Page 9 of Arris, Jayme & Dyani
“Yeah, girl. Just let me know when and we can get you on the books.”
“Bet.” She turned around and gave me a quick, one-armed hug. “Have a good weekend.”
“Have a good vacation.” I waved her off and collapsed in my chair.
I grabbed my phone from my work station and checked my text messages and emails. I saw my final appointment for theday had cancelled and sent a message letting me know she appreciated me and would rebook when she got a chance. I sent a quick thank you then dialed Arris.
He had Blake for the day while I was at work but I was ready to scoop him up and let Arris head to the tattoo spot to get his own work done.
Despite our relationship ending, Arris was one of my best friends and we had a great coparenting relationship. He kept Blake during the day while I did hair. I kept Blake at night while he ran the streets with the gang or did tattoos. When we had something come up that required the situation to change, we adapted and hadn’t had an issue yet.
We were good at balancing our solo time and time with our son. We never had any issues with making sure Blake was good physically or financially. I couldn’t have gotten any luckier than sharing a child with Arris.
“What’s up, Jay?” Arris answered on the second ring.
“I finished early. You want me to come get Blake on my way home?”
“Nah. You’re good. We’re getting pretzels. Then I owe my boy a toy for how good he’s been today while I was getting my chores done, so we’re going to run to the store and shit. Just go ahead and head home. Have some wine and take a nice bubble bath or something. I’ll have him home before my appointment though. I promise.”
“Alright. I’ll see you then.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Arris hung up.
I pouted.
Even though I’d never infringe on Arris and Blake’s time together, I could admit I missed our son whenever he was gone for a significant amount of time.
I sighed but climbed up and started cleaning my work station. After I swept and made sure all of my things were locked up, I headed to my apartment.
I decided to take Arris’s advice. I ran a hot bath with bubbles, poured a glass of wine, and hopped in. I let music play and sank into the water, reveling in how nice it felt having my muscles relax. I soaked for about an hour or so, just doing my best to enjoy my time, but jerked up in the bath when I heard the front door open and close.
I glanced at the time on my phone. Reena wasn’t supposed to be home for several more hours. I hopped out and rubbed the bubbles off as fast as I could before wrapping a towel around me and rushing out of the bathroom.
I paused and screamed as I collided with Arris’s chest.
He laughed. I pushed him as hard as I could with both hands.
“That’s not fucking funny, Arris!”
“I don’t know. That shit is funny to me.” He shrugged. “But happy early birthday, Jaybird.” He smiled. “Throw some clothes on and meet me and Blake in the kitchen please.”
I exhaled. “Alright.”
I reached over and smacked him again. Then I slipped back into the bathroom, let the water out of the tub, took a shower, and hopped out.
My eyes automatically drifted to the tattoo on my hip while I was moisturizing. It was one of the first tattoos Arris had ever done for me, a small rose with “DP” in the petals, the calling card of the women who meant the most to the men who repped D-Ville. The wives and girlfriends of the guys were typically called concrete roses. Arris had been new to the gang and tattooing when he’d given me mine. I’d briefly thought about getting it covered up, but decided against it, partially because it was still a symbol of a time in my life that meant a lot to me and partiallybecause Arris still had the tattoo he’d gotten in honor of me proudly on his neck.
It was a beautiful bird with my initial in it, an ode to the nickname he’d thrown on me: Jaybird.
I didn’t stare at it too long. I finished and headed to the kitchen where I froze in the doorway. I poked my bottom lip out automatically. There was a cake with candles already lit in the center of our table beside a vase of flowers and a gift bag. Both Arris and Blake had party hats and smiles on.
“Happy birthday to you,” Arris sang while he rocked side to side with Blake in his arms. “Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Jaybird. Happy birthday to you.” Arris shook Blake, making him laugh uncontrollably.
“Arris—”
He cut me off. “Don’t tell me today isn’t your birthday. I know when your birthday is but I also know we probably won’t see each other on the actual day, so…” He shrugged.
“You realize you didn’t have to do all this, right?”
