Not you acting like taking one night off is gone cause the project to collapse.
I laughed at myself. She was right.
Me:
Okay. I’ll come. I don’t want to stay out too late, though, Zy. Little baby be having me sleepy af.
Zyah:
I know. I’m having Amari send a car for you. It’ll pick you up at 6:00pm
Me:
Okay.
I sat in the suite at the baseball game, and just as my sister had promised, there was plenty of food. I bit into a slice of cheese pizza with the perfect amount of cheese to sauce ratio. I loved pizza, and luckily for me, my daughter seemed to like it too. I washed the pizza down with a long sip of pop, then belched loudly.
Kolby Gardner, Amari’s homeboy and the owner of the suite, looked over at me. “You good?”
Since we’d arrived, he never strayed far from me. I was flattered, but at the same time, I didn’t really care. If I was on the hunt for a man, I would’ve been giving him my attention. Kolby Gardner was a good catch. He was young, handsome, rich, and nice. His entire vibe gave “cool dude.” He sort of reminded me of Christian—somebody who had an impressive skill set but didn’t let that be their entire personality. Unfortunately, I was twenty-four weeks pregnant. All I wanted to do was bake my baby, sleep, and eat. I didn’t want to court, date, talk to anybody or anything.
I giggled. “I’m good.”
“I apologize for staring, but you’re… you’re fucking gorgeous. There’s no politically correct way for me to say it. I’m sitting here looking at you and you’re taking my breath away.”
“Thank you.”
“You have this… glow about you.”
“Well, I am pregnant,” I deadpanned.
His eyes darted to my stomach region. “I’m aware,” he confessed. “Amari mentioned it. Congratulations. Not to get all in your business, but I don’t see a ring.”
“I’m not married.”
“Maybe because your future husband just met you today.”
The blush was instantaneous. “Wow. Nobody could ever accuse you of being shy, huh?”
“Yo, you don’t get where I got being shy. I’m young, black, and from an impoverished neighborhood of a major city. People try to treat me like a YN, until they don’t.”
I turned my gaze on him. He was a good looking guy who was saying all the right things, and my hormones were all over the place. I couldn’t afford to fall for anybody. I had too much going on. Before I could respond, Zyah and Amari appeared.
“Hey, Sis, let’s get some pics for the Gram.”
So, we posed.
An hour or so later, my body was talking to me. The suite was nicer than the bleachers, but my body wanted to be at home either on my own sofa or in my own bed. Not only that, I’d spent the morning and early afternoon running point for Christian. Then I’d spent the late afternoon and early evening doing the same for Brixton.
During the seventh inning stretch, I made my way over to Zyah. “Babe, I’m tired. Today is starting to give, I’m overdoing it. I wanna head home. Can you let the driver know to meet me out front?”
She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Yes. Sit down. I’ll let you know when he’s out front.” She typed into her phone. “Do you need me to go to the bathroom with you before you leave? You need something to drink? Some water?”
“If you’re going, I could give you a ride,” Kolby offered.
He was nice, but at the end of the day, I didn’t know him. I didn’t want him knowing where I stayed. “Thanks, but no.”
At the same time, Zyah said, “Don’t worry about it, Kolby. I got her.”
