Page 38 of Love Sanctioned

“Yeah, I’m here and I damn sure do need you,” I stated honestly.

“I am on the way. I’m finna tell this nigga to do the dash there too.”

I laughed hard. “Okay. You know the code.”

We hung up and I moved around my place, trying to keep myself busy so I wouldn’t go in the bathroom to look at those tests. Instead, I grabbed a bowl of chocolate ice cream and sat on the couch, mentally recounting everything.

Marriage saves Kolton.

Dad had Posydiann’s uncle killed.

Marriage to a stranger

What about the baby?

How do we even know there is a baby?

I glanced toward the bathroom door where the answer probably awaited. Another spoonful of the ice cream later, I closed my eyes. Everything was so fucking much right now and I was indeed all cried out. Kolton was right. I had to push through all of this.

My phone began ringing again and I glanced down at it. It was Junior. I didn’t understand why he was calling me, but I refused to punish him for his father. Who was I even punishing?

I answered by mashing my phone against my ear. “Hey Junior, everything okay?” I asked, way too much emotion welling up inside me.

“Uh yeah, Ma. I was just calling to make sure you’re still coming to my game tonight. It’s the season opener and I really want you to be there.”

“Uh yeah, I’ll be there. Just send me the time, baby boy.” I shook my head. Of course I should’ve told him I couldn’t make it, but I didn’t have it in my heart to do that to him. His actual mother was across the damn world, so the last thing I wanted to do was let him down.

“Okay, thank you. I’ma see you there, Ma.”

We hung up a few seconds later and the waterworks started all over again. Fuck.

In the midst of that unplanned moment, my door opened. I looked up and right into the eyes of Junnie. She slammed the door and rushed me so fast I felt her bringing the wind with her.

“Damn, Kars. I hate that we are here. I hate all of this, but baby you’re gonna get through this. Bitch, look at you, got me crying too.”

I didn’t speak for a moment. We just sat there, her embrace comforting my aching heart and tired mind more than she’d ever know.

She pulled back and looked at me, wiping tears from my eyes before she spoke. “Okay, so we need to drink.”

I shook my head. “Nope, not yet. I have a lot to tell you.”

Confusion filled her expression because all she was aware of was my breakup with her cousin, nothing else surrounding my fragile emotional state. “Okay, so lay it on me.”

I sighed, spilling the beans of my father’s proposition, touching on what Kolton told me about their uncle’s death, then circling back to Posydiann, leaving out the impending pregnancy test results in the washroom.

She was silent for a moment. “Have I ever told you how much I hate your fucking father?”

“Nope, but I think you know how much I hate him.” I sighed, sitting, hugging my knees to my chest.

“Can we drink now?”

I shook my head.

“Why not? You just gave me several reasons why both of us need a drink. What else is there, Karsyn?” She tilted her head forward.

“The bathroom. Go look in the bathroom because I can’t bring myself to look. I feel like somehow that’ll make all of this even worse.”

She was on her feet immediately, stalking toward the bathroom to see what I was talking about. “You ain’t got a body or anything in here, do you?” she asked, gripping the doorknob then looking back at me.