If God is on my side, there won’t be any breakup.
She was thinking too far ahead when all I wanted her to do was stay in the present with me.
“I promise we have time to finalize all those details. Let’s focus on getting the beginning right. So dates, I can do that. You said dinner in like two weeks. My family holiday gatherings are beginning around the same time. My mom throws this massive Halloween party and that tends to kick everything off.”
“Wait, we’re considering Halloween a major holiday? I was thinking you meant Thanksgiving, Christmas, and maybe New Year’s Eve. Okay, so Halloween too. Does this mean you’ll be present for my family’s functions as well?” I nodded while I smirked as I watched McKay fully process what this arrangement would mean.
“Yes. My brother and his wife are starting us off a week early though. I was hoping you would be able to make it to the major ones for sure, and maybe if you can, the little ones too. Of course, as a good baby daddy, I will do the same for you.” She bugged her eyes while going for her half empty bottle of water, with me leaning up to get her another. I could tell she was lowkey panicking right now as her chest rose and fell rapidly. I walked over to her and placed my hand on her shoulder, then one on her chest, getting her attention.
“Ay, breathe, McKay. I promise you won’t be in this by yourself. But in order for this to seem and be real, especially after we make the baby announcement, both sets of family should see us together on more than just the major holidays.” My hand moved up and down, hoping to calm her, matching my motions with her breathing.
“No, you’re right. I guess… I just… No, you’re right, okay. Whew, this is a lot for one day.” She reached for the bottle I had just put down, but her hands were shaky. I stepped in, opening it for her.
“Now that the arrangements have been made, we can finish the details tomorrow if you want. On ourfirstdate,” I said, causing McKay to glance up at me with a smile on her face.
“Burkeley, nothing fancy. Remember, between us, the dates aren’t real. We can end up at Korean BBQ and that’ll be fine with me.” She turned to face me so she could get up. I stepped back, giving her space, holding my hand out, awaiting hers. I smirked at McKay. I wasn’t listening to shit she said. This was my chance to prove that I was worthy of being the real deal for her. I would make every effort to impress her when it came to our dates. I grabbed her jacket, holding it open for her to turn into it, placing my hands on her shoulders, holding her close to me as I whispered into her ear.
“One thing you gon’ learn about yourmanMcKay is I don’t half ass anything. So, yes, I’ll be picking you up, and yes, there will be flowers and shit. These are things you better get used to and real quick considering we have two weeks to make this real for the outsiders. So be ready at six.”
She tossed me a knowing look over her shoulder.
“Too comfortable too fast with that title, Burkeley,” she teased before she continued. “I’ma take it all as practice for you. But, okay, I’ll see you tomorrow at six.” I chuckled as I walked her toward the door, pulling it open for her. I stood in the frame, watching her until she was backing out of my driveway.
I closed my door and smiled hard.
I was now one step closer to getting McKay for real.
I blewout the smoke from the cigar I had just lodged between my lips. The guys and I were at Flavor since Art’s big ass mouth let it spill that I had McKay over the house today. Instead of avoiding them, I thought it was best to get things moving with telling them first. I was just thankful Art’s ass wasn’t able to make it, leaving just Tino, Boss, and me for the night. I had never kept a secret from my brother this big, but unfortunately, I knew he pillow talked with Amber. So, he was left out of the loop with this sensitive topic.
This way, things would seem believable. I was sure Anna would already have a shit ton of questions since she had seen that picture of McKay I was now regretting taking and keeping for as long as I had. I wasn’t too worried though. I could tell Anna I wasn’t ready to say anything and she would believe me, but the guys knew better, so the truth would have to do, just my version.
“Fool, you ready to tell us about this mystery woman Art was talking about in your place today? I heard she’s nice as hell too,” Tino joked while he blew out smoke.
I glared at him. This was the second time he’d referred to McKay in such a way, and even if he didn’t know it was the same woman yet, it still bothered me.
“Ay, easy, watch yo’ mouth. And her name is McKay. You might remember seeing a picture of her, Tino. It’s baby girl from the single picture you developed a couple of weeks ago.” Tino’s eyes stretched wide with his mouth doing the same, a cheeky grin spread across it.
“Oh shit. You told me you didn’t know her. I knew your ass was lying by the way you reacted when I said something that day.How long y’all been kicking it?” Tino asked while Boss was now paying close attention.
“I didn’t but let’s just say fate brought us together. But, that’s not even the wild part. She’s pregnant,” I said, taking another puff.
“Whoa! Pregnant?” Boss said.
“BK, she’s cute and all but please tell me you don’t think it’s yours. I know it’s been a while since you got some pussy but let me explain the birds and the bees to you again. You see, when a man?—"
I laughed so hard it cut Tino off from trying to play me.
“Fool, I’m fully aware that the baby isn’t mine biologically, but the plan is to make her and the baby both mine. Well, at least make our relationship and me being the father believable to our families. We currently have an arrangement going. We just got started today. Her baby’s father lied and skipped town on her, and with Mama on her matchmaking shit, I came up—” I cleared my throat then I continued. “…wecame up with a plan that will help us both. I play her baby’s dad and she pretends to be my woman for the holidays,” I said, going for my glass of Black Ops and taking a sip, giving them time to process what I’d just said. I imagined Tino would speak first but it was Boss, which surprised me. Out of us, he was the most chill and laid back and only spoke on shit when it mattered.
“Hold up, hold up, hold up. So let me get this straight, you and shawty are fake dating so she can pass you off as her baby daddy and her as your girl?” I nodded.
“Why not just be with her for real?” Boss asked while he shrugged. He made it sound simple and in a world where McKay and I both knew each other, it would make sense but we were strangers.
“Because for one, we don’t know each other, and two, did you not just hear me? She just got out of a fucked up situation and isstill dealing with the aftermath. Even if I wanted to, McKay isn’t ready for anything serious beyond planning for motherhood and adjusting to becoming a single mother.”
“Wait, and you’restillmaking her a single mother? Damn, you’re almost worse than the original baby daddy,” Boss said, shaking his head in disgust. And trust, I got how this all looked. It had played in my mind many times since I’d come up with the idea.
But I don’t have any plans of making McKay one.
