Page 47 of Only if You Catch Me
“Hi, I’m Persia. Tesha is getting dressed.”
The way his eyes lit up, I could tell he appreciated what he saw. Make no mistake about it, he was fine. But if he was one of those horny old geezers that ogled every younger woman he saw, that would be an immediate turn off.
“Okay. I’m going to go ahead and light the grill and get this food going. I’m Brian, and I hope you’re hungry.”
“I’m always hungry,” I giggled as I followed him to the kitchen.
I fixed my drink as Brian washed his hands, put gloves on, and began to wash and season the meat. “You from around here?” he looked over at me.
“Yeap. Diamond Cove born and raised.”
“You and Tesha been friends for a long time?”
“No. Actually, we met when she was looking for a house. I’m a realtor.”
“Oh okay. This place is nice. I’m proud of her. You married?”
“I’m newly divorced. What about you?”
“Single as a dollar bill.”
I took a sip of my drink as Tesha entered the kitchen. “Hey late ass. I’m glad you finally made it,” she joked.
“Sorry. Tyler had to go to baseball practice, and his mother’s car is in the shop. They waited until an hour before practice to ask me if I could take him. My ass was still in the bed when he called.”
I wanted to ask him how many kids he had, but I didn’t want to seem too interested. I honestly was just curious but being too nice to people and asking too many questions could send the wrong message. So, I elected to stay quiet. Brian went outside to start the grill, and Tesha went to answer the door. As I drained the liquid from my cup, I decided to wait at least thirty minutes before I had another drink. I was tipsy and didn’t want to be dumb drunk before the party even started.
Brian stuck his head in the door and asked me if I could grab him a fork and some aluminum foil. Tesha wasn’t in the kitchen, so I had to look around for it. It didn’t take me long to find the items.
“Thank you. So you’re newly divorced. You have kids?”
“No not yet. What about you?”
“Yeah, I have five kids. I have three sons and two daughters.”
My brows hiked, but I didn’t say anything. Brian saw my nonverbal reaction and chuckled.
“That’s a lot, right? Well, I had my first at eighteen and my second at twenty. I made it all the way to twenty-eight before I had twins, and I had the last at thirty-two.”
“That’s not too bad. How old is the oldest and the youngest?”
“The oldest is twenty-eight, and the youngest one is fourteen.”
At least he didn’t have small kids. It didn’t matter anyway. It wasn’t like we were going to be a thing.
“And I only have two baby mamas. My first two are by the same person, and the last three are by a woman I was with for eight years. We were together for six years before I proposed. She said yes, but it took us three months to set a date. We never got married.” He shrugged.
I had questions. I certainly had questions, but I decided not to ask them. I wasn’t sure I could be with a man and have kids with him and he not propose sooner. Then again, I didn’t care to ever get married again, so I honestly wouldn’t care. I thought it was a flex that David wanted to marry me quickly. I mean, in a way I guess it was. If I did have the desire to get married, there was no way I’d let a man play with me for eight years and put three kids in me with no ring in sight.
Tesha and four more guests trickled out into the backyard. The door opened and out walked Kastian. He was staring right at me and still as fine as he had been the first time I saw him. If I was being honest, he was even more handsome than I remembered. The thirty minute rule was out the window, and I needed more tequila expeditiously. I heard Brian talking to me, but I couldn’t process his words.
“I’m sorry. What did you say?” I directed my attention toward him.
“I said do you see yourself getting married again? Do you want kids?”
“Definitely not interested in getting married again.” From my peripheral I saw Kastian go over and hug Tesha. “I do want kids, but if I’m not getting married again, I’m not so sure. I made it this long without being a baby mama. No need to go backwards in life.”
“I get that. It’s good to keep things traditional. Have two parent households and all that, but as you can see, you can doit the right way and things still not work out. Some baby mama and baby daddy relationships are better than ex-husband’s and ex-wives. It just depends on the people. In my opinion, how the parents raise the child and get along is more important than if they’re married or not. Marriage doesn’t always mean unconditional love and healthy relationships.”
