Page 35 of Loving a Libra
“Nigga, you been fucking up. This is nothing new.”
“Nah. This is different.”
“I doubt it, but let me hear it.”
“I’m about to be a father.”
“Congratulations.”
“This ain’t no fucking congratulations. Devyn ain’t pregnant.”
“If you’re about to be a father, I assume somebody is, so congratulations.”
“It ain’t who I want it to be, but she refused to have an abortion, and now she’s too far along. I’ve been dealing withher for almost as long as I’ve been with Devyn. She’s basically my number two. If Devyn were to leave me, she’d happily slide right into the number one spot, especially since she’s having my baby.”
“I’m sure Devyn would happily give her the number one spot.”
“Maybe not. The argument we had after her coworker’s wedding must have really gotten to her, because shit ain’t been the same between us since. I didn’t make it any better by continuing to move how I’ve been moving. Lately, I’ve been staying home more, trying to feel her out and find a good time to tell her. At first, she paid me no mind and didn’t hide her annoyance with me, but she’s starting to loosen up.”
“You’re delusional if you think she’ll stick around.”
“We have history, and even though things haven’t been perfect, I don’t think she’ll want to lose that. She is a kept woman and used to a certain lifestyle. All the money she makes working is hers to keep, and I pay for everything. Hell, I even give her spending money. I don’t know many women who would give that up because of one mistake.”
All I could do was chuckle because I knew he’d already lost Devyn. By the time we made it back from D.C., he wouldn’t know where to find her. If Maurice didn’t have shit, he had audacity.
“You’ve made a lot more than one mistake.”
“She don’t know about none of the other ones, though.”
“Good luck.”
Once we checked into our rooms, I FaceTimed Devyn to see how things were coming along. Last week, when the trip to D.C. was confirmed, I rented a small moving truck for her. Since she didn’t want to take any large items or pieces of furniture, she didn’t need a big truck.
I offered to hire some movers, but she declined because it would cause too much of a scene, and she didn’t want theneighbors in her business. I agreed but wanted to do as much as I could to help since I couldn’t physically be there. She assured me that getting Maurice out of town was all she needed from me.
“Hey, baby,” she answered.
“Wassup? How are things going?”
“Aside from the fact that I have more shit than I realized, it’s going great. Oh, and guess what?”
“What?”
“I got the job!”
“That’s great, baby. It looks like your plan is all coming together.”
“It is, and it’s so satisfying. He won’t know what hit him.”
After what I’d just heard from Maurice, he deserved whatever karma he got. I briefly thought about telling her about his impending fatherhood, but decided against it. She would find out eventually.
“I can only imagine. Leaving town for a few days, only to return to every trace of your woman of the past five years gone, has to be traumatic. Remind me never to get on your bad side.”
“I’m not worried about that. Besides Ginae, you’ve been the realest one in my corner. I wouldn’t recommend anyone start a relationship the way ours started, but I wouldn’t change what we’ve built for the world. Like you told me weeks ago, things happen when they should. I don’t care about how we came to be. I’m just grateful to have you as my friend and lover.”
“Don’t forget, future husband and father of your children.”
She smiled. “Let’s not forget that. I gotta go. I love you.”
