Page 18 of Beacon Grove Chronicles 1: Hassan & Sylvia

He scoffed and ran his hands over his waves. It was the one move he always did when he was frustrated. “You doing too much—”

“You doing a whole lot of talking to not even like this bitch, Dave!”

I rolled my eyes as the stupid bird he’d knocked up rolled down her window to yell out of it. She thought that I would feel some type of way about her calling me a bitch but I didn’t. She was angry and didn’t want to take it out on the person that had caused her pain. She needed him to save face in our town so I was naturally the bad guy. Despite the fact that I hated this nigga’s guts.

After they’d gotten fired from Beacon Grove elementary, the only job she could find was to go and work at a daycare. Plenty of people didn’t like her morals but my former in-laws vouched for her with the owner. I was sure they were getting over on her, because she was viewed as a bad risk. People in Beacon Grove looked at her as an outsider and being one who’d been a party in adultery meant very few people fucked with her. I hated it for her because Dave was just as at fault but he had patriarchy and being a lifelong resident benefiting him. Since Dave wasn’t getting paid nearly as much as he had when he was working for the school district, I hoped she got free childcare out of the deal.

Dave turned to her and I took my time to throw her a smile and a wave.

“I told you about disrespecting her. All that shit ain’t necessary.” I knew his words had more to do with trying to save face in front of me now than any type of actual respect so I didn’t feed into it. I heard a door opening and knew Ms. Geraldine got tired of straining herself so she just came outside to be nosy. I glanced her way and sure ‘nough she was sipping on some sweet tea and got comfortable on her front porch. I nodded her my acknowledgement and she threw her hand up giddy to get the dirt before anyone else.

“You’re smiling in your ex’s face like me and your baby aren’t sitting here in the car waiting on you!” She hung further out of the car window oblivious to how her actions were making her baby holler out in the back seat. Dave clearly heard his daughter crying by the frown on his face.

“Man, chill out!”

Bianca looked ready to step out of the car and confront both of us and I could only sigh. I swore I would never let her or Dave bring me down again. But if he couldn’t control her we would be locked in for round two.

Thankfully, the kids opened the door with their book bags on their backs. They were supposedly road tripping to the amusement park with their dad, since this was one of his weeks to have them during the summer. Our custody arrangement was supposed to be 50/50 but I was lucky if Dave got them every other weekend. I didn’t complain because I wasn’t keen on Bianca hovering over my children. They’d told me on more than one occasion that she’d told them they could call her mom or stepmom but I was thankful that Dave had gotten her ass together before I had to. She must’ve forgotten the way I’d lumped her head up two years ago, but she could get a repeat fucking with my babies.

“Bye, mama! We’ll text you some pictures.”

My son, who was the oldest, Dorian leaned down slightly to give me a hug. At fourteen he was slightly taller than I was and he was too happy about the height he had coming in.

I hugged him back as my daughter’s arms went around my waist. At ten she was as tall as my shoulder and I was sure she would be looking me in the eyes before she was a teenager.

“Mind your manners and have fun.” I kissed my son on the cheek and my daughter on top of her head before they grabbed their bags off the porch. They were already dressed in t-shirts and shorts with sneakers so they were comfortable while they were gone.

“Yes, ma’am.” Selene was fighting not to roll her eyes because she knew that manners part was for her. She was famous for ignoring anything that Bianca said and had gotten in trouble for it. I told her she had to respect adults but her come back was she didn’t like nor respect Bianca because she hadn’t earned it. She tried to help out with her little sister but she said that Bianca wouldn’t let her bond with the little girl.

“Y’all go ahead and get in the car.” Dave greeted them both with a hug but neither of them really followed his direction. “Y’all ain’t hear me?”

“Daddy, we just saw she was hollering which means she’s going to be in a bad mood. Can you walk with us?” Dorian was giving his father a look like all his secrets were going to be spilled if he didn’t handle his girlfriend.

He had the nerve to look ashamed because he knew I was going to go off at any second. My kids not wanting to be bothered with Bianca was normal since they blamed her for what happened to our family. But their observing her bad behavior the way they were seemed to be something deeper.

“You don’t let her talk to our kids crazy, do you?” Because I would march them back in the house without a second thought if either of them said yes.

“She in a mood but I wouldn’t let anyone disrespect my kids.”

“Let’s hope that’s the truth. Y’all call me if you need me.” I hugged them both again thinking of what I was going to get into for the next few days. Summer was here and I was thankful that I didn’t have to contend with running around with school for the time being. Work was still busy but my brothers were more than happy to give me time off when I said I was going to take a staycation since the kids would be with their dad.

“You sure you don’t want to come along with us? We can always get another room and—”

I rolled my eyes at his ass because he was attempting to pull the kids into this so I would be forced into agreeing. Little did he know I’d already talked to them about this.

“I’m not doing this bullshit with you, Dave. You know what this is and I’m not going to fake the happy family funk with you and your girlfriend.”

“Man, c’mon you still hurt behind this shit? I knew you weren’t over me.”

Having heard this argument before, the kids moved further down the steps but still didn’t head to the car.

“Over you? Dave, you’ve been wiped out of my heart and my mind since before the ink of the paperwork was dry. This is about the two of y’all not wanting to parent two kids who have opinions and feelings. I’ve dealt with the emotional toil this took on our kids basically solo for years. You were a piss poor husband but now I need you to step up for your kids. If you can’t handle taking them for a few days, that says more about you than about me.”

He waved me off fighting to save face since I’d rejected him yet again. “Man, I’m just trying to be cordial and shit. Inviting you to come and shit is like a peace offering.”

A last-minute trip invitation to sit in a car with a woman who couldn’t stand me for multiple hours didn’t sound like a peace offering. “Sure, Dave.”

“Man, I swear that you are so hard to please. When you get so high maintenance?” He had the nerve to look at me like my self-respect disgusted him and I was sure that it did.