Page 21 of Make Me Forget

“You don’t have to. I know you’re trying to get ready for tomorrow.”

“Cassie, ain’t shit more important than you. You think you can hold off telling Mister Price anything until I get there?”

“No. They’re staring at me as I talk to you.”

“Oh. Well, I’ll just stay on the phone until I get there, baby.”

My dad had a frown of confusion on his face. When his head tilted to the side, he said, “Kendrall?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Aww shit. No wonder the two of you have been trying to avoid conversation about the other.” He slid his hand down his face then looked right at me. “So, did you cheat on Mesani with Kendrall?”

“Yes, sir, but only after Mesani cheated on me. Almost eight months ago, I walked in on him and another woman at our house.”

My dad stood and started pacing as Mama came and sat next to me, grabbing my free hand. Ebony was already seated next to me, refusing to allow me to be in the hot seat without support.

“Was that before or after you saw Kendrall at the gas station?”

“After. Kendrall and I had been getting reacquainted for months, strictly on a friend basis, but old feelings didn’t take long to resurface. When that happened, I immediately went to Kendrall a drunken mess of emotions. Well… technically, he came and met me.”

“Why didn’t you call me?” Ebony asked.

“I didn’t want to get y’all involved in my bullshit. Plus, I wanted to be with Kendrall. I knew that the day I saw him at the gas station. But I was engaged, and I was honoring my commitment to Mesani until that night.”

“Well, why did you stay with him, Cassie? This isn’t making sense at all,” my daddy said.

“Mister Price, she stopped talking to me. She said she was trying to work things out with him. She felt guilty about what happened between us, and I only saw her maybe once a month after that, to have lunch or whatever… as friends. I wasn’t cool with that, but I wanted to see her. I took whatever I could get.”

“You sound like your father,” he said.

“I assaulted Mesani, Daddy. When I walked in on him, I threw a vase at his head. The concussion he suffered had lasting effects on him. That’s why he’s hardly ever busy when you call him. He isn’t in school anymore, and he can no longer work. His memory is horrible when it comes to learning or retaining information. He’s trying to get disability. I felt so bad.”

“Oh my God. Is he going to file charges?” my mama asked.

“After I started evaluating things, I felt like if I left him, he would. Well, he threatened to do that earlier this week because he found out about Kendrall. I was devastated because I didn’t want to lose my career and everything I’d worked hard for, but now, I just want to be free of him.”

The doorbell rang, and I asked in the phone, “Is that you?”

“Yeah.”

My dad made his way to the door, and things remained quiet until he came back with Kendrall. I knew he wouldn’t have a problem with me being with Kendrall, because he’d known him his entire life, but I never wanted things to boil down to this. The second he entered the room, he made his way to me, pulling me from the couch to hug me.

Ebony and Mama went to the other couch, and Kendrall and I sat on the couch together. Speaking up, Kendrall said, “I’m prepared to take care of Cassie until we can figure things out. I mean… if she never figures anything out concerning her career, I’m here. I love her. Had I not been stupid when we were teenagers, we would have been together.”

Once again, Daddy started pacing. “Does Kenny know about this?”

“He does. I talked to him yesterday. I was going to talk to you, too, but you were out of pocket.”

“Yeah,” Daddy said as he glanced at me. There it was… that look of disappointment. “Cassie… I… Damn.”

“I’m sorry, Daddy. I can see your disappointment. It was the one thing I was trying to avoid.”

“Baby, you reading me wrong. That isn’t disappointment. Well… in a way, I suppose it is. I wish you would have told me all this when it happened. I don’t give a shit about all that other shit. I care about your heart. He broke your heart, and you endured that shit alone. Nothing is more important than your well-being… physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I love you, baby.”

I stood from my seat and ran to my daddy’s arms. He held me tightly as I buried my face in his chest. “We gon’ figure this out, baby. That nigga ain’t getting away with this shit. In the meantime, we have a competition to get ready for tomorrow.”

I pulled away from him and looked over at Kendrall. That man said he would take care of me. He said he had me whether I had a career or not. I walked toward him, and that nigga stood up and grabbed my duffel bag. He looked over at my daddy and said, “No disrespect, Mister Price, but I got it from here.”

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