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“I’ve gotta take this!” I hoped my urgent tone wasn’t perceived as rude. “Hey!” I answered Jas’ call, prepared to tell him Chi-Chi could be dropped off here instead of at my place.
“Hey… We’re at Teterboro—”
My face wrinkled in confusion. “We? What do you mean?”
“Chivon’s with me. She did that crying shit again…did it all morning, saying she wants to come with me. She was like… She worked herself up to, like…convulsing. She said she didn’t want to go.”
“I’m her mother!”
“Ah, man!” he snapped. “Not you, too! Don’t do that shit, Ashira. Who said you ain’t?”
“You’re diminishing my role by buying into her tantrums. I would’ve come to get her myself if you would’ve called. Jas, I have plans with her for thenext—”
“I get that. I swear, I do. But all that fit-throwing shit she doing ain’t cool. I’ll just bring her to Miami with me. We’ll fly back in two days, and I’ll bring her straight to Edgewater—”
“Unless she cries some more?” I couldn’t be more offended.
Betrayed.
“Ashira—”
“Why are you letting a three-year-old trump the plans her parents have made? You have to work. I’m just coming off of work. It’s my time. That’s our agreement!”
“And you know I ain’t got no issues with the agreement.”
“Then why is my child at Teterboro airport when I’ve been waiting on her since last night?”
He exhaled into the phone harshly. “Look, man. Say less; I’ve had to deal with her lil’ demanding ass all morning; I can’t deal with you, too.”
“You don’t have todealwith me. You only had to be a father and put your soft ass foot down!”
“That’s what the fuck I’m doin’, Ashira. My daughter is saying and demonstrating not wanting to separate from me. As a parent, I ‘on’t know how to reject thatcry—look… I gotta go. I’m outside the jet. Captain Willie and his crew’s waiting on me. I’ll have her call you tonight.”
My heart shattered explosively in my chest. When had this become a thing? When did Chi-Chi not want to be with me…in her home?
When I felt my chest bubble from an impending cry, I hung up the phone.
Slamming back into the chair, my eyes shot blindly to the wall, and I ran the tip of my long, coffin-shaped index fingernail over my bottom teeth. Jas and I hadn’t exactly been friends over the past three years, but the care of Chi-Chi was one topic we never fought over. He’d never not been a flexible partner as a parent. Whenever I needed to go, Jas would almost facilitate my travel. He had no issues making time for our daughter. He never complained about being there when she’d awaken from a sleep learning her mother left for work again. He didn’t mind dealing with her tears as a result. But now, it felt like he didn’t have my back.
“Knock-knock.” My head swung over to the door.Shit!I sighed, adjusting the chair to move closer to the desk. So caught up in my feelings, I missed her arrival on the security monitors. “Did you just roll your eyes at me, girl?” Chuckling, Peach walked in and sat in a chair against the wall. “I haven’t been back here in forever.” She scanned the office.
“That makes two of us,” I mumbled, closing out of the files and programs I’d been poring over all morning.
“Where’s Miss Missy?” Peach glanced around for evidence of Chi-Chi’s presence.
Rolling my eyes, I explained. “On her way to Miami.”
“But I thought we were hanging out today.”
So did I. We had this planned for days now. When I decided to come intoKucheza, I called Peach this morning, asking her to meet Chi-Chi and me here instead of at my place. We were going to grab a bite before hitting upShort Hills Mallfor a little shopping.
“Yeah. I booked a suite and services atCrystal K. Spadown in Central Jersey.” Bruised. My heart was bruised, and my mind was running overtime with feelings of betrayal. I refused to cry. It would be overreacting.
Right?
Chivon was just three years old. She was still, by many standards and definitions, a baby. She was selfish and underdeveloped. I couldn’t take this personally.
Right?
