Page 122 of Just Like Summer

“That’s not ‘til later. We’re going swimming and then you’re going to spend the night with Malayna,” Cairo announced, laying his head on top of Kamilla’s and rubbing his son’s back.

“I’m going to break the heads off of all her dollies and send them to the hospital. I hate playing with dolls and she doesn’t like to run. Can I have a brother?” he asked, looking at his parents.

“And how am I supposed to get you a brother?” Kamilla asked with her eyes still closed. “Hm? You won’t let me kiss my man. You kicked him out the way in the bed.”

“Kissing gets girls. That’s what Malayna said. I want a boy,” he stated. “You and daddy gotta wrestle and I’m going to watch to make sure you do it right.”

Cairo dropped his head back and laughed. “Hell nah, boy!”

“Excuse you mister, it’s my brother. Not yours,” he defended.

“He’s going to come from my-” before Cairo could open a can of worms, Kamilla covered his mouth and muffled her laughter.

“Alright, Cairo one and Kairo two that’s enough. Who wants to make Mommy pancakes?” Kamilla quizzed, changing the topic while cutting Cairo a look. “Matter of fact, both of y’all kept me up last night, I get two pancakes.”

“Yeah, that’s ‘cause you were kissing and not wrestling,” he said hopping off of Cairo’s lap and skipping to the kitchen.

“You weren’t about to tell that boy he came from your nuts?” Kamilla asked, falling back in laughter.

“Hell yeah,” Cairo laughed, stealing a kiss and standing up. “While we’re out, go get your hair done, put on some fly shit and pack a bag.”

“Where we going?”

“I promised a wide-eyed beauty that once I went legit, she was getting dinner on a white tablecloth. I think it’s overdue.”

Kamilla bit a smile. “You know I’m not above a trip to the laundromat with Chinese. A two o’clock ride to our spot with tacos. I’ll take any of it, you know. That and you.”

“I know. The thing is, I was up after being karate kicked in the nose; I looked into those accounts and my business portfolio. You held me all the way down. You get the white linen and the house on the hill and everything else in between. With your mean ass.”

“You like it,” Kamilla teased.

“Oh nah, Mariposa. I love it. Go pack his bag for me.”

“Say please,” she crooned against his lips.

“Please.”

“Ok, baby daddy.”

“Pack that blue shit you got in drawer in the closet with the tags on it,” he grumbled, kissing her and pulling away like lightning the minute he heard a set of pans clash against the floor. “Damn, I can’t leave that boy alone for three seconds?”

“Nope. I lost him in the house when he was two. Found him ten minutes later on top the stove with a potato peeler. Considering I was a child who listened, that’s all you.”

Cairo chuckled and moved toward the kitchen. “That’s your daddy in toddler form coming back to keep me on my damn toes.”

After half the day went, a nap and lunch, the pair of Hendrix’s were headed to Pepe’s. There wasn’t a second Cairo wanted to spend without his seed. All the things he was deprived of as a child he was going to give to his son and every child he had the honor of making with Kamilla.

Pulling up to Pepe’s, he smirked to himself, finding East sitting outside on the bench painting with murals of the city. With Kairo in tow, he walked over.

“You beat me here, I like that,” he stated.

“Not going to lie, I was thinking about how much easier it would be to spot this manager you said you had and rob him,” East spoke up, standing to his feet. “Go back to Port East…this you?”

Cairo let a smile form over his lips and nod. “Yeah, this is my little blue, Kairo-Palmer. Kai, this is my friend East.”

East looked down at the boy holding his father’s genetic make-up down to the scowl. “You girl’s genes didn’t fight at all.”

East lowered himself down to be level and held his fist out for a bump. “How you feelin’, little blue?”