Tears poured down her face, causing puddles. Jesse went to comfort her momma while Trey ran for tissues. My chest felt constricted as I watched mother and daughter comfort each other.
“Oh hell, no, this is turning into a sob fest,” Trey bounced back into the room.
“Let’s put on Waiting to Exhale and drink some more. I’ll call the nanny to put the kids down for bedtime,” I shimmied my shoulders and gave Tibs a kiss on the head.
The nanny came and got both kids without incident.
“I need to get on this level of comfort,” Carmen had laid her head in my lap. I began to play with her long dark locks the way I had when we were kids. Trey nestled up beside us with a bowl of popcorn and the movie stared.
“Wish Naomi would’ve been able to come,” I said.
“She’s been acting really shady lately,” Carmen gave a yawn.
“For sure, but she has a new boo and I think she doesn’t want to jinx herself,” Trey yawned as well.
Annoyed they were both getting sleepy, and fighting a yawn myself, I reached for the champagne. “Y’all better stop fucking yawning and watch this movie. And what do you mean she don’t want to jinx herself.”
“You know the doctor she had met at the hospital was married. He and his wife were separated but they’re back together.”
My eyes grew big, and I looked at Trey. “Where have I been at?”
“Girl, grieving your husband’s fake death.”
Carmen turned over at the moment and gave me a look. “Speaking of which, where is your husband?”
Another yawn escaped from my mouth. At that moment the voices overs had started for the movie and the character of Savannah played by the queen herself, Whitney Houston, began to talk. I loved the way this woman sounded; her next calling could have been ASMR YouTube videos if she’d wanted too.
“Aht, aht,” Carmen snapped me out my daydream. “I just sat here crying like a damn fool cause my husband might either lose his job or make us move and you suddenly can’t share. You been acting really uppity since you got a ring.”
I saw her eyes dart to my finger. Noticeably, the huge piece of ice was missing as I had chucked it at Thierry.
“She’s been uppity since birth,” Trey reminded us.
Giving Trey a glare, I looked down at Carmen. “It’s true, uppity since birth.”
She rolled her eyes and Trey yipped. “Fine. Thierry and I are….I asked him for a divorce. He’s staying at a hotel right now.”
“For how long?”
“Not sure,” I shrugged.
Carmen sat up and looked between Trey and me. “You just gone let her break up her family?”
My hands flew to my face as I let them go back and forth on my life. I just wanted to watch the movie not think about that man. I didn’t want to think about any man. My phone which was just out of reach, began to jingle. This gave me a reason to stand up and escape.
“Hold up,” Carmen said from the floor. “Where are you going.”
“Could be business,” I gave an innocent smile.
“This conversation isn’t’ over,” she called after me.
“Surrrreee,” I replied.
Deciding to take the call without even looking down to see who it was, I stepped outside. I found myself looking at the name on the screen.Nathan West. Of course, just as I was swearing off men, this man would sense it and call.
“Yes,” I answered.
He chuckled on the other end.
