23
“I wish I could have been there to see you beat her up but I hope the baby is okay,” Kim said as she sat on the park bench and ate her snowball with Clover and Iva.
Amina was doing laps around the walking trail, and they went with her. Diva was walking with her while Kardi rode her bike in front of them. Fonzo would usually walk with her but he and his brothers were helping Hank do a few things around his almost completed home.
“Kimber, please, I’m barely pregnant.” Clover rolled her eyes. She was only eight weeks pregnant, the same as when she found out that she was pregnant with Kardi. Just like before, she was gonna have a long ass pregnancy since she found out so soon.
“I’m happy that she won’t be around anymore. She was too tall for Monty anyway,” Kim replied, making Iva almost choke on her snowball. Her honesty was always funny to everybody.
“Enough about that, I wanna know how everything went when my auntie met her new son-in-law.”
“She loves him.” Kim smiled shyly.
She and Rondell had gone to Georgia for him to meet her family.
That was a first for her and she was nervous.
She had a few boyfriends in high school but it never led to anything more serious.
She wasn’t a virgin but she might as well have been.
She was an amateur in the bedroom, but he didn’t seem to mind.
Rondell was way more experienced than she was, and she was afraid of being hurt.
Sadly, that was a part of life that she would just have to deal with.
Her family loved him, especially her mother.
Her father grilled him like he was in an interrogation room but he obviously answered every question right.
Rondell enjoyed himself and he was already looking forward to them going back.
His family loved her too and they made her feel welcome the first day they met.
It also helped that Clover was friends with his sister-in-law.
“I guess his ex finally got the picture,” Iva assumed.
“We haven’t seen or heard from her since she took the pregnancy test. We’ve been getting along so much better since she’s officially out of the picture.”
“Aww, I’m so happy for you.” Clover smiled.
“Happy for who?” Diva asked, sounding like she was out of breath. She grabbed Clover’s water and drank the last of it without even asking. She sat down and tried to catch her breath.
“Damn, Diva, I hope I don’t get thirsty,” Clover fussed.
“Bitch, I need to start working out again. I’m out of shape like a muthafucka. Amina is trying to stomp a hole in the pavement.” Diva was acting like she’d ran a marathon. Amina was still going strong and Kardi enjoyed riding her bike.
“No, she’s trying to have an easy labor and I don’t blame her,” Clo replied. Amina was due in a few weeks and she stayed active throughout her entire pregnancy.
“What happened? Who are you happy for?”
“Kim. She said my auntie loves her new man.”
“That ain’t nothing new. I wanna know if that scary bitch gave up the pussy yet. He’s always coming to pick her up from the house and the heifer don’t even bother coming back sometimes.”
“Diva!” Kim slapped her arm as her mouth hung open in shock. Hank had already sized Rondell up and gave her his approval. Her father was happy to know that his old friend approved of him too.
“Well, did you?” Iva instigated.
“That is our business.” Kim giggled like a school girl.
“Yeah, he hit it,” Clover replied, as everybody laughed.
“Girl, that ain’t nothing to be embarrassed about.” Diva waved her off.
“I’m not embarrassed, just a little inexperienced.” Kim was ashamed to admit.
“Bitch, if you needed help, that’s all you had to say. I had this same talk with Clover when she turned sixteen. I can teach you how to hook a nigga. I just didn’t know that I was teaching her how to hook my damn baby.”
“That dog got fleas; he can’t be hooked.” Clover rolled her eyes.
“Let me get my lazy ass up and go walk some more. I need it.” Diva got up and stretched when she saw Amina and Kardi coming back around. When they got closer, she rejoined them to do another lap.
“I hope you and Dash get back together. I mean, y’all are having another baby so it makes sense.” Kimber shrugged like it was simple.
“Girl, trust me, they are,” Iva replied.
Clover was about to say something until they were interrupted.
“What’s good, beautiful?” a man’s voice spoke from behind them.
All three women turned to see who it was and who he was talking to.
Clover smiled when she saw Carlos, one of her old flings, standing there smiling.
She hadn’t seen him in a few years, but he looked just as good as she remembered.
His daughter was one of the first kids in her daycare when it opened and he’d been having his eyes on her since then.
Dash went crazy when he found out. He and Monty even followed Carlos home once before but, thankfully, nothing happened.
Carlos had a girl at the time, so he and Clover weren’t trying to walk down the aisle or nothing.
“Hey, handsome. It’s been a while.” Clover got up to give him a hug. She tried to pull away, but his grip was too tight. The two men that he was with kept walking with five kids in tow. Clover finally pulled away when she got a glimpse of his daughter.
“Is that Carla? She’s gotten so big. She’s beautiful.” Clover smiled, remembering the first time she saw the sandstone colored beauty.
“Yeah, that’s her with her flip mouth ass. Lil one with the blue and white on is my son.”
“Aww, he’s your twin.” Clover remembered when his girl got pregnant with their son. Sadly, she was pregnant at the time when she learned of his infidelity.
“What about you? Is it still just your daughter or did you have any more?”
“It’s just her until about seven more months or so.” Clover touched her still flat stomach.
“Congrats.” He smiled while admiring her beauty.
“Same to you.” Clover pointed to the ring on his finger.
“Yeah, nigga locked down now. I don’t have to ask if you’re still with ole boy. That nigga was ready to make my kids orphans, so I already know the answer.”
He laughed at what wasn’t meant to be a joke.
At one point in his life, he was in love with two women.
Clover had him ready to rewrite his story and cast her as the main character.
His then girlfriend turned wife was heartbroken when she found out.
He swore to her that it wasn’t that deep but he was in way deeper than he should have been.
Clover had to end things with him because he probably wouldn’t have been able to do it.
He was even ready to bang it out with her nigga, but it would have all been in vain. Clover was in the love with that nigga and she never lied to him about her feelings. Once he opened his eyes and saw what he would be losing, he got his mind right and focused on his family.
“I’m happy that you’re doing well.” Clover didn’t even bother replying to what he’d said about Dash. Her life was so complicated that even she didn’t always understand it.
“And I’m happy as hell just to see you. Damn, you look good like a muthafucka.” Carlos pulled her into another hug and inhaled her familiar scent. Clover loved expensive fragrances and he used to always buy them for her.
“Um, Clo,” Iva called out to her girl.
“Aww, shit. That nigga must know when another man gets too close to you.” Carlos looked up when her girl called her name. He saw her man and his brother, the same one who came to his house with him that night. He didn’t know the other man, but they were all walking in their direction.
“He’ll be okay.” Clover discreetly rolled her eyes. She saw the frown on Dash’s face before he even got close. She didn’t give a damn how he felt. He would get over it just like she had to. And unlike him, she hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Aye, you better not go over there with no bullshit, bro,” Fonzo said as he and his brothers walked over to the table where Iva and Kimber sat.
“The fuck you mean! This nigga must seriously take me for a joke.” Dash was on one and he started walking faster. Fonzo jumped in front of him and put his hand on his chest to stop him.
“Don’t be stupid, bruh. Not thinking before you react is what got you fucked up now. You keep saying you want your wife back, but this ain’t the way to go about it. Your daughter is out here or did you forget?”
Dash lowered his head as the truth of his brothers words sank in. Fonzo was right, and he had to do better. It was time for him to grow up and that was a good day to start.
“You right, bro. I fucked up so I can’t even be mad.”
Dash did a double-take when they pulled up and he saw Clover all hugged up with another nigga.
When he got a closer look at who it was, his heart felt like someone was squeezing it in his chest.
That was the same nigga that he and Monty were about to make a distant memory a few years ago.
He was in love with Clover at one point, and Dash knew why.
He just hated that another man knew it too.
Before they got to the table, the other man walked away and Clover sat back down.
Dash felt sick to his stomach and almost regretted going to the park.
Fonzo wanted to exercise with his wife like he always did, and they decided to tag along.
They stopped at the store and got a few bottles of water just in case they were there for a while.
“Hey, y’all,” Kim smiled and spoke when they walked over. They all exchanged greetings before Dash reached into the bag and handed Clover a bottle of water.
“Thanks.” She opened the bottle and took a few sips, never bothering to say anything else.
“How you feeling?” Dash asked while taking a seat next to her.
“I’m okay. How about you?”
“I could be better but I’m good.” Dash shrugged. It was killing him not to say anything about the man that she was hugging but his brother was right and he wasn’t trying to make things worse. There were so many things that he wanted to say and he almost did until they were pleasantly interrupted.
“Hey, daddy. Do you wanna watch me ride without my training wheels?” Kardi asked when she came over.
“Yeah, come on, let me see.”
Dash was all smiles as he got up and watched his daughter ride her bike.
As much as he wanted to pour his heart out to Clover, it obviously wasn’t the right time.