angel any kind of way that he could. She could say what she wanted, but he knew that she wasn’t the same. Maybe getting her out of the house more and doing things that she loved in the beginning of their relationship would help her. Something was going to have to work until he was able to get his children. He knew that bringing them around would for sure get her mentally back on track. All she had to do was spend a little time with them. It was all she’d talked about since finding out about Felisha having the twins. Somehow I gotta get Felisha to let me spend time with the kids. I don’t know how, but somehow. He thought.
“It feels good in here.” Angel called out from the shower. “What are you waiting for?”
“Nothing babe, I’m coming!”
Chapter 5
It was Sunday morning and time was winding down for Felisha to get to the nail salon to open up. Since the day before all she could think about was Logan and how charming he was when they’d met. He was tall, with the perfect caramel, smooth skin. His hair was low cut, with waves that she could ride for days. He had eyes that vividly matched his complexion with thick, eyelashes and dark eyebrows that enhanced his look. All she could do was blush every time she thought about his perfect smile that somehow seemed to peek her interest. Everything about him was alluring and she couldn’t wait to find out more about him.
“What are you daydreaming about? We’re supposed to be picking out some flowers, but you seem to be lost in love.” Patrice teased.
“Hush girl,” Felisha said with a soft grin. “I just want to make sure that I pick up the right flowers. I didn’t ask him what kind his mom liked. I just told him to leave everything up to me and I’d make sure that her day was perfect.”
“Well, I think you should’ve asked. We’ve been in this florist for almost forty minutes just browsing.” Patrice said as she leaned down to smell a bouquet of white roses. “Yet, you seem more pre-occupied with something other than flower shopping.”
“Maybe I am a little pre-occupied.” Felisha admitted. “I got my eye on Logan. I know that us meeting one another was all due to business, but he has definitely caught my attention. I’ve not looked at a man like that since Mark.”
“Damn, this could be a good thing.” Patrice chimed in with a smile. Anything was a good thing if it got her mind off of Mark. “How long did you talk with him when he called you to see what time we were gonna open?”
“We talked about fifteen minutes. It wasn’t that long at all, but I get the sense that he’s probably trying to feel me out just as much as I’m trying to feel him out. I just kind of went over some things that we’ll do for his mom and his aunts, and then we had small talk. It was nothing major. He did let me know that he’ll be sticking around the whole time.”
“He wants to stick around to watch his mama and his aunties get pampered? Yeah, he has to be feeling you like that.” Patrice grinned. “That’s the only reason he’s sticking around. Hell, any other man would drop their asses off, and then come back and pick ‘em up.”
Felisha laughed. “Or, he’d tell them where the salon was at and not even show back up at all.”
“You right,” Patrice agreed with light laughter. “So, what if he wants to take you out? Will you go? Lord knows you’ve not gone out on a real date in who knows when.”
“I wouldn’t even know what it feels like to go on a date. I’ve not been on one in so long.” She said while thinking back to the only time it felt like she was on a date was when she and Mark had gone to the Master’s together. “Let us not get too far ahead of ourselves. I never know how this day is going to turn out. I don’t wanna get my hopes up for something that may not happen.”
“It’s nothing wrong with thinking about it if you like him like that.”
“I don’t even know if I like him like that. I just know what liked when I saw him. The conversation that we’ve had so far has been effortless. Buuuuuut,” she dragged. “You know what they say, sometimes people can turn out too good to be. I just know that I’m definitely not letting my guard down too soon.”
Patrice nodded her head. “Yeah, come to think about it. I think you should definitely take your time and not rush anything.” She responded, and then glanced down at the Guess watch on her wrist. “You know that we’ve been here for almost an hour now.”
“Oh my God,” Felisha said while glancing at the time on her cell phone. “I just thought about the cake.”
Patrice frowned. “What cake?”
“The cake that should be delivered in less than an hour. We definitely gotta go.” She stated, and then glanced around the room quickly at the flowers for the picking. She then directed her attention over to the associate behind the counter. “I’ll have a dozen of those white tulips and a two dozen of those yellow roses.”
“Okay, I’ll get them for you.” The associate said. Just as she walked off to get the flowers, the doors of the florist opened and in walked Zoe. The minute she laid her eyes on Felisha she frowned.
“Hey Zoe,” Patrice quickly spoke.
“Hey P,” Zoe spoke back. She looked past Felisha like she didn’t see her.
“Well, hey Zoe,” Felisha softly spoke in an attempt to squash the apparent tension between the two.
Zoe just glanced over at her, and then directed her attention back at the beautiful display of flowers surrounding her.
Felisha cleared her throat while continuing. “I heard that y’all are having your parents an anniversary dinner today at their house. O’ picked up Lil Romeo last night from my mom’s.”
“I know,” Zoe finally said, but in a direct tone of not caring at all to talk with her.
“Mama said that he was so excited to see her.” Felisha continued.
Zoe softly rolled her eyes while quickly thinking. If this bitch wants me to entertain her this morning then I’ll give her just that. “He’s always happy to see her,” she said, and then continued. “That’s because my sister truly loves him. She doesn’t just turn her back on those that truly love and respect her back. He’s innocent in all of this. Plus, his love is pure and genuine for her. Something he couldn’t have gotten from his mom or his dad.”
“Damn,” Patrice whispered with a cut look on her face. She just looked at Felisha and disappointedly shook her head. Even she knew that what
Zoe had said was the truth.
The associate cut in as she stood behind the counter with the flowers ready to go. “Here are your flowers, ma’am. That’ll be one-hundred and thirty dollars. “
Felisha stood there unfazed by what Zoe had said as she went inside of her purse and pulled out her debit card. She handed it to the assistant with a pleasant smile on her face. Once the flowers were paid for, she and Patrice grabbed them as they headed for the door to exit. Felisha stopped once she’d gotten beside Zoe. “Tell your mom and dad that I said, Happy Anniversary. And for the record, I do regret a lot of bad decisions that I made when it comes to me and your sister’s friendship. I truly hate that things happened the way they did. I pray that one day y’all will be able to forgive me.”
She sounded sincere, but Zoe wasn’t buying it. “Yeah, you say that after you’ve had twins by the same no-good man that you allowed to come between y’all. Bye Felisha!” Zoe added, and with that Felisha walked out of the store with Patrice following her. It wasn’t worth her time to get into a big argument with Zoe. Plus, she knew that Zoe wasn’t going to talk to long without swinging on her. She was always more of the unpredictable one that didn’t mind slapping a bitch first then asking questions later. Her tongue was quick and sassy. No matter what she would’ve said, Zoe would’ve found a reason to still give her the business.
Zoe looked up from the flowers long enough to roll her eyes at the back of Felisha’s head as they exited the flower shop. “She got some fucking nerves,” she mumbled. “Like I fuck with her at all.”
***
Olivia stood in front of the greeting cards as she contemplated which one to get for her parents. She held Chloe over her shoulder while gently rocking her. Glancing from one greeting card to another was getting tiresome. Finally, she picked out one of the lavendar and white cards that read on the front of it, ‘Happy Anniversary to the Bestest Parents in the World.’ She grinned to herself at the word bestest. “I definitely have the bestest parents in the world.” She said while leaning over towards her shoulder as she whispered in Chloe’s tiny ear. “You have the bestest grandparent’s in the word, too.” She added while picking up the lavender envelope to put the card inside. “Think we’ll get this one. What’ll you say Chloe?” She was speaking baby gibberish in a soft, playful tone as Chloe’s bright eyes looked in her direction. She was only seven weeks old and was already trying to keep her head held up on her own. Olivia just grinned at her as started down the aisle heading in the direction of the checkout counter. She stopped at the end of the aisle to check out some nail polish that was on sale. As she stood there eyeing at the pretty nail polish colors, Mark started down the other end of the aisle.