“Sorry about that, I really…I…uhm…didn’t mean…t…to…” he stammered as he looked down at her, his hazel eyes revealing the truth behind the situation. She lifted her eyes to meet his and leaned into him as he leaned down and their lips met. She allowed herself to get lost in the moment. He was the one that pulled away. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean for that to happen. I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes. I don’t want to be the other guy,” he let it all spill from his lips so quickly that she needed a moment to register it all.
“I, uhm, don’t want…wouldn’t want you to be. I don’t even know how we could do any of this anyway because of the whole Georgia, California…what am I talking about? I’m in a relationship!” she shook her head, grabbed her things, and proceeded to walk up the walk to the house without looking back. She heard the car doors close and the engine turn over. She climbed the stairs, pulled off her heels, put the key in the lock, and opened the front door to a sight more disturbing than what she had just been a part of.
“What’s all this?” she asked as she walked in the door and her eyes met the woman who’s feet were propped up on her coffee table with a pizza box on her lap. “By the way, who are you and what are doing in my house?”
“Oh, hi!” she said standing up and extending her grease soaked hand. “My name is Carmelita James and Patrick asked me to stay here with the twins while he ran out to do some things,” she withdrew her hand upon realizing that Myah wasn’t going to take it.
Myah looked at the 20+ year old, super model looking female who seemed to look fairly at home in her home. The girl had that Kimora style sex appeal, with the Tyra Banks body. “Why would he be out at this hour? It’s one o’clock in the morning! What is wrong with him?” she asked as she dialed Patrick’s number.
She usually was very reserved and kept her cool when she spoke to him, but this was the final straw. What was so important that he couldn’t stay home one freakin’ night with his children? She went passed livid and straight frighteningly pissed. As she listened to the call tone, she looked at the girl who remained on her couch, watching television.
“Uhm, Carmelita, is it?” the girl nodded affirmatively. “You can go ahead and go because I’m home and I can take it from here.”
“Well, the only problem is that I don’t have my car. I’m helping Pat out because it needs some work and he agreed to pay for it,” she said apologetically.
“I’ll call you a cab,” Myah whispered and gestured for Ms. Car-mel-ita to grab her things and wait outside. Just as she left to go out to the porch, Patrick answered.
“What in the hell is wrong with you? You are the sorriest son-of-a…” she started before he even got his greeting in.
“Whoa, wait a second. Why are you so upset?” he said sounding as if she had the problem and he’d done nothing wrong.
“You are the most inconsiderate, selfish, bastard that I have ever met. I go off for one function where all you need to do is pick them up and take them to wherever you planned on taking them, and that was too hard for you. Then when you finally decide to show up, your sorry ass is thinking with the head in your pants and all you want to do is get into mine. As if all this wasn’t enough, I leave you here to care for our children and you can’t even do that. You bring some wanna be fashionista into my home so that you can go out and do what exactly? You know what, I don’t even wanna know. I’m so sick of this. I really don’t care any more. You make me sick!” she flipped her phone closed. She opened it again as she realized the little fashion icon was on her porch still.
After she saw that the girl was in the cab, she began straightening up the living room. She was heading toward the bedroom to change and get some much-needed rest when she heard the front door open. She kept walking toward the bedroom.
“Can we talk?” Patrick said. “I think that we really need to discuss this situation.”
“What situation, Patrick?” she said as she turned and glared at him.
“The Carmelita situation,” he said as if that was the obvious situation and she was an idiot for not knowing.
“Nothing to discuss,” she said as turned and headed back towards the bedroom and twirled the clutch she’d carried that evening over her head. “It’s all good. I completely understand. I get it now. I see it all perfectly clear,” she said as she cut the corner and walked through her bedroom door, closing and locking it behind her. He was following until the door closed. She heard his footfalls stop when she guessed he realized that the door was locked and there was no way he was entering.
“Well, goodnight. I guess I will sleep in the guest room,” he said loudly so that she could hear him through the closed door. She ignored his statement. She went to the bathroom, turned on the shower, and undressed. By the time she climbed into the bed, the exhaustion of the evening hit her hard.
She awoke the next morning to the twins beating on the door. She must’ve slept through the alarm. She usually set the alarm for a daily chime, even on the weekends because as beautiful as her children were, she needed to prepare herself for spending time with them. Her twins never slept passed 8am, no matter what time they’d fallen asleep the night before. So, that meant the she needed to be awake by 7. She groggily looked at the clock on the dresser across the room from her. Was that right? It’s 10 o’clock. That can’t be right. She picked up her cell from the nightstand and pressed the side button. It was accurate. Wow!
“Mommy, come out. You gotta make us brake fast,” Kevin said as he knocked on the door again.
“Mommy, whatcha doin’? Why you sleepin’ so much?” she heard Kayla add.
“Hey, little ones. What are you doing by the door?” she heard her oldest ask.
What was Nekeya doing there? She had to do volunteer work at the hospital this morning? At least that is what she told her last night. Myah had to find out what was going on. Where was Patrick? Why wasn’t he keeping the kids away from the door? She grabbed her robe, slipped on her shoes, and opened her bedroom door. Nekeya was ushering the twins down the hall. When the twins heard the door open, they ran back down the hall towards her.
“Mommy, momma! Where you be at?” Kevin asked as he jumped into her arms.
Kayla wrapped herself around Myah’s leg. “We miss you yesserday! When I gots awake, I wants you, you weren’ts dere,” she said with the saddest brown eyes that Myah had ever seen. She looked at her baby girl and just melted. She looked at Nekeya and her eldest daughter’s expression mirrored Myah’s feelings.
“Aww, baby, well I missed you to,” she said as she lifted her to give her a kiss. Upon returning her to the floor, she grabbed her mother’s other hand and they walked down the hall. Myah looked at Kevin who was holding tightly to her hand as if he never wanted to let it go. She looked at Nekeya and recalled what she wanted to ask her.
“Keya, what’s up? I thought that you were supposed to be at the hospital this morning,” she asked as they continued into the kitchen.
“Yeah. That was my thought as well,” she said with an underline disdain and noticeable aggravation in her voice. “I received a call this morning from someone and they needed to leave unexpectedly, so I had to reschedule my morning sessions to this afternoon,” as she finished she took a seat in one of the chairs at the kitchen table and bit into an apple.
“That’s wild. I wonder why I was just awakened. It’s not like it hasn’t been done before.”
“Something about you not being very happy with him and you really needing your rest, especially with you being in the state that you were in yesterday,” Nekeya responded.
Always intuitive and right on cue, Kayla looked at Myah, then her sister. “Where Daddy? You mad at he?”
“So, Kayla, what do you want for brake fast?” she asked trying to divert the child’s attention from the question. She decided that she should just wait until she and Nekeya were alone to continue their conversation. “Nekeya, if you want, you can go. I know that you have to study and all. I’m awake now and ca
n take care of your sister and brother,” she said as she lifted Kayla to get the pancake mix down from the cabinet.
“No, Ma, it’s fine. I can stay here and have breakfast with you guys. I will head out a little bit after that, go to the hospital, and then head home to study. Besides, we don’t ever really get to hang out around the house and not in the whole work setting, you know,” Nekeya said as she crossed the kitchen and grabbed the skillet from under the cabinet.
“Yeah, I do. Kevin, should we have chocolate chip, banana, or berry pancakes?” she bent down and put his apron on him.
“Scrawberry, mmm, yummy,” he said as he rubbed his stomach.
“Yay!” Kayla cheered.
“Yay! Strawberry is my favorite,” Myah yelled and Nekeya clapped in agreement.
After they finished making and eating breakfast, Nekeya left to start her day. Myah had some things to do, so she got the twins and herself dressed and headed out the door right after her. She was in middle of a shopping plaza store, a little boutique for kids, listening to the twins’ great debate over who was better, Hannah Montana or Dora the Explorer. She found the little argument funny. Kayla said Hannah was better because she was realer and could do magic. Kevin said Dora was better because she had a pet monkey that could talk to her. She was looking at some clothes and allowed them to continue their discussion in the little play area that was set up for children as she browsed the store. She glanced out the window and saw Patrick. She was getting ready to grab the kids so that she could go and give him an ear full, when she saw little miss fashionista get out of the passenger seat of his car. Are you kidding me? She thought. He’s cheating on me? She was about to confront him when she thought back to the kiss that she and Jeffrey had shared the night before. That stopped her cold. As if he knew she was thinking about him, her cell rang and the caller I.D. lit with his name. She watched Patrick as he and Carmelita walked into a nearby restaurant together.
“Hey! How’s it going?” she asked as she tried to see if she could see in the restaurant from the boutique window.
“Is this a bad time?” he asked obviously noticing that she was preoccupied.
“No. Sorry. It’s a good time,” she said as she turned her focus to the conversation.
“I wanted to apologize again for last night. I feel really bad about it. I feel like I crossed a boundary that…”
“Jeffrey, it’s fine. It wasn’t like I wasn’t a willing participant. If I remember correctly, I led you in that direction. I don’t know if I misinterpreted an innocent accident or not, but it’s not something that I am regretting or anything,” she said without even thinking about what she was saying. “Besides, I really think that it is time for me to make some changes and do some things differently.”
“Wow, what does that mean?” he asked. The hope in his voice lingered in the air as the conversation progressed.
“I am attracted to you. I am greatly attracted to you. I have to admit that I steal glances every chance that I get, but I really need to get some things in order before I launch into something new,” she said hoping that Jeffrey didn’t take it as rejection, but a hopeful promise.
“Yeah, I understand,” he said with such displeasure. She felt like the worst person in the world. “I will be packing up to leave in about a little over 3 weeks. I would really like it if you would come to my going away party. It’s nothing formal…”
Her line was beeping to let her know that another call was coming in. “I would really love to come and see you off. Just send me a message with the information. I have to go, it’s my other line and plus my kids are getting restless. See you then,” she said quickly clicking over because the hospital was on the other line. She began packing up the kids as the cashier rang up her items, and answered the phone.
“Yes, this is Dr. Stallman speaking,” she said in the most professional voice she could muster as she fumbled with her wallet to get her credit card out to pay for her items and listened to Kayla whine about a toy she wanted that she just 5 minutes ago hated.
“You need me to come in now!” she exclaimed. “I can’t really do that because…I understand that this is important, but…yes, this project is massive…I just don’t know if I can…yes sir, I understand that my research and input…I have my…nope…no sir, that won’t be a problem at all,” she said as the line went dead. Biggest problem ever! She thought. What am I supposed to do with the twins? Nekeya is not an option because I just sent her to do what she needs to take care of today. She looked at her twins then her watch. Maybe, I really should think about returning to Georgia. There I would have plenty of people to help me out. My mother has been begging me to do so anyway. She had a couple of brain storms in that moment. She grabbed her packages and the kids, made her way to the car, dumping the packages in the trunk of the Pacifica and waltzed into the restaurant where the twins’ father was.
“Hello and welcome to…” the hostess began.
“Hi. I was wondering if you could tell me where Mr. Patrick Jordan is sitting,” Myah stated then she changed her mind. “You know what, never mind that. Do you have a pen and paper? I would like for you to get two kids menus and booster chairs, and take his children to him with the note that I am going to write,” Myah stated looking through her own bag for a pencil and paper. The young hostess looked concerned. “Oh sweetie, breathe, I will give you an extra tip and I promise there won’t be a scene. His party is still here, correct?” Myah questioned.
The girl shook her head yes as she handed Myah the paper and pen.
“Good. Great!” Myah said as she wrote her note, which read: “Sorry, something came up. Have fun!!”
She handed the girl the note and watched as the hostess, her twins, and two gentlemen with chairs walked over to Patrick’s table. She didn’t even bother to stay and watch the response, she needed to leave before he spotted her and tried to weasel out of it.
By the time she got home, it was nine in the evening. All she wanted to do was curl up on the couch with her kids and enjoy movies. She didn’t want to think about Patrick and his mess. She didn’t want to venture into thinking about Jeffrey and the kiss. She really didn’t want to review the meeting, the proposal, or the job offer that was extended to her that evening. She just wanted to sit down and enjoy her kids. Decisions could be made later. She didn’t want to make a hasty decision anyway. She wanted to way her options. A decision like any of the ones that needed to be made, should be made when one is level headed and their mind is refreshed. She pulled into the driveway and then into the garage. She took in her house and saw that it looked very still. There weren’t any lights on at all. It was really early for even Patrick to be asleep. The twins usually fell asleep on Saturdays watching Disney or Pixar movies. She had a very uneasy feeling.
She dialed Nekeya’s number and it went to voicemail. She called the hospital and asked one of the residents if they’d seen Nekeya around. They answered that she was in one of the labs reviewing results for one of the patients. They offered to page her, but she didn’t think it was that pressing. She tried reaching Patrick, but his phone went to voicemail. She tried his brother with the same result. She then called his mother. She was the last result call. She and Patrick’s mother did not get along because Mrs. Ella Mae Jordan thought the sun rose and set on her child’s behind. Her precious Pat could do no wrong. They were sworn enemies from day one of their meeting. Mrs. Jordan and Myah had been in the same room for all of ten minutes, when Mrs. Jordan made a comment on Patrick’s ability to commit to anything and everything. Myah, who had been dating Patrick for about a year then and had witnessed first hand Patrick’s unstable work ethic and inability to stay with a task, unless it had something to do with design. If it was a quick project or portion of design within it, then he was interested. Myah had snickered at the statement. Mrs. Jordan did not find Myah’s finding her statement humorous, the least bit appealing. From that moment forward, they steered clear of each other unless necessary.
This wa
s one of those necessary moments. Myah sifted through her phonebook and found the entry. She took a deep breath and exhaled as she dialed. She waited patiently and counted the rings. If the phone rang 5 times, then she could hang up and chalk it up to her not having the twins. She could then explore some other avenue. She listened to the rings: 2…3… 4..and a half…and…
“Hello. Hi, Mrs. Jordan. How are you…” Myah began, but judging by the silent rage that was being vaulted at her via the wavelengths of the phone from Patrick’s mother, she knew that Patrick told his version of what had happened. “Are Kayla and Kevin…they are…great…I am on my…what do you mean, you don’t think that’s a good idea?” Myah could feel her blood pressure rising. “Look, I am on…what!? There is no way…why did he have to go out of town…when is he return…2 weeks! No, my children will not be staying with you! You could try that if…Mrs. Jordan, you would need serious proof of that and since you don’t have any, have my children ready and waiting for me in 5 minutes. If you don’t, then you will be spending the night in jail for kidnapping!” she closed her phone.
She had already started her car, backed it out of the driveway, and was on her way to the elder Jordan residence before she hung up the phone. Who does she think she is? For that matter, who does he think that he is? She had officially had it. She was done! She could not take it anymore and was not willing to deal with the blatant disregard for herself or her children.
She looked at the back seat which held her two children and took in the peace that was on their faces and realized that she knew what she needed to do. She knew she couldn’t always protect them from pain and affliction, but she was going to do what needed to be done to keep them happy as long as possible. As long as she was unhappy and frustrated, then they couldn’t remain peaceful. As much as she knew that this was going to hurt them, she couldn’t allow this arrangement to keep going the way that it was.
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