“I was coming to drop gifts off and take you out.”
“I’m good and thank you.” I took the bag and the balloons.
Same shit, a different year. Our anniversary was always bland, and so was my birthday.
“Tati, I’m trying, and you’re not.”
“What do you want from me?” I put my hand on my hip.
“I want you. I lost touch somewhere, and I’m trying to get an understanding. If it’s work, I’ll pull away to get us back. From the looks of your hair and shit, you’ve been doing you, and I can look past that too. I don’t want another nigga being with my wife. All the time we’ve put in this shit, I think it deserves another shot. You can have my passwords to my phones and all. No more hiding shit.”
I was standing here with another man’s DNA all over my body as my husband stood here pleading his case. Did it really take him to see I’ll fuck someone else before he realized what he had?
“And the baby?”
“You and I can agree on something. I want you to be comfortable first. We got to build trust back.”
“If I agree, can you give me space? Like, we got to work our way back up to being in each other’s space. I don’t want you here right now.”
“Whatever you want. Can we at least have dinner together tonight for your birthday?”
“Yes, I’ll have dinner with you.”
“I’ll see you at seven.” He jogged off.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” I said, slamming the door behind me.
I couldn’t get my thoughts together because my phone was ringing.
“Happy birthday to you…” my daddy started singing as soon as I answered.
“Thank you, daddy.” I laughed.
“Thirty-four years old. Damn, I still remember when your mama went into labor. I was working a damn case when she called, crying. I dropped everything. You brought your big-eyed self into the world hollering. You know you’ll forever be my baby girl, right?”
“I know, daddy. And before you ask, yes, I haven’t forgotten about breakfast tomorrow.”
“Oh shit, you’re not pushing your old man to the back burner. I love you and enjoy your day. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Love you too.”
I couldn’t hang up the phone fast enough so I could take the pill. My phone started ringing again, but this time it was a FaceTime from Casi. I answered as I opened the fridge to get some water.
“It’s my bitch birthday! What are you doing?” She leaned into the camera. “Is that…girl, what the fuck you got going on? You’re holding out on me, and I refuse to get off this phone until you spill the damn beans.”
“Girl, it got a little too good, and the rubber popped. I’m just being careful. He said he pulled out in enough time.”
“Who the hell ishe?”
“Jahmir,” I told her as I swallowed the pill down.
“Oouuu, I knew it. The way that man came up there looking for your ass, I knew it was more than some client shit. He’s wearing your ass out, ain’t he?” Casi bit her nail.
“You have no fucking idea, and I love every minute of it. But then there’s Kileen.”
“Eewww, did you just say Kileen?” she frowned. “The fuck he got to do with this? You getting dick down by a fine chocolate nigga with waves and you hollering about a damn Kileen.”
“To get him out of my face just then, I told him I would go to dinner with him.”
