My chest felt like it caved in. I looked at him with disgust rising instead of heartbreak. Stacks just stood there, pissed and silent.
Kemi looked back at me. “He can talk a good game. One of the most elite mouthpieces I’ve ever seen. I’ll give him that. He had me mentally gone for years.”
Stacks snapped. “Aye, Kemi. Chill.”
She didn’t even look at him. “Grant, I’m not talking to you.”
Grant? So that was his real name. I guess that sums up where Stacks came from. I almost laughed at how stupid I felt.
Kemi turned back to him. “His medicine is in his bag. I talked to Amy. She wants to take him bowling this weekend when she gets back in town.”
She looked at me. “Amy is his girlfriend. They’ve been together for years. Sweet girl. I actually love them together because she treats my son well.”
My ears started ringing.
“She’s pregnant by him as well. She works out of town and comes home on the weekends.”
Each sentence felt like another dagger. Girlfriend. Years. Pregnant.
I felt small. So incredibly small.
Stacks looked at Kemi with pure hatred in his eyes. She smiled and waved slightly, like she genuinely enjoyed dismantling his fantasy in real time.
He turned and stormed into the house, slamming the door behind him. I stood there in silence, humiliated.
“I won’t tell Kairo I saw you here.”
My eyes filled instantly.
“But please don’t come back.”
Her voice wasn’t harsh. It was protective.
“Don’t even look this way. You have an amazing husband that really loves you. Lean into that and get out of your mind.”
The words hit deep because that’s exactly where I had been living. In my mind. In a fantasy I created. In a narrative that made sense until it didn’t.
“I promise. I will never come this way or talk to him again. Ever. Thank you.”
She pulled me into a hug. “Go home,” she said as she pulled away. “Fix what’s real.”
She walked back to her car and I got into mine. And as I drove away, I didn’t feel heartbreak. I felt clarity.
By the time I merged onto the highway, I was already calling Coffee.
She answered on the first ring. “Why are you calling me?”
“You’re not gon’ believe this,” I said.
Ten minutes later we were both laughing so hard I almost missed my exit.
“Well,” Coffee said between laughs, “I was pissed when you told me you went over there. I wanted to curse you out so bad.”
“I know,” I said, smiling. “I could hear it in your breathing.”
“But I hushed,” she continued. “Like you told me and now I see why. I’m glad you went because you needed to see that fraud with your own eyes.”
I shook my head. “Girl… had me feeling bad and shit. Whole time I should’ve been feeling bad for my damn self.”
