Page 96 of Laws of Love
“That sounds like fun,” Aiva responded because she knew she was speaking to her, not Knox. “Are you excited?”
“Yes. We’re going to have games, prizes, food booths, and face painting. I’m inviting all my classmates from last year, the kids I play with when I go to my grandparents, and Kaley. We can get matching face paintings, and Daddy can win us prizes like he did at Disney.”
Aiva smiled at her before her eyes turned to Knox. It felt like his energy changed, and she saw the tiniest clenching of his jaw before it was gone.
“Yas, sweetie, do you remember where the bubbles are?” The little girl nodded. “Why don’t you grab them? We can blow some bubbles before we start our crafts,” Aiva told her.
“Okay. I’ll be right back.”
“What’s wrong?” Aiva asked as soon as Yasmine walked into the house.
He sighed. “Mia has stated that she won’t come to Yasmine’s birthday party if you’re there.”
“I see. Then, I won’t go.”
“Aiva,” Knox protested.
“It’s her birthday. She should have both of her parents there. I’m fine with us doing something with her another time to celebrate.”
“You know she’s going to be heartbroken.”
“The same way she’ll be if Mia doesn’t show up,” Aiva responded, and she frowned because either way, Yasmine was going to be upset, and she knew lying to Mia and telling her she wouldn’t be there and seeing her when she showed up, would likely cause a scene. Aiva didn’t want to risk it. She’d be the bigger person to keep Yasmine from having her birthday ruined.
Knox looked over at Aiva and Yasmine. After dinner, they’d watched another movie. They were barely thirty minutes in, and Yasmine was asleep in his girlfriend’s lap. He knew as soon as she’d turned and laid her head on Aiva’s chest; she was about to be out. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost nine-thirty.
“You can stay if you want,” Aiva volunteered. “She’s already asleep.”
“Yeah, we’ll do that.”
“I’ll put her in bed.”
“I’ll help you,” he responded.
He followed her down the hall to one of her guest bedrooms. When he opened the door, the room was dimly lit by two nightlights on either side of the bed.
“Do you think she’ll be comfortable?” Aiva asked, laying her on the bed after he pulled the comforter back. “We could put her in the pajama’s I bought her and Kaley for their sleepover.”
“I think she’ll be fine.”
She often played in the set she had on, and he didn’t see her being uncomfortable in it. She’d lost her shoes long ago when they came inside after some crafts. Aiva turned on a dome on the dresser, and outer space moved across the ceiling. She stopped to turn on the nightlight plugged up in the hall before they returned to the living room. They chose a different movie, and as they watched it, he zoned out.
He’d been trying not to think about Mia’s unreasonable request since she’d made it, but hearing Yasmine be so excited to get her face painted with Aiva and for him to win them prizes brought it to the forefront. Knox didn’t know why he thought she would be an adult and put any animosity and hostility aside for the sake of their daughter having a good birthday, but he had. He’d given her too much credit.
Knox knew Mia’s grievance with Aiva wasn’t because he’d brought another woman around their daughter; it was because they weren’t together. Which was idiotic to Knox because she hadn’t wanted to work on their marriage when he tried, and she hadn’t wanted him after that until someone else did.
He also assumed it had something to do with Aiva putting her in her place. Twice. Mia was used to her slick mouth being enough to make other people walk away from her, which made her feel like she’d won the altercation. Aiva had not done that and instead left Mia speechless. Something that didn’t happen often. Knox couldn’t be positive, but he got the feeling Aiva intimidated her, and Mia didn’t like it.
He had a mind to say fuck it and have Aiva come anyway. It wasn’t like Mia was paying for it, which meant she didn’t have a right to dictate who could and couldn’t come. Knox knew her parents were coming to the party, and maybe she didn’t want them to see him with someone else, but that wasn’t his problem.
Aiva was right; they could celebrate with Yasmine another time, but he didn’t want them to have to. He didn’t want his daughter to be disappointed on her birthday because her mother couldn’t be an adult and play nice for a few damn hours. He’d been the bigger person when he told her about the party and invited her to it because, like Aiva, he wanted Yasmine to have her parents there for her birthday. In reality, he didn’t have to include Mia. He could have told her she’d have to celebrate some other time with Yasmine, but he wasn’t spiteful. He’d leave that to her.
Having two parties was an option, but by doing that, he would be accommodating Mia, and he didn’t want to do that because if he started now, he’d have to do it for the rest of his life. That was out of the question.
The way he saw it, Mia needed to suck it up and get over it. Aiva wasn’t going anywhere. Not if Knox had his way. They’d been dating for six months, and he didn’t remember feeling this way with Mia. At least not for a long time. Arguably, it could be said that they were still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, but he honestly didn’t see that changing. It could be three years down the road, and he would bet he’d still feel the same way.
He was sure his relationship with Mia was always going to fail because what he’d wanted at the ripe age of twenty-three, had shifted throughout their relationship and changed completely when Yasmine was born. His priorities changed, and it was no longer about going out every night when he wasn’t practicing or didn’t have a game; it had become about spending time with his wife and daughter. The problem was that Mia’s priorities hadn’t aligned with his. Hers had remained the same, and instead of growing together, they grew apart.
They hadn’t explicitly spoken about it, but he and Aiva wanted the same thing. He could tell from how they talked about certain things, her interactions with Yasmine, and how she communicated with him. They weren’t dating each other for the hell of it or to kill time.
