Page 44 of Love At Close Range

Lennox shifted his attention to Mona next, and the amusement stayed on his face. “Nice seeing you too, Mona.”

Mona folded her arms and looked him up and down before a smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth. “That’s still debatable.”

I shook my head because I already knew Mona wasn’t about to suddenly become his biggest fan just because I had learned the truth about what happened years ago. Lennox didn’t seem bothered by her attitude either. If anything, he looked like he expected it. Rhyse, on the other hand, was still standing there waiting for somebody to acknowledge him. He threw both hands out and looked around the kitchen.

“Is anybody gonna explain why this strange nigga keep popping up?”

The room went quiet for half a second before Quentin broke first. He lowered his head as a laugh came out of him, and Mona immediately covered her mouth to hide hers. Lennox chuckled while I stared directly at my son.

“Rhyse Scott, watch your mouth,” I chastised as I pointed at him.

Rhyse shrugged like he didn’t understand the problem. “I’m just asking.”

“You can ask without all the extra shit,” I told him.

Quentin cleared his throat, but the smile was still all over his face. “Come on, baby. We need to get out of here so they can handle their shit.”

Mona gave me one last look before telling me to call her. I knew there were going to be about fifty questions waiting on me whenever I finally made that call. Quentin nodded toward Lennox before following his wife out, and a few seconds later the front door closed behind them.

Rhyse stayed in the kitchen after Mona and Q left, his eyes moving between me and Lennox like he was waiting for one of us to finally explain who Lennox was. He dropped his things beside the island and climbed onto one of the stools, then folded his arms on top of the counter.

“So what’s really going on?” Rhyse asked as he looked at me first, then Lennox. “Because he been here twice now.”

I glanced at Lennox, and he gave me a small nod before pulling out the stool across from Rhyse. My stomach tightened because there really wasn’t a perfect way to say it. I could soften it all I wanted, but the truth was still the truth.

I moved closer to Rhyse and rested my hand against his back. “You know how I told you Lennox was somebody I knew a long time ago?”

Rhyse nodded slowly. “Yeah, but that still ain’t explaining nothing.”

I rubbed Rhyse’s back once before I responded. “Lennox is your father.”

Rhyse stared at me like I had said something that didn’t make any sense. His eyebrows pulled together before he looked across the island at Lennox, then right back at me. “No, he ain’t.”

My chest tightened. “Boosie—”

“My daddy is some deadbeat nigga that ain’t want me,” Rhyse cut in as his voice rose. “You said he knew about me and ain’t want me,” he voiced.

The words hit harder hearing them come out of his mouth with Lennox standing right there. I felt Lennox’s eyes move to me, but I couldn’t look at him. Everything Rhyse had just said was what I had believed for almost eight years, and even though I had never sat around purposely poisoning him against his father, I had never given him a reason to believe anything different either.

“Rhyse, listen to me,” I said as I turned toward him. “That’s what I thought happened, but I was wrong, baby.”

He pulled away from my hand before I could touch him again. “How are you wrong about who my daddy is?” He frowned.

“I wasn’t wrong about who your father was,” I explained as carefully as I could. “I was wrong about him knowing about you.”

Rhyse’s face twisted with confusion as he looked between us. “That don’t even make sense. How is he my daddy and ain’t know about me?” In his seven-year-old mind, his question made all the sense, but it wasn’t as simple as he thought.

“I tried to tell him when I found out I was pregnant with you,” I said, feeling my throat tighten. “I sent him a message, and I got a response that made me believe he didn’t want anything to do with me or you. I believed that message came from him, but it didn’t.”

Rhyse stared at me for a few seconds before his eyes moved to Lennox. “So you really ain’t know?”

“I swear to you, I didn’t,” Lennox responded damn near immediately.

Rhyse immediately looked back at me. “Then why you always let me think my daddy ain’t want me?”

“Because I thought that was the truth, baby. I would never lie to you about something like this on purpose. Everything I told you was based on what I believed happened. I thought Lennox knew I was pregnant. I thought he made the choice not to be here,” I answered honestly.

“But he didn’t,” Rhyse said as his eyes started to water.