I never thought twice about doing something like that. Maybe because I was a loner and didn’t really have anyone to invite to it in the first place. Now that I have all of the Saint-Merciers, Aria didn’t see the point in me not doing any of it. I told her if she wanted me to have it so bad, then she can plan it herself. Me telling her that gave her the green light to go crazy.
Aria pulled into the parking lot of Nest & Nurture. The store looks smaller than I thought it was gon’ be. We got out the carand headed up to the door just as some woman was exiting. She held the door open for us and I said, “Thank you.”
“Wow,” escaped Aria’s lips. She was probably thinking the exact thing I was before we entered the store. Definitely bigger than the building led on. “So where do you want to start?”
“I don’t know. We already have a crib, so I really don’t have to worry about that.”
“Oh, they have a baby registry! Let’s get yours set up.”
“Do we really have to do all that?”
I was just going to let everyone buy what they thought was necessary.
“Uh, yes. Your new family is loaded. We’re doing a registry. Hold on.” Aria zoomed over to the counter and started a conversation with the woman behind it while I skimmed through the baby strollers that were in front of me.
“I think they’ll love this,” I heard a feminine voice say from the next aisle.
“This ain’t what we came in here for,” a familiar masculine voice said. My brows scrunched. I rounded the corner to see just who the voice belonged to and froze when I saw who was standing there—Heavy. He stood there with his wife Aaliyah. They were standing there looking at some baby bouncers.
I tried to slip away before they even saw me, but I heard, “Wren?” stopping me in my tracks. I’ve been avoiding Heavy ever since he told Maniac that we used to fuck. All I wanted to do was shove my foot so far up his ass for that lie. I’ll never understand why men were pillow talking as much as they were nowadays. People had to worry more about them gossiping than women and its sad.
When I turned around, Aaliyah was already approaching me. “I thought that was you. Hey.” Gripping me by the wrist, she pulled me in for a hug. “How are you?”
“I’m good,” I simply replied when I pulled away from her. Aaliyah was beautiful. She was a bit thicker than me and a bit taller. Her skin tone was the color of pinecones. Her kinky hair stopped at her shoulders in its natural state. I can definitely see what Heavy saw in her in the first place. “How are y’all?” My eyes cut in Heavy’s direction. The way Aaliyah took to me when we first met let me know that he didn’t tell her that we used to date, but he broke his neck to let Maniac know. Why try to fuck up what we had going on?
His eyes shot to one of the bouncers on the shelf. He couldn’t even look me in the fucking eyes. Things with Heavy didn’t make it far. We went on one date and that was it. I never got to see him naked or anything. There’s really no reason for things to be awkward between us.
“We’re good. We were actually in here trying to find you something for the baby.” She giggled as she looked back at Heavy. “He’s so indecisive though.”
“I understand that. Well, I’ll let y’all get back to it,” I told her as I headed away from the aisle to find Aria.
“I got us a couple of scanners. They said whatever you want on your registry to just scan it and it’ll add it to the list. This should be fun,” Aria said when she approached me. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I just bumped into Heavy and his wife.”
“Where is he so I can slap the shit out of him for the shit he pulled.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary, Aria.”
She propped her hand on her right hip and mugged me. “It’s very much necessary, Wren. He wanted to fuck up shit between you and Maniac. That’s the only reason why he told him that bullshit. Nigga jealous.”
“Can we just scan the stuff so we can get outta here? You know you have to pick Zion up.”
She hit the power button on her phone and replied, “Damn sure do. C’mon.”
We’d spent a couple hours in the store scanning different things to put on the registry. Most of it was stuff that I don’t even think I needed in the first place. Once we were done, we stopped by Chick fil A and grabbed something to eat. It was almost time to pick up Zion from daycare. As we sat there in the parking lot, munching on our food, daycare crossed my mind. I wasn’t sure if I wanted my child in daycare or if I wanted to hire someone for help. There were so many things that I had to figure out before my child got here.
I finished my food and placed all my trash into the bag. Aria sipped on her Sprite as she grinned down at her phone. “What are you smiling at?” I asked her and took a drink from my water. Chick fil A has some of the best water there is.
“Nothing,” she lied.
“That’s a lie. I haven’t seen you smile like that in a while. You met someone.”
Aria hit the power button on her phone and dropped it into her lap. “Okay, I’ve been talking to someone.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“I planned on it. I just didn’t want to get too excited about it and it turns out to be nothing. We’re still in the early stages right now.”
