Page 13 of The Love Bully
My sweet baby had already called out for me. “Nigga, you better go put on a shirt. The fuck!”
This lil nigga of mine.I took the bacon out of the pan before I walked over to the barstool at the island to grab my wife beater. After it was on, I reached out for Bridgette who came straight to me. “You being good for mommy and daddy?” I asked after I kissed her temple.
Without thought, my lil grandbaby said, “No.” She wiggled her bad ass out of my arms. Once she was down, she ran over to her play area.
“What’s going on with you and my mama?” Euri asked me after his grown ass went into the cabinet, got a coffee mug, and poured himself a cup of coffee. He stayed in business that was not his own.
“What’s going on between me and ya daddy is me and ya daddy’s business. How about you get some business of ya own, lil boy,” a soft voice said from behind us. “Where is my grandbaby?”
The smirk that tiptoed to my face couldn’t be hidden. Fuckin’ right it was our business. Since our date, Marsha and I had been intentional about spending meaningful time together. We weren’t just spending time together to fuck on each other. I thought I knew everything about the love of my life, but our time together as of late proved that was wrong. There were things she didn’t know about me either.
Euri kissed his teeth. “Mama, you are my business. I’m just trying to make sure everything straight. I couldn’t do shit as a toddler when you were hurt. I’m a grown ass man now, so things are different.”
The way my son looked at me made my jaw tighten. If he was any other nigga, I would have put a bullet in his face for the affront to my manhood. The thing was that I couldn’t be mad because I was the one who taught him and his brothers that it was their job to protect their mothers. How could I be mad if he applied what I taught him even when it came to me?
We stared at each other silently. I felt Marsha’s eyes on us. This was probably the first time that either of us heard him buck at me like this. I could do nothing but respect it. “I got you, Son.”
An understanding passed between us. He nodded. “What y’all got planned today?”
“We gonna take our baby to the children’s museum. A little play and learn day,” I told him. I glanced over at Marsha who sat on the floor in Bridgette’s play area, playing with her.
Euri’s brows rose. “Oh, like both of y’all. Y’all two are spending the day together?”
Marsha looked up at Euri with tight eyes. “Yes, Euri. Your father and I are going to take our granddaughter to the museum together. We are going to go to lunch together, check on our businesses together, then bring her back to her mommy and daddy together.”
“You better get out of here, Son, before she throws that block at your big ass head,” I told him. I saw that block in her hand in the perfect position to throw. I laughed when she told him to take heed to my warning.
He knew better than to test his mother. Her aim was perfect after years of softball. She still played on a team for leisure. That was another major part of how she kept her body so tight. “Alright, Mama and Pops. Bridgette, come give Daddy a hug and kiss bye.”
“Yes, Daddy.” She got up, walked her cute self over to her daddy, then lifted her arms for him to pick her up. After he had her in his arms, she wrapped her arms around his neck the best she could and kissed his cheek. “Bye, Daddy.”
“Bye, my pretty baby.” He kissed her cheek splat. “Splat kiss!”
Bridgette giggled. “Splat kiss! Pretty splats!”
“That’s right, Pop Pop’s baby! Pretty splats,” I told her as I took her from her father’s arms.
I loved the confidence that we all committed to building in Bridgette. No one would be able to ever diminish our baby girl’s beauty.
After a few more minutes, Euri was out the door. “Alright, my ladies. Let’s eat breakfast so we can start our day.”
Later That Day . . .
I gawked at Marsha and Bridgette as they laughed at me. Someone who was not me had the idea to get ice cream after the museum. That ended with Bridget giving me an ice cream beard. There was vanilla ice cream and chocolate fudge laced in my beard.
“That salt and pepper beard that I love ain’t so salt and pepper now,” Marsha said before she reached out to touch it. Her body leaned forward, and she kissed my lips. “Sticky beard.”
“Icky beard! Icky beard!” my grandbaby yelled from her stroller. She struggled with certain ‘s’ sounds. That was to be expected for her age though. I was surprised how many words she said for her age anyway.
I tickled her. “Your daddy is gonna pay to get this icky beard cleaned. Let’s see how his ass likes that.”
“Don’t be mad, Pop Pop! I’ll wash your beard for you.” Marsha winked. Her hand went to my beard again.
Oh, word!“Let’s get this girl to her mama and daddy.” I stood up to gather our shit. I wanted my damn beard washed.
Euri was at his office, but ask me if I gave a fuck. I dropped his daughter off with all her shit. He popped shit until his mother told him to shut the hell up. The shift was happening. My baby was defending me more and more, and I loved it. We were moving in the right direction to be committed to each other.
After we dropped off our grandbaby, we went back to Marsha’s house where she had a full hair salon in a mini house in the backyard. Every once in a while, she accepted appointments from her loyal clients. Instead of going into the shop, she had them come here.
