I shook my head. “I would never hit your momma, G. I told you that already.”
He shrugged. “You can tell me anything. I’m going off what I been seeing and hearing, dad. And now y’all getting a... Now y’all breaking up. I don’t know what to believe. She said you didn’t hit her too, but women lie about that type of thing all the time. I just don’t get it. If you didn’t hit her what’s all the noise and divorce about?”
I took a deep breath and raised my brows. “I didn’t make a lot of good decisions, G. I made a lot of mistakes during the time me and your ma been together. You hear me?”
“Mistakes like what?” he asked with a cocked brow.
“Knucklehead shit,” I told him. “Didn't appreciate what I had. Was out here moving foul. That type of shit has a way of catching up to you and that’s what’s happening. The bad decisions I made in the past is impacting the present.”
“That don’t really make any sense though. You sayin y’all been fighting over the past?”
“Something like that, G. I can’t go too deep into detail but just know I messed up and even though I tried to fix it, I wasn’t able to. Okay? Pops ain’t perfect G. I made a ton of bad choices.”
“Just say you cheated on my mama, and she leavin’ you because of it,” he mumbled, with a frown on his face.
“What?”
He shrugged. “I’m not a little boy, dad. I know what all that means. You made a lot of mistakes. You didn’t treat her right. It’s all code for you cheated. You cheated on my mama.”
Gabe wasn’t a little boy. He was thirteen. He knew how to read between the lines. I knew that. I just couldn’t bring myself to flat out tell him I cheated. I guess you could say I still had a bit of cowardice in me.
I ran my tongue over my bottom lip and slowly nodded. “Yeah... I cheated. I don’t know if this is going to make shit better between me and you or not but?—
“I appreciate you keeping it real with me,” he interrupted. "I don’t like how you doin’ my mama though. I won’t cap. I’m happy you didn’t hit her, but this is pretty messed up, too, dad.”
“I understand. I’m not expecting you to like it, but I expect respect.”
He nodded. “You’ll get that.”
After changing the subject to school and sports, I left the room feeling a little lighter.
22
CRESCENT
“Hey,”said Mahogany on the other end of the phone. “So, look.”
“Aw shit,” I interrupted.
She sucked her teeth. “What?”
“I know why you’re calling. Wassup, Mo?”
She was silent for a second before sighing. “I know we’re supposed to meet in person today, but I need to switch it back to virtual.”
I shook my head, staring up at my parents’ house.
I was back. Had been there damn near every day for the past week. Moms went from watching the soap operas to sleeping all day. She hadn’t been awake for real for two days. The only time she woke up was to use the bathroom. Other than that, she was out. I’d just left out from seeing her, and shit wasn’t looking too good. I needed a break. I was looking forward to the meeting with Mahogany. Looking forward to the solace that would come from it. But shit… she was canceling on me. What did I have left? The crib to go to? A bottle to kick it with? I didn’t want that. Could’ve called my niggas… didn’t want to be around themneither. All day, I’d been looking forward to her. Anything else would be a poor ass replacement.
I felt this coming. Another shift. Shit, we were barely out of the previous one. But her husband walking in, catching us fucking changed a lot. For days, I thought about what that would do to our relationship. Today would be the first day I saw her since everything went down. I was really looking forward to it, as I always was. But... she was doing the Mahogany thing, shutting down.
I looked away from the house at the sight of Luna jogging down the stairs. Just as I was about to kick the car into reverse, she held her finger up. In return, I held mine up, showing her the phone. She placed her hands on her hips, stood next to the car, and waited.
“I need you to be a little patient with me.” She said, since I hadn’t said anything. “What happened was crazy. I just need a minute.”
“If it’s the office that’s a problem… work from mine.”
Her husband had a tendency of popping up. Wouldn’t have to worry about that shit at my spot.
