The Applestore was on the first floor when we walked in, which made maneuvering a little easier. I didn’t much care for those carts because what was the point when they were so big and bogus?
I was moving in the direction of the store entrance with Romance in my arms when my eyes landed on a familiar backside. She leaned against the table closest to the exit while the store worker in an orange shirt, khakis, and some thick ass goggles on his face was all in her shit. He must’ve been trying to mack. Without much more thought, but a bit of a quicker step, I walked in the door and implanted myself behind her, making him look me up and down while I sat my child down on the table. I wasn’t shocked to see her here. Rim was techy the type tokeep all her devices up to date no matter how recently she’d just purchased what she was updating.
“You work here, lil homie?” He was facing me, but she still had her back to me. I could tell when she realized it was me, because she sighed, exhaling all the breath in her body. At this point she should have been used to this.
He looked from me to Karim a few times before nearly stuttering a response. “Uh yeah, I was just helping her, someone else will be right with yo?—”
“We together, you’re helping us.” By the time Karim finally turned around, Romance was comfortable on the table with her little legs crossed and my phone grasping all her attention. When Karim looked at me, her stare was hard and irritated, a good indication that she was about to curse me out, but then it softened. Her eyes found Romance, no anger in them but curiosity.
“Romance,” I said.
“Huh, Daddy?” she asked. It took her a minute, but she looked up at me.
“This is my friend, Rim. Rim, this is my daughter, Romance.”
Romance waved at Karim who smiled back.
“Hey, cutie,” Rim greeted.
My baby giggled before her attention went back to my phone. Yeah, we needed that tablet quickly because I hadn’t shared a phone since I was twelve.
“So, Pops, what are you doing up here? You bring your daughter to stalk too now?” Karim finally graced me with her attention. It was everything as usual.
I couldn’t help but take her in like I always did. Karim was on the shorter side, standing at five foot five with the attitude of a firecracker. She was the warmest shade of honey with mocha tinted freckles overtaking both her nose and some of her cheeks. She hated them and I loved looking at them. Shit, I loved lookingat her. Those almond tinted eyes and that heated gaze. I knew her features better than I knew the back of my hand. Karim had this full head of hair I always wanted to touch. I might have had she not always been pissed with me. She had good reason though, I wasn’t shit. Not only that, but even though I knew I wasn’t what she needed, my selfishness wouldn’t allow me to leave her alone.
“I can’t be out here sharing phones. Lil mama be hogging it.” I cut my eyes in my daughter’s direction.
Rim laughed. “You can’t control every woman in your life, Reminisce.”
“Don’t I know?” I chuckled, looking her up and down.
“Ms. Ortega, we have the new phone in the cosmic orange you were looking for.”
“Good, put it on his tab.” She cut her eyes in my direction.
I grinned. She knew I wasn’t gonna tell her no. Never could, never would.
“Alright, is that all you need?” Ol’ boy asked, now focused on me. He had less energy with me than her.
“No, I need a tablet. Matter of fact, make that two. Gimme that small one and the larger one. I don’t give a shit what colors.”
“Yes he does. Make them pink. It doesn’t matter the storage capacity,” Karim responded before ol’ boy walked away.
“Are you gonna eat with us after this?”
She looked from me to Romance. “Um… how do you know I don’t have plans?”
“The fuck you think I care for, Karim? Tell whatever nigga you call yourself entertaining you got something else to do.”
She laughed. “You’re a piece of work, you know that?”
I was about to respond, but my baby was speaking before I could. “Daddy, we go eat?”
“Yeah, Ro. Do you want Rim to eat with us?”
She looked up momentarily from the phone. “Yes. You eat with us Rim?” she asked. Her eyes were so expressive and filled with so much childlike joy that it made my heart smile. Shit, everything about this child affected my chest. In the lamest of terms, she was my heart.
Karim smiled at my daughter. “Yeah, pretty girl, I’ll go eat with you.” Then, in the slickest way, she hit me in my side.
