Page 66 of Devanté
“Whatever. You got what you wanted.” I slid my eyes over to my mother but she was busy pretending to be engrossed in the fussy baby in her arms.
“He needs a bottle after I leave. After that, he should go to sleep. If he doesn’t, you can walk him around and bounce him. He loves that. I’ll call before I get here to pick him up. Devanté has my number.” She reached out to touch my shoulder but I pulled away from her. “Thank you again, Mrs. Morgan, for watching him. He’s a really easy baby.” Renee looked at me with a half-smile in her eyes that I refused to return.
Once she left, I turned to my mother and sighed. “Why, Ma? You know this is feeding into her delusions.”
“She wants to get a job, Devanté. Maybe that’ll help her realize she doesn’t need to pin this child on you. Maybe she’ll realize she doesn’t need a man to support her and her son.” We moved into the living room and Janet rolled her eyes at the sight of my mother with the baby. “Look,” she said sitting down gingerly on the couch. “I know this little boy isn’t my grandson. He’s still a baby though. It’s not his fault he got a crazy mother. I won’t make a habit of watching him but I think Renee was telling the truth.”
“The truth?” I scoffed, setting the diaper bag on the floor next to the couch. “Renee is incapable of telling the truth. I seriously wish you hadn’t decided to watch her son.” My head was starting to ache the more I thought about how Renee would twist this one-hour babysitting deal into proof that I was somehow her son’s father.
“It’s for the baby, Devanté. Not her.”
“It doesn’t matter, Ma. She’ll make it about her.” I tossed my hand in the air and sat down next to my father and Janet.
“I’m with Devanté on this one, Liza,” Dad said staring at the keys in his hand. “That girl is up to no good. Always has been.”
“Well, I hate to be the one to break it to y’all but…” Janet drew in a long breath then continued. “D was the one who laid down with her crazy ass. Now he has consequences. Being handsome isn’t going to get you out of this, baby bro.”
“She’s right,” Mom chimed in with a slow nod. “Hand me the baby’s bag. I need to get his bottle before he starts fussing again.” I couldn’t fucking believe Renee’s son was in my house while my mother held and fed him. He was a beautiful little boy and no matter what my family thought, I didn’t hate him or even the idea of being a father but…that wasn’t my kid.
The only woman I wanted to have my kids was somewhere in LA, hopefully thinking about me. My chest tightened with even one thought about Blake. “Yeah, well,” I said, clearing my throat. “Nobody will have to worry about me laying down with a woman I don’t plan to make a mother ever again.” Because when I got Blake pregnant it would be on purpose. It would be because she’d be an amazing mother and an equally amazing wife.
Janet’s eyes sparkled when she looked at me. “So that means you’re going to knock Blake up the second you get a chance.” She clapped her hands together and I let out a laugh. “Don’t try to act shy. I know that’s what you were trying to say.”
“Shut up, Jay. I didn’t say anything remotely close to that. You’re talking to hear yourself talk.” We fell into our usual bickering and Dad cut in to stop us.
Even with the tiny visitor spending time with us, we carried on like normal. I might not have wanted Renee to drop her kid off with me but I wasn’t cruel. I held him and burped him, I even put him to sleep since he made himself comfortable laying his head on my shoulder.
Janet was in the kitchen when she said, “The floozie is back.”
The fun we were having fell dead on the ground. I stood up, careful not to wake the baby, and made my way to the foyer. “Wait, D…” Janet’s words fell away as I pulled the front door.
I was met face to face with Renee plus two men dressed in t-shirts and cargo shorts wielding heavy ass cameras and lights.
What. The. Fuck.
…
