Page 24 of Absolute Fulfillment
“Okay. Mommy, I put headphones on,” Adonis said, making me laugh. That meant his little fickle behind was no longer interested in anything Rennix had to say. His iPad would be getting the rest of his attention.
“Okay, baby.”
“Damn, it’s like that? If I ain’t talking what he wants to hear, he doesn’t wanna hear anything. He gets that shit from you, thug.”
I laughed because I knew my son. “Probably.”
We talked for a while longer before Rennix had to go and my mother was actually on the other line. I was grateful for that because I actually missed her and hadn’t been talking to her all that much. The old woman was seemingly always so damn busy.
“Mama, where you been?” I asked. “You dropped Adonis off and dropped off the face of the earth.”
“Minding my grown business. Winston and I have been traveling and it is wonderful. I question why I ever spent so much time in one spot when I could have been traveling the world.”
“Uh, who is Winston?”
“My friend. He’s a chef and he’s paid to cook aboard cruise vessels.”
“And?”
“I have been tagging along and enjoying myself. Right now we’re in The Bahamas. I figured I should call you and see how you are doing.”
I chuckled. “I’m fine. I was worried about you, but I see there is no reason to worry.”
“At all. For once I am enjoying my life. How is my grandbaby?”
“In the back seat, I just picked him up from Cy. We’re about to go to the movies.” I smiled, peering in the mirror at him in the back. True to his word, my baby had his headphones on and he was looking at his iPad.
“Well that’s good. I spoke to Cylah this morning. Who is Rennix?”
Momentarily becoming tongue tied, I focused on the road.
“Don’t get quiet on me, baby. You just found yourself all in my business, so share some of yours.”
I laughed. “To which you told me you were grown.”
“But I told you anyway, now spill. I don’t have much time because we’re going to a jazz festival in a few.”
I broke and explained to her who Rennix was and she laughed the entire rest of the conversation. “He sounds like you’ve met yourself in the form of a man.”
Then, before I could tell her how wrong she was, she was telling me she had to go.Wasn’t that some shit.
True to my plans I took my son to the movies then we went to the store and got dinner. The entire time I could tell my baby enjoyed the time out and that made me happy. His happiness was my joy. Seeing my baby smile was everything for me and I would do anything to keep that smile on his face.
After feedingAdonis and bathing him, I put him to bed. He tried hard to fight his sleep, but given he had a long day and was worn out, he knocked out before I reached the last page of the board book he asked me to read. Since Cylah told him she was taking him to the zoo tomorrow, we read a book about the zoo for bedtime.
I cut his light out and moved toward my office. Lately I had been doing more and more to prepare and research for this shop. I knew I wanted it, but I had to apply for grants and loans, as well as find the perfect location. I spent a few hours researching and more looking at empty city storefronts.
It wasn’t until I heard my phone ringing in the distance that I realized just how long I had been sitting at my desk. Alexa read two a.m. on the dot while I rushed from the office to the living room where my phone was. When I had it in my hand and saw Rennix calling, I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, deciding I wasn’t going to answer. He called back a second and third time before I finally answered.
“What, Rennix? It’s late.”
“Open the garage. I’m in the driveway.”
I lifted one of the blinds to see if he was there and he sure was. I had half a mind to hang up because I called myself mad at him. But from the tone of his voice I could tell he was inebriated, so I marched to the kitchen and pressed the button for the garage to open. Once I was sure he backed all the way in, I pressed the button to close the door and went up to my bedroom. Without waiting on him or anything, I cut the lights out and crawled into my bed. I heard him moving arounddownstairs for a minute before the sound of his steps ascending toward my bedroom.
Usually he used the guest shower, but tonight his drunk ass decided to use mine. I didn’t know if I was pissed or worried about the fact that he was coming right in to take a shower. Instead of getting up and having a fit like I wanted, I turned over and closed my eyes. If I didn’t, I’d be standing at the shower door ’bout ready to fight this man.Shit, how did I get here?
His shower lasted for all of fifteen minutes. I knew because when I couldn’t seem to get into the rhythm of sleep, I just lay there, watching time on the android screen from Amazon on my nightstand.
