“No. I don’t have a reason to hide. He reached out to me, and not the other way around. You would think that he wouldn’t want me to get close to you.” I dropped my forehead to hers to partially hide my mouth. “If you were my wife, no way I would leave you alone on a night that you've probably been planning for months. Good job, by the way.”
Jamaica scowled and retorted, “That’s because he knows he has nothing to worry about. I honor my vows.”
“And not the man?” I smiled and pulled her into my arms briefly before twirling us and placing space back in between us. “He should be very worried.”
Her forehead wrinkled before she warned, “Freedom…”
I smiled. “Jamaica.”
“Ooh…you know I can’t really say what I want.” She pressed her head against my chest and hissed, “I see you’re still ridiculously stubborn, and I’m not a pawn between whatever game you and Kody are playing now. Nothing is going to happen between us.”
Dipping my head beside hers, I countered, “We’ll see.”
Jamaica stepped back and said with a forced smile, “I’m so glad this song is almost over.”
Tugging her back to me, I whispered against her ear. “We’re far from over, baby. I want to meet Jamie.”
Her body stiffened, and she looked up at me, her eyes wide and nervous.
“People are staring. Smile. I’ll text you later so we can really catch up.” I kissed her cheek, stepped back, and clapped with the crowd. Someone handed me a mic. “Yeah. Yeah…yeah…I owe you a couple of songs.” I pointed to Jamaica. “Give her a round of applause for being a good sport and making this night magical.”
Once again, she smiled weakly and waved before slipping back out of the hall. This time, I was confident that we would see each other again.
She had a piece of me for the last fifteen years, and it was time for me to be whole.
As soon as I peeled out of the parking lot, I tossed Freedom’s cowboy hat, which I had forgotten I was wearing, on the passenger seat and called Kody.
“Why in the fuck were you dancing with Freedom in front of our classmates and friends? People remember how everything went down back then, and that you were his girlfriend first. Are you trying to get back at me for what I did last summer?” He shouted as soon as he picked up.
“How dareyou?” I yelled. “How dare you agree to work with him without telling me? We’re supposed to be partners in life and in business, and this is how you treat me?”
“I didn’t know he planned to be at the reunion. I thought I had time to tell you. He just signed last week.” He instantly became contrite.
“Why would you agree to work for him?”
“With him,” Kody corrected. “Never for him. I don’t work for Freedom Cade.”
“He’s paying you for a service, Kody. Don’t play with me when I’m this angry. Do you not care that he could take my baby from me? He told me he wants to meet Jamie. How does he even know about him? Neither of us has a personal social media account. Did you tell him?”
“He’s a celebrity. Maybe he did his research. Besides, Freedom is too doped up on alcohol and pills to really want to be a father. He was supposed to go to rehab a few months back after a fight at this club. I doubt he went.”
Ignoring the dig that may be true about Freedom, I reminded him, “He has the money and the power to take Jamie away if he wanted to.
“I guarantee that man didn’t want a baby then and doesn’t want one now.”
“What if he does? He could have a change of heart. What if he’s doing all of this for revenge because we weren’t honest with him? I should’ve told him about Jamie and not listened to you.” Kody had asked to be Jamie’s father when we started dating, and convinced me not to ever tell Freedom. Now, he was back. My breath couldn’t seem to push through my lungs, and I gripped the steering wheel. “I can’t lose my baby.”
“Calm down, Jamaica.” He sighed. “I never thought I would have to tell you. He knew you were pregnant and never looked back, okay?”
I almost pressed the brake in the middle of the highway. “You told him?”
“No, your father did. He asked me not to say anything to you. Too worried knowing Freedom didn’t want Jamie would hurt you.”
Breathing became even more of a challenge, and my eyes darted around the highway, trying to remain focused while Idrove. If I couldn’t get it together, I would need to pull off the highway soon. “When did my father even talk to him?”
“Apparently, Freedom showed up at your parents’ door when Jamie was a baby, and your father shut him down. Told him about Jamie and that if he wasn’t ready to be a father, to stay gone. He rightfully believed that if Freedom knew you had his baby, Freedom wouldn’t want to be tied down. Or even if he did, he would’ve been a fuck up. Your father did him and us a favor. He wouldn’t have been this star if he had stuck around. He should be thanking me for taking care of the girl he left behind.” He argued.
“Why am I just hearing this? I didn’t know he came back for me. You told me he didn’t want to see me anymore after the court date.” The acid in my stomach burned because the boy I once thought I knew walked away from me and his baby. I’d always believed that he would’ve stayed and eventually resented me for not being able to live out his dreams. Somehow, I preferred believing that he would’ve stuck it out with me even if, in the end, he resented me.
