DJ ran over to them, panting and out of breath as Nyair rustled the top of his head. “No more picking fights with teammates. You save the frustration for the field and you take it out in your routes, you hear me?” Nyair grilled.
“Yeah, Coach,” DJ replied, chip still on his shoulder.
“So sorry about that. I’ll have his dad talk to him,” Lauren promised.
“It’s all love, Ms. Lauren,” Nyair answered.
“Have a good night,” she said.
She put her arm around DJ, and he sulked as they made their way to the car.
“Why did you hit Chance, DJ? Isn’t he your friend?” she asked, brow dipping because her son was brooding. She could see the attitude he was clinging to.
“He was acting like a baby. Doing more bragging about his stupid dad than playing ball. He was dropping every pass, Ma!”
“I don’t care if he dropped a million passes, you know better than to put your hands on other people. I don’t mind you defending yourself but I’m not raising a bully,” she chastised. “What is going on with you?”
“Nothing,” DJ answered.
She left it alone until they were inside her car, but the look of discontent on his face nagged at her soul.
“It doesn’t seem like nothing,” she said.
“Why didn’t dad come? He said he was coming,” DJ complained.
The reason for his foul mood became crystal clear. DJ was upset with Demi.
Their bad moods were caused by the same source. Demi was distracted. Missing dinners, missing practices, taking away time from them. She felt her son’s discontent because, hell, it washer own, but she could never and would never add fuel to that fire. She would never turn her son against his father and use his discontent as ammunition.
“Daddy’s working, DJ. You know he would be here if he could. Nothing’s more important than you. You know that,” Lauren said, reaching over to rub the back of her son’s neck.
“Yeah, right,” DJ replied.
Lauren felt helpless. There were certain things a mother couldn’t give her son. She could love him. She could nurture him. She could kiss away his aches and pains and wish away his nightmares in the middle of the night, but she couldn’t teach her baby boy how to be a man.
“Your father loves you,” Lauren said. It was all she could say because she was burning with anger.
She held the steering wheel so tightly her hands hurt as she sped home. They pulled into the driveway and she threw her car in park.
“When your dad gets home, he’s going to be talking to you about that attitude,” she said. “I know him, and if you’re honest about what’s upsetting you, he’ll listen. Okay?”
DJ nodded and climbed from the car. She hated the way his shoulders hung as he entered the house. Lauren didn’t know what was happening to her life. It was like someone had snapped their finger and cast a spell of discontent over her home. Things were changing. Demi would never admit it, and maybe he didn’t even notice it, but Lauren could feel it. The fact that it was now affecting her child made Lauren want to spark a war. She pulled out her phone and dialed Demi, FaceTime, something she never did but had the overwhelming urge to do today. When he didn’t answer, every alarm in her body went off. Lauren would have to have a talk with Demi, and it was a discussion that she wasn’t sure she was ready for because she feared what would be revealed.
“Hey, Dad. What would happen if you and mom got a divorce?”
The question stopped Demi in his tracks as he bypassed his son’s bedroom. He turned and stared into the dark room, only making out the outline of his son’s body as he walked inside.
“What’s that now?” Demi asked as he pushed into the room, navigating through the dark to have a seat on his son’s bed.
“You missed my practice. Chance said the only time his dad started missing his games and stuff is when his dad left his mom,” DJ said.
“Tell that lil’ nigga, Chance, to stop speaking on your people cuz his little-ass don’t know shit,” Demi said, slightly perturbed at the notion that was being put into his son’s head.
“So you’re not getting a divorce?” DJ asked.
“No, son. Sometimes a missed practice is just a missed practice,” Demi said. He had borrowed time from his family to spend it with Charlie and he was witnessing the effects of it. “I will never leave you, DJ. You are my son and I love you. I will never not be in your life every day.”
“And Ma’s life too? Cuz you told me a man takes care of what he loves. So, you got to take care of us both, right?”
