Chapter
One
AMARI
RECOVERY
Since my divorce almost two years ago, Christmas had become bipolar, either unbelievably magical or surprisingly empty. In the blink of an eye, my fairy-tale marriage with my college girlfriend went up in smoke. Most of the holiday traditions that I cherished as a father had morphed into unexpected moments of pain, thanks to my fake, wannabe diva ex-wife, Lise.
Although Lise and I shared custody of our six-year-old daughter, Aspen, I hated that my only child wouldn’t grow up with her biological parents living in the same house. No kid asked or deserved to be a product of a broken home.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and bowed my head in the corner of my work office to say a quick prayer for my angel.
Please let my baby grow up with good sense and not suffer from our dysfunction.
Before tears that teased the back of my eyes fell, I picked up my phone to check in on Aspen. When Lise answered the phone with a heavy sigh, I braced myself for her to be on some bull. I’d already dealt with her nasty attitude this morning when she picked up Aspen’s belongings to travel to their vacation home in Fort Lauderdale for Christmas.
“Yeah?” Lise’s curt voice poked at my heart, piercing it like the sharpest of needles.
On paper, Lise and I looked like a perfect match since we graduated at the top of our class with civil engineering degrees at Morgan State University. In real life, we were opposites, like fire and ice.
“Good afternoon to you too.” I gritted my teeth and counted silently so I wouldn’t mirror her disrespect.
“What do you want, Amari? Rob and I have stuff to do.”
“Let me talk to Aspen before y’all leave.”
“Hurry, since we need to get on the road before the storm.” Lise smacked her lips so loud that I rolled my eyes.
I sprayed several spritzes of my eucalyptus-scented mist spray into the air as I sucked in a big breath and waited for Aspen to come to the phone. I needed any bit of encouragement to get out of my funk.
“Daddy!”
The high pitch of Aspen’s voice made me as giddy as she sounded.
“Baby girl. You ready for the holiday?”
“I sure am.”
Christmas was Aspen’s favorite time of year. Although it was over a week away, I bought her enough toys to fill half of the small storage unit in the back of my two-story house. When I ran out of room there, I hid a kid-sized rolling princess suitcase full of frilly dresses and designer shoes in the back of mybedroom closet, along with three shelves of books by authors who centered positive messages for Black kids.
“I’ll get more presents from Santa when we get back from Mommy’s?” Her cute voice rose and fell with excitement.
“Yes, sweetie. You know he visits you in two places every Christmas since you’ve been such a good girl.”
Aspen giggled.
“Yep.”
My baby’s confidence was high, and I loved it.
No matter where my angel spent Christmas, her daddy was going to spoil her rotten and fulfill her heart’s desires. Her princess experience would always be top-tier in my house.
“Are you going to tell Santa I’ll be in Florida?”
I chuckled, since Aspen loved bragging to her cousins that I had direct access to Santa. No one stroked my ego like my angel.
“I’ve already made him aware.”
