“Shit, they’on give me time to miss their asses. Plus, they really just be coming over for you to baby them. Wanting all the damn attention.”
I laughed. “You’re so fucking jealous. I can’t give them my attention?”
“Yeah, of course. But they’re grown. They’ll manage if we take a day for ourselves. Hell, Reagan aint tripping. It’s them oldest ones. They just be wanting to come over here and pretend that they aint got responsivities of their own.”
“And that’s okay too.”
“Uh huh.” He refocused on cleaning the rims. “You just remember that we doing us today. Even if they pull up, before we pull off. Fuck them kids.”
>>>>>
“Mama, are you serious?” Jhyrah questioned, as she stood outside of the car, with her baby boy on her hip.
Looking at her, my baby was gorgeous. She had that sun kissed peanut butter complexion. Curly hair. Deep dimples. With her mama’s figure. Meanwhile, her youngest baby boy looked just like his daddy, who was as handsome as the day was long, with a rich, brown caramel complexion, curly hair, and enchanting slanted eyes.
“Jhyrah, she cooked y’all some breakfast like y’all wanted. Now, go tend to one of your restaurants or something,” Jahrein spoke up, as he was seated behind the wheel of his drop-top, red, candy-painted slab.
“But where are y’all going? Y’all need to sit down somewhere. Outside is closed for old people. Y’all got grandkids. So, y’all need to be in this big house, entertaining them,” she argued, sounding serious as cancer.
“Girl, bye.” I waved her off, while pursing my lips. “Jah, let’s go. She aint talking about nothing.”
He smiled. “See ya, baby girl. We’ll call you tonight,” he promised, before pulling the car forward, exiting our winding driveway.
Studying Jahrein as he gripped the steering wheel, I found the fact that he was still shirtless rather amusing. His skin was heavily tatted, and he was still in pristine physical shape. With two glistening chains hanging from his neck, he was on his hood shit. Looking no older than twenty-five.
I was thinking about all the sinful things I could do to him, until a sudden wave of guilt swept over me, causing me to sigh, as we exited our gated community. “I don’t know, Jah. Maybe we should take a ride another time. All the kids are literally back at the house.”
He sucked his teeth. “Man, like I said, fuck them kids. They’ll be alright.”
Smirking, I shook my head, as I decided to sit back, chill, and enjoy the ride.
We weren’t too far from home, taking the scenic route, when our cells began ringing. I reached to answer my phone, and Jahrein immediately grabbed it out of the cupholder.
“Nah. We aint taking calls, right now.”
I exhaled, while patting my thighs with my palms “Okay.”
Laughing, he shook his head. “You over there ‘bout to lose your fucking mind. Them kids can function without you, bae. I promise.”
“Shut up.” I pouted, while playfully shoving him. “I can’t help it. They’re my babies.”
He nodded. “Mine too. But sometimes shit gets so noisy. I’m here, negotiating that deal. Checking on this investment. Showing up to school award ceremonies, little league games. It’s always something. So, I was just telling myself…that I miss you.”
I narrowed my gaze. “You miss me? Nigga, we wake up, and go to bed together every night.”
“And? Sometimes…I just need you all to myself. I can’t remember the last time that we spent the whole day together. Just us.” He grabbed my hand, and interlocked our fingers. “Cause sometimes I just wanna listen to you talk. Walk around in your head. Hear what’s in your heart. With no distractions.”
“Oh, shit.” I smirked, while cutting my eyes at him. “You talking like you in love or something.”
He licked his lips. “Shit, deep in it.”
My heart skipped a beat, realizing that he still had that same effect on me, even after all these years. As always, I liked to play tough but would turn to mush whenever me and Jah were alone and he’d whisper those sweet nothings in my ear.
I also understood why he was so intentional. Often times, when couples have been together for a long while, they’d forget about the things that mattered the most. Or what had drawn them together to begin with. The world was easy to get lost in, and recentering regularly was one simple method to keep ourselves grounded.
Healthy relationships were hard work, and we tried our best not to become complacent. And sometimes one of us would have to nudge the other in the right direction. Like today. I would sometimes become overly consumed with my kids’ lives, forgetting that they had their own households, while I still had mine to tend to.
“Bae, let’s smoke somethin’,” Jahrein suggested.
