“These are questions you should ask yourself. Then ask yourself, is riding that new manny’s pony worth the sacrifice? I know it’s his job to care for your kids, but what do you see when you look at him? What do you feel? I ain’t telling you to run off into the sunset with him if that’s not in your heart to do so, but having a little fun with him ain’t gon’ hurt none. Your mama already spilled the tea on him, so I know a lil something about him. Hell, if he got your mama blushing, then I know he must be some kind of special.”
“He sent me roses.” Mom beamed.
I frowned. “When was this?”
“The other day. The note said:Because you gave birth to an angel, you deserve your flowers too. See.” She switched the camera around to show the Venus et Fleur eternity roses sitting on her mantle. I couldn’t lie. I was a little jealous.
“Oh, wow.”
“Yeah, wow, Cousin. He redid your whole flowerbed, cut your grass, and bought your mama roses. He deserves some head at least.” Raeley laughed.
“Clock it, Daughter!” Aunt Lex yelled.
I already did. That’s why I’m in my feelings now, I thought.
“Look at her, over there considering it,” Mom said. We all burst into laughter again as I talked to them for a little bit longer, then ended the call.
When I went to put my phone down and think about all the questions my aunt told me to ask myself, a text came through from an unknown number.
734-991-1008:
Hi, Alicia. This is Sheena from Helping Hands. I got your number from the profile you created with our services. I wanted to cordially invite you to our official grand opening barbecue. It’s this Saturday at 5:00 p.m. It’s okay if you can’t make it since it’s sort of last minute, but I wanted to reach out to all the parents to let them know about the event. Here’s the flyer. I hope to see you there! Xoxo Sheena C.
Attached was a prettyblack-and-gold flyer of the event, and a photo of Basil in the center. His neck-length locs were loose, and that beautiful canvas he called a face looked as if he were smoldering at me. I bit my bottom lip as I traced his face with my finger and then typed up a reply.
Me:
Thanks for the invite. I’d love to.
734-991-1008:
Awesome! See you there!
I placed my phone on the nightstand, turned off the lamp, grabbed my rose from my drawer, and pleasured myself to his image until I fell asleep.
Friday
Since I was going on the field trip with Carsyn, Ms. Anika had come to pick Carlee up from the house. Alicia had left about an hour ago, claiming she had work to do at the office.
I didn’t believe that. I believed she didn’t want to face me since I hadn’t particularly been giving her the attention I knew she wanted. I didn’t want to be friends with her. I wanted to be her man.
Seeing her every morning, looking beautiful as fuck, did shit to me. But I did as I promised and kept things professional. I wouldn’t give my time and attention to someone who couldn’t see past their pain. I didn’t want to rush her healing; I just wanted her to make the effort to start the process.
The field trip was to see the new Avatar movie at the Emagine theater. I was never into alien shit, but Carsyn seemed excited, so I was rolling with it.
I had the option to ride on the school bus with him, but I chose to follow instead. Once I parked, I got out to wait for him at the entrance of the theater. Parents and children filed off thebus while I waited for Carsyn to get off. When he saw me, he smiled widely and hurried over to me, wrapping his arms around me.
“Hey, Mr. B!”
“What’s good, lil G? You ready to see this movie?”
“Yes! Me and my friends been talking about it all week. I’m excited!” he exclaimed.
I chuckled. “I see.”
“Well, damn!” I looked up to see one of the mothers looking dead at me with dreamy eyes. “How you doing, handsome?”
I smirked and looked away from her. She was cute but not my type.
