Page 29 of After Him, There Was You
She was dressed in a taupe shaded trench coat, and although I didn’t know what the dynamics of their co-parenting relationship was, I would bet big money she had little to nothing on under her coat aside from her God-given skin.
Staring at her, I couldn’t place her face, but I knew I had seen her before.
After a few seconds of having my gaze fixated on her, I realized she was one of the employees who greeted me when I bought cleats for Egypt and Tyger. Well, it was more like when Zeke gave me the cleats I had intended to buy for my sons.
“Oh, my bad. I didn’t realize you had company,” she stated, fidgeting with the key ring in her hand. “No, the girls are fine. They are with my mama.”
“You would have known I had company if you would have called,” Zeke pointed out. “Your key is for emergencies, Chante… Why are you out of the house dressed like that? Does London, yourfiancé, know you’re out of the house at this time of night, dressed likethat?”
Staring at the interaction between the two of them in my front row seat, I regretted not carrying my larger mom style purse to the funeral because it had the bag of snacks I kept for the boys in it.A bag of cookies and a juice pouch would have been the snack the theatrical moment warranted.
`If nothing else, I was amused. I knew I couldn’t get mad because it was obvious in the moment he didn’t want or expect her presence.
He could have been putting on a show for my sake, but Zeke didn’t seem like the type to put on a show simply because of the audience.
Answer the question. Does your fiancé know you are showing up to your daughter’s father’s house half naked? Inquiring minds want to know.I thought to myself as I eyed her as her eyes bounced between Zeke and I, desperately wanting to know what she was thinking and eager to see how everything was about to play out.
“Chante, I asked you a question,” Zeke challenged, causing her to pry her attention from me.
“No, Zeke, London doesn’t know I’m here. I just wanted to make sure you were okay,” she lied, pulling her trench coat together using the bow wrapped around her waist. “It looks like you already have someone here for that, though.”
“Eva, this is the mother of my daughters, Chante. Chante, this is my lady, Eva, and yes, she’s been making sure I’m good. She’s doing a great job as you can see.”
My Lady?I replayed his false confession in my head, and it didn’t make it any more believable in my eyes, yet he effortlessly allowed it to flow from his lips, when in reality, we hadn’t even remotely tapped danced around the conversation of me being his and vice versa.
Nevertheless, she didn’t need to know that. If Zeke wanted me to be his woman until she walked out of his house, I wouldn’t protest it until the coast was clear.
Allowing my mind to wonder, I couldn’t help but to imagine what it would be like if Zeke were my man. How would our relationship work? What would he expect from me? Would he switch up like Trevor had? Would we be together long before we broke up? Would we remain friends after said break up?
Shaking my head, I reeled myself in because we weren’t even in a relationship, yet there I was mentally flashing through our affiliation, the breakup which I was sure would have something to do with the mother of his daughters, and life after our breakup.
I was going way too far, too fast, and we hadn’t gone anywhere at all, yet I was on his couch planning the next year or so of our tumultuous love affair.
“Your lady? Zeke, why didn’t you tell me you were dating anyone?”
“Because with all due respect, it’s not your business,” Zeke stated, casually leaning up against his kitchen bar which was on the other side of his living room in his open, spacious home. “We agreed to let each other know when we’re getting ready to introduce someone to the girls, and since she hasn’t met them yet, I didn’t feel the need to mention it to you.”
“Zeke—”
“Look, Chante, as you know, it’s been a long day for me. If you just wanted to see if I was good, I am, so you can go ahead and head out.”
“Can we talk later?” she questioned, momentarily looking in my direction.
“If it’s not about our daughters, then I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he firmly stated being more respectful than I probably would have been if I were him. “I’ll walk you out.”
Walking in the direction of the front door, his request didn’t seem to be a request at all because he was making the decision to leave for her.
No more than a few minutes passed before he returned, tossing a stray key on his kitchen counter.
“That was crazy,” he called out, running his hands down his face. “I’m sure for you it looks like something it’s not.”
“Honestly, no. It looks like a woman who wants her man back,” I stated knowingly. “I’m going to be overly inquisitive for a minute. How long have y’all been apart?”
“Three years.”
Enough time has passed for her to be over him.
“You told me she cheated, didn’t you?”
