“Aww, Ali Cat. The kids look so happy. And Jesus! I see why you couldn’t resist! This nigga is fine and look like he should be their daddy!”
“Rae, stooop!” I whined my damn self. I couldn’t deny that he did look like my kids belonged to him. It was his aura and the way he cared for them as if they were his own that made me not want to give him up. It was hard to find nannies who actually cared for children the way a parent would. Basil came in and made this shit seem effortless. He cooked, cleaned, helped them with homework, played with them whenever they asked, and sometimes, they didn’t even have to ask; he just did it. His ability to tap into his inner child was amazing, but at the same time, he made sure to keep them focused.
In a way, I was glad he came into their lives because my children needed that masculine energy and discipline. Although I preferred a woman, Basil couldn’t have come at a better time to help me guide them in the right direction.
“I’m just speaking facts, Cousin. I need to meet him to feel his energy.”
“Oh em gee! You, Mom, and Dad said the same thing.” I laughed.
“We be knowing, Cuz. You’ve always been the hopeless romantic, and while nothing is wrong with that, we clearly see you chose wrong. I love my little cousins, and I’m happy that they are here, but I wish you would have chosen a different daddy for them. Leo is a ho-ass nigga, and if I see his tacky ass, I just might drug him and put his brain inside of a dog. Motherfucka need to be with his species. Dog-ass bastard. And to further my hate for him, I’m going to shave off his mama’s eyebrows and cut all of her hair off. Dusty-ass bitch should’ve swallowed his ass.”
I laughed so hard I almost pissed on myself. “I love you, Rae.”
“I love you more, bookie. I’m not trying to tell you what to do, but it’s okay to have a little fun. You took his ass out of town, he paid for the house and has been buying the food and transportation. Baby, he deserves to dip his hand in the cookie jar.”
“When will you be free?” I deflected.
“I’m free this weekend, but you ain’t here.”
“I’ll be back Friday.”
“Oh, good! Let’s have a girls’ day with our moms. I know my mama miss me because she blows me up every day.”
I laughed. “That sounds like a plan.”
“Awesome. And stop avoiding the obvious, Ali. It’s okay to feel wanted and desired. Even if you treat this like a sneaky link, that’s perfectly okay.”
“But he works for me. I’m not the type to give myself to a man who doesn’t want commitment. I have three children to think about. I don’t want my emotions to complicate things, when I’m still on the road to a divorce.”
“Then you should have thought about that before you let him eat your vagina. I bet you any amount of money that his asswants more of you. You let him taste the rainbow, and now he wants the pot of gold at the end.”
I laughed as we talked a bit more and then said our goodbyes. While I enjoyed what I envisioned when I was in my bathtub after seeing him, I had to figure out if I wanted this to continue or ask him to resign and put someone else on the case. While I may have been thinking about trading him, the kids’ distraction from their funky-ass father deterred those thoughts when I realized how happy they were with Basil. I couldn’t take that away from them, no matter how much I wanted to.
Basil and Carsynreturned to the house around five that evening. I made sure to leave a mess so Basil would be occupied with cleaning instead of my having to face him. My son was so excited about their fishing trip that he told me all about it. Having his grandfather and Basil take him fishing had him on cloud nine. I loved that for my son. My brother always took him places, but he wasn’t the best person to give gems when he needed them. My brother was still in his growing stages, so his idea of being an uncle was playing the game with him and teaching him how to play football. Hearing Carsyn’s excitement made me smile because I loved this for him. He was a growing boy who needed that fatherly figure in his life, and that was all I ever wanted for him.
I was still avoiding Basil since they had come back. I stayed in my room until dinner, which consisted of lasagna and house salad. I grabbed my plate and was about to leave the kitchen when Basil stopped me.
“Eat with us,” he said, lightly pulling me toward the table.
“I have a few things I need to catch up on,” I said, trying to head out of the dining room, but he stopped me.
“Alicia.”
“Yeah?”
“You’ve been eating in your room for the past two days. I thought we agreed that you’ll relax this week.”
“I am relaxing. I just have a few calls to make.”
“Can I speak to you in private for a second?”
“I can?—”
“Gang,” he said, looking over at the kids.
“Yes?” Carsyn and Chloe replied in unison.
“Watch out for Lee Bear. Me and your mom will be right back, cool?”
