Page 42 of After Him, There Was You
“It’s all in a day’s work of being your man.”
“Yeah… about you being my man,” she hinted, slightly dragging her words while biting down on her bottom lip, trying to stifle the laugh vaguely dancing on her lips.
“Bring your beautiful self on before you say something that will make me want to break up with you.”
“You wouldn’t.”
“You’re probably right,” I conceded, “but either way, I don’t want to find out.”
Leaving the hospital, I had a one-track mind. My main focus was being as present for her as she had been for me because like I said, it was all in a day’s work of being her man, and I took my role seriously.
Chapter 19: Like I Want You -Tara
A Week Later
“How do I look, Mama?” Raegan asked as she sashayed in the kitchen where I was putting the finishing touches on our dinner, modeling off the dress I picked for her to wear for the night’s occasion.
She was dressed in a simple pink T-shirt dress with a collar, and paired with her big pink bow, she was adorable. She had just gotten her hair braided into a ponytail at Sassy and Chic Beauty Salon, and whenever it was in such a style, I switched up her bows until it was time to take the braids down. Raegan’s hair was just as thick and curly as mine, so protective styles were key and essential to our survival.
“You look absolutely gorgeous, baby,” I acknowledged, complimenting my princess.
While Jaedan looked like a mirror image of Jason, Raegan was a good mixture of the two of us, and although she inherited my chocolate skin, you could see hints of Jason in her. Mainly in her eyes and cheeks.
When we were younger, I wanted to continue expanding our family, but Jason was hellbent on the number of children in the household not outweighing the parents, so when I had Raegan, he requested for my doctor to put me on birth control. I guess the irony of his explanation was how he got with another woman, and according to what Raegan let slip out, they were expecting their second child together. I guess the children Amber’s ex-husband had custody of didn’t matter in his book.
Just like our children, Amber’s two daughters came to visit them every other weekend. I couldn’t imagine not living with my kids on a daily basis, but when the judge sets a custody agreement in place, more times than not, you fall in line.
Thankfully, in our situation, Jason didn’t fight me when I demanded full custody with him having every other weekend. He could have fought me on it, but it only would have made me fight harder.
“Are you going to change into something pretty?” Raegan asked, throwing the most innocent form of shade directly in my direction.
“What’s wrong with what I have on now?” I questioned, pointing to the black lounge set I had put on after I came home and showered so I could be comfortable while I tidied up the house and got dinner started.
“Nothing, but didn’t you say your boyfriend is coming over? I don’t have a boyfriend yet, but if I did, I would want to look super pretty for him.”
“You’re lucky you’re cute and slightly right, because I’m almost offended,” I teased, running over to where she was standing, and tickling her, making her contagious giggles fill the room.
Mercilessly tickling her for a few more seconds, I ran out of the kitchen and straight to my room so I could get dressed. While I didn’t look my best, I didn’t look my worst either, and with it being the night Jaedan and Raegan were introduced to Zeke as my boyfriend, and not just Coach Simmons, I wanted everything to be perfect.
Much to my surprise, both of my kids took the news of my new love interest in a positive way. In hindsight, I was more afraid of their reactions than I had merit to be, but due to everything they had endured because of the divorce and the new dynamics of our family, I felt like it was only right to put their feelings first.
Thankfully, they both like Zeke outside of school so the night was merely our first semblance of a new family-ish dinner. I knew I’d gone overboard and cooked more than I normallywould on a typical Friday night, but I was in a celebratory mood because the kids were with me on a weekend which wasn’t designated as mine.
If they didn’t want to go with Jason, I wasn’t going to make them, and with the way he’d begun to act out, I wasn’t extremely hellbent on them being in his presence.
Skimming my closet, I decided to give Eva a call while I decided on what I wanted to wear for the night.
“Hey, T,” she greeted as soon as the call connected.
“Hey, E. How are you doing?”
“Girl, I would be great if I wasn’t about to fight Alexa.”
“What do you mean? What happened?” I questioned, back-to-back, pausing my quest to find the perfect attire so I could give my full attention to my best friend as she vented.
“She keeps calling me and trying to guilt me into going to the hospital to visit my dad.”
“You haven’t been back since the night he had the accident?” I questioned to make sure I hadn’t missed anything in Eva’s world.
