Toni:I miss you Daddy. I can’t sleep without you
My smirk came in slow.
Me:U know what that do to me when you say that right?
Toni:I’m just sayin’, I need you here
Me:U need me or u need this mouth, this love, this pressure I put on you every time I touch u?
Toni:ALL OF IT
Me:Then keep the door unlocked. I’m on my way
I stood up and grabbed my keys. Pressure looked at me like he already knew.
“Where you off to?” he asked.
“My wife callin’ me,” I said. “And you know I’m comin’ when she call.”
Renza laughed. “Go on then, married man.”
I tossed my cards on the table and headed for the door with a lightness in my spirit I ain’t felt in years. Toni wanted me home, and for once my mind wasn’t fightin’ me on the way to her.
I stepped out into the night, slid into my whip, and headed back to my baby, feelin’ ready to give her every piece of myself now that I finally understood what those pieces was.
Trill-Land, Jungle Estate
While oiling my legs up, I spoke on the phone to Toni, leaning back against the headboard while the body oil soaked into my skin. I had Kaylon’s bassinet pulled right beside the bed so I could see him, and he was knocked out with his little fist curled under his cheek. I kept glancing at him while Toni talked my ear off, but her voice sounded lighter than it had in weeks. It made me smile without even meaning to.
“Bitch, I swear,” Toni said, her voice loud and dramatic in my ear like she was standing right next to me in the room, “I ain’t never thought I’d be excited to sit in no damn therapist office but baby that lady done changed my whole life. I walk out them sessions feelin’ like I just came out the baptism pool.”
I laughed and shook my head. “You is so damn goofy,” I said, dragging the oil up my thigh. “But I’m happy for y’all. Therapy saved me and Pressure too. I know that feeling. It make you feel like… relieved, but also overwhelmed at the same time.”
“Right! Like damn, bitch, it’s that simple?” Toni said. “And don’t get me wrong, Kay’Lo still crazy. He just… controlled crazy. Like he not tryna shoot the refrigerator or nothin’.”
I snorted. “Not the refrigerator, Toni. Please.”
“I’m jus’ sayin’!” she said. “I feel like I got my nigga back. Even though he schizophrenic, I still love his crazy ass. He be lookin’ at me all soft like he scared to lose me, and it make me feel like a queen. I ain’t gon’ lie.”
I smiled because I could hear the truth in her voice. “I’m proud of you,” I said softly. “For real. You’re a great wife. I know that shit not easy. Mensah men? Girl, they somethin’ else, but when they love you… it hit different.”
Toni hummed loud into the phone. “Then this nigga been all over me. My pussy barely hangin’ on by a thread. That man been beggin’ for it ever since he got his diagnosis. Talkin’ about ‘baby, make love to me like I’m findin’ myself.’ What that even mean? I was confused.”
I burst out laughin’. “Toni, shut up. You bein’ ignorant now.”
“I’m bein’ honest!” she argued. “But I love him. Even when he get on my damn nerves, I love him.”
Before I could respond, she suddenly got quiet.
I frowned and sat up a little. “Toni? Hello?”
All I heard was heavy kissing and her breathing heavy like she forgot she was even on the phone. I didn’t even need to guess. I knew exactly who had walked through the damn door.
“Mmm… boy, move,” she whispered faint as hell, then another kiss smacked against the speaker.
I shook my head and rolled my eyes with a smile. “Lord, he home. Lemme go. Y’all nasty.”
She ain’t say shit back because she wasn’t even on the phone no more. I hung up on her myself and put my phone on the nightstand.
