“No,” I held my hand up. “We’re good. We got it together. I’ll be back on schedule for our dates next week.”
“How is Kileen?” he eyed me.
“He’s fine. Working.” I stared at my menu.
“Look at me, baby girl,” my dad demanded.
“What is it?” I avoided his eye contact.
“Look at me.”
Slowly, I removed my eyes from my menu and connected with his. “Yes?”
“How is Kileen?”
I could never lie to his ass. He had probably already done his detective work before he came to dinner. Picking up my glass, I took a sip of my water and placed it back down.
“We’re separated right now.”
“Yeah, I’m aware of that already. Why is what I want to know.”
I was too embarrassed to tell my daddy why. If he had a clue that Kileen had another family, he would pull up on him on some man-to-man shit.
“I’ll sit here all night.”
“He cheated.” I kept it short.
He nodded, “I’m glad I raised you right. Always leave the first time. As a man, if you allow us to do a thing, we’ll continue to do it. As your father, I want you to divorce his ass, but I also know how love works. Either way, baby girl, I’m here to support you.”
“Thank you, dad.”
We ordered and enjoyed each other’s company. This was just what I needed. Being with my daddy gave me the comfort I needed. When it was over, I was headed right back to my boring house. Or so I thought. Casi was pulling up right behind me. She refused to let me sulk.
“Yes, bitch! We are not doing this tonight. We’re about to drink and find this heifer’s social media page so we can dissect this hoes pictures,” Casi said as she got out of the car with bags.
“I’m not worried about that girl. I need a drink, though.”
While I got out of my clothes, Casi grabbed us some glasses and turned some music on. When I got back in the living room, Casi had two glass plates and black markers.
“What is this?”
“I saw some girls doing this on TikTok. We’re going to write all the things we’re letting go on this plate, and then, we’ll go outside and break the plates.”
“And who is about to clean the glass up after we are done?”
“Tati, please don’t be a party pooper. I’ll clean it up. Now sit your ass down and get to writing.”
I took a deep breath and picked up the marker to start writing. There was so much that I had to let go that before I knew it, my plate was full and so was Casi’s. Being her best friend, I thought she had her shit together. I mean, she was single, lived in her own place. No kids and a good career. She had me fooled.
Casi reached over and wiped the tears from my eyes.
“Come on, so we can go and break these plates.”
“Hold on,” I stopped her. “You know how you always tell me that I don’t have to be strong all the time. The same goes for you because from the looks of it, you’ve been hiding something from me.”
“Girl, we both have men problems. I’m just not married to mine. I would love to be, but the long-distance thing isn’t for me. I need all the attention and he’s focused on his career. I completely understand because that used to be me.”
“Is it the same guy you were dating from Chicago? The one I met when I popped up at your place.”
