“I got out of the car, made her ass get in, dragged her to the park with us, and then brought her ass home.”
“What did she say?”
“In the car, nothing about that. She talked to the kids the whole time, and when we got to the park, she acted as if nothing happened. I didn’t even know what to say to her.”
“You didn’t know, or you were scared to say something?”
“Both. I ain’t gonna lie. It was awkward.”
“We’re gonna have to keep a close eye on her. Now, come on.” Marva clapped her hands together. “Go upstairs and get some rest. He’ll wake you up when he comes in. Go ahead, now. I’ll clean up this mess.”
“Okay, okay. I’m going.” I got up and went upstairs. I stopped and checked on the children, who were knocked out. I went into my bedroom, and the last thing I remember was lying across my bed.
TRAE
Benny dropped me off around two thirty. I didn’t have my key, so I had to go around the back where Marva kept a spare to the back door under the base of the patio table. After I got into the house, I cut the alarm off and looked around the living room, expecting to hear some sort of movement. But the house was dead silent. I hit the stairs to look in on the kids, who were sprawled out and snoring. When I stepped out of their bedroom, I bumped into Kyra.
“I thought I heard you come in. Are you all right? Did I hear correctly? You got locked up?” she asked me.
“I had some old shit that they pulled up. Nothing that a little money can’t make go away. Go back to bed, and we’ll talk in the morning.”
“I need to ask you something.”
Oh, shit, here it comes. I was not in the right state of mind to have the what-happened-to-Marvin speech. “What’s up?”
“Rick, have you spoken to him, at all? What is he saying?”
I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought for sure Marvin’s name was going to slip out of her mouth. It seemed as if she had blocked him out of her mind. Hell, he was her baby’s father and her husband, and she wasn’t even asking about him. Didn’t she want to see him? Know where he was? That had me baffled.
“No, he hasn’t called me. Why? You haven’t heard from him?”
She shook her head no and then lowered her voice. “What do you think is going through his mind? And don’t bullshit me, Trae. You are a man. You have been in this situation. What is he thinking?”
I thought about it for a minute. “Kyra, I don’t think it’s the same things that are going through yours. Here this man was in love with you, and then thought he lost you forever. So he moves on. He gets a new love and has a family. But when his love shows back up and figures that she can start right back where things left off, I’m sure that has the man in turmoil. Shit, if that happened to me, I know my head would be fucked up. Think about Romeo and Juliet. What if Romeo didn’t drink the poison and left town and moved on? Only to find out years later that Juliet was not dead, she had only drunk a drug to put her in a coma for two days? And she finds him, but he is now married with children, the whole nine. You feel me?”
Kyra laughed. “Romeo and Juliet, huh? Now that you put it like that, yes. But I’ve been calling him, and he doesn’t even bother to answer.”
“Give him some time. He’ll come around,” I assured her.
“I hope so. But at the same time, I’m a little worried. I’m worried that he won’t choose me, and it’s driving me crazy!”
“Kyra, you know he’ll come around. Let him work it out.”
“God, I hope you’re right. And thanks for listening.”
“No doubt.” I left Kyra standing there. I needed to get my ass into a hot, steamy shower and scrub the day off of me. Then I needed to ease some tension. The whole time I was in custody, I wondered if my luck was finally running out. Everything seemed to be closing in on me all at once. I was ready for anything. But doing time? I didn’t forsee that. I had to figure out how to get out of