“Are you going to come in or not?” I asked.
“Uh, yeah.”
He followed me inside after he closed and locked the door behind him. I sat on the couch again, grabbed the remote, and flicked through channels. I needed something to do to occupy my mind and manage this awkward silence.
“That’s a good look on you, son. You’ve always been good with the babies.”
“Thanks. I’m especially good with mine,” Christian replied.
“Come again?”
Christian sat up from lying on his belly, where he’d been playing with Belle. He pulled her onto his lap and looked at Jeremiah. “That conversation we had where you suggested she could be mine because of my donor history, well, you were right. She is mine.”
“Damn, I mean, I knew there was a possibility, but what are the odds?” Jeremiah asked, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Turns out it was an excellent chance.”
“How old is she?”
“She’ll be seven months tomorrow,” Christian stated, surprising me that he recalled those details. “I’m on the floor working with her. She’s been learning how to crawl when she doesn’t get frustrated first.”
“She’s beautiful. Glad you straightened that out,” Jeremiah replied before he turned his gaze to me. I could easily see him from my peripheral vision, but I kept my gaze trained on the TV.
“You’ve got the ring and everything,” Jeremiah stated, pointing at my finger.
I looked up and nodded absently at him before returning my gaze to the TV again.
“I’ve always been the smarter man of the two of us,” Christian boasted in a somewhat teasing manner. I knew that he meant that for real.
“So, you’re gonna marry this clown, Angel?”
I looked up at him and tilted my head. “Jeremiah, what is it that you want?”
“My bad, sweetheart. I didn’t know there was still bad blood between us.”
“There’s no bad blood between us.”
“Well, I’m trying to have a conversation with you, and you’re cutting me off at the knees.”
“No, you’re trying to make small talk like we’re cool like that, and we’re not. I answered your questions at the door because I wanted you to be okay being here with me. But making jokes is not who we are, not anymore.”
“I can’t have a casual conversation with you now?” he asked in disbelief.
“You didn’t care enough to have a conversation with me when you left me alone at our old place without so much as an explanation other than that you were just done and over me. I don’t see the need to converse now. I’m good on all that.”
“Whoa. Okay. You’re right. You turned her against me, Chris?” he asked Christian, turning and laughing at Christian.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Jeremiah still thought everything was about him.
“Nobody did that shit but you, my nigga.”
“I knew your ass always wanted my woman.”
“Nah, chief. You got it all wrong,” Christian replied, kissing Belle on the cheek before he passed her to me.
I took her, and he jumped up and stood in front of Jeremiah. “I never wantedyourwoman. I wanted the woman you couldn’t see, the one you didn’t appreciate and tried to change. I wanted the real Angel.”
Christian took the baby back from me and jogged upstairs to put her down to sleep on his bed.
