“Beautiful like the rest of your children,” Lauren complimented.
“Thank you,” Mo said as she handed over baby True. “Be careful, she just ate, and she’s bound to spit up.”
“Oh my goodness, she’s so precious,” Lauren said. “And who are these two?” Lauren asked as she bounced slightly while holding baby True. Her eyes went to the beautiful set of toddlers in Burberry print.
“My twins, Yara and Messari,” Morgan introduced. “And this is their father, Messiah.”
“Good to meet you,” Messiah greeted.
“And Eazy, it’s always good to see you. Did you check out the virtual reality game over there?”
“Can I, Dad?” Eazy asked.
Ethic nodded. “Knock yourself out, Big Man.” He turned to the last one of their bunch. “Bella, make sure he don’t tear nothing up over there.”
Lauren loved how large their family was. She wished DJ had that. She had tried to give him that, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. She wondered if he envied kids like Eazy sometimes.Her eyes found Demi finally, and she immediately noticed his disposition.
“You got a minute?” Lauren asked.
Demi arose from the table. He was so damn fine. His suit was the color of the deepest plum, blood-red, with a white collared shirt and walnut-colored Prada loafers. He was handsome and debonair and grown. The boy she had met in college had turned into a grown-ass man.
Lauren handed the baby back to Mo and then glanced at Nyair before stepping off to speak with Demi.
“I see you came alone,” she said.
“I see you didn’t,” Demi replied.
“About that,” Lauren said.
Demi pulled back, surprised that she was admitting it.
“Unlike you, I want to be considerate and respectful about the way I handle men in your son’s life. What are the rules, Demi? What are you uncomfortable with?”
“All of it,” Demi said. “I’m uncomfortable with all that shit.”
“And that’s fair because I get it, I was yours for a long time, but you moved around me. You chose something else, Demi, and I’ve had to watch you love another woman. I’ve watched you love her better than you ever did me, and it hurts. You go home to her, and I go home to an empty bed, and I cry…so I need you to let me move on.”
“With the fucking gangster pastor, man? I can’t even fucking get at that nigga like I want to cuz that mu’fucka on God team and shit,” Demi said, serious as hell and annoyingly charming.
Lauren laughed.
“I don’t know what that is, Demi. He might be the one. He might not. It’s probably just a phase, but it’s a phase I want to explore. I have to get back out there. I can’t be lonely and single forever,” she argued. “You can’t expect that of me.”
“Why the fuck not?” Demi asked.
“You’re jealous,” she accused, finding amusemet in his discontent.
“I’m…” he paused because he didn’t know exactly what it was he was feeling. “selfish.”
She nodded sadly. “You have been.”
“I’m sorry, Lo,” Demi said.
Her eyes fluttered up at him in surprise.
She scoffed. “That girl has changed you, Demi. She’s…” she paused because it was hard for Lauren to give Charlie any kind of acknowledgment that didn’t include the words whore, bitch, or mistress. But the man apologizing in front of her was not the same man that she had spent half her life with. He was warmer. “You’re just different.”
“Was I a bad husband to you, Lo? A bad father to DJ? Do I scare a woman away from that type of shit?” Demi asked.
