4. Citrell
I waited a few days before I decided to come through to see Sundae and Wynsdae’s business.
I didn’t want to go the day after she was in my bed.
She might have thought I was a stalker or some shit.
I planned to come in alone, but my mother told me that would be weird to come in without Callira since she should have been the focus. Good point, Ma!
To see how Callira reacted when she saw Sundae stirred something in me.
My daughter wasn’t even that excited to see her fucking mama.
Sundae did most of the talking when we toured the center.
I loved that she not only talked to me, but she included Callira in the conversation to learn about her likes and dislikes.
It was evident that my daughter felt comfortable with Sundae and Wynsdae because she touched them and allowed them to touch her.
Callira was not a child who liked physical touch from people she didn’t trust.
Sundae was sexy in the general sense. To see her with my daughter made her sexy in the I could possibly wife her sense. I needed to find out if I could wife her. “Now that that’s over, are you going to let me take you on a date?”
It was like I factory reset her or something because her stare at me was blank as hell. She set her tablet on the table. “Um, I need to speak with my sister for a moment.”
She jumped up like the damn seat was on fire. The fuck! After she pulled her sister to the back, I went over to the reading nook with Callira. “Hey, baby girl. What do you think about coming here some afternoons after school with Grandme?”
It took her a second to pull herself from the book that she flipped through. “I would like that. Is Sundae and Wynsdae going to be here when I come?”
“Yes, baby. Miss Sundae will be another teacher of yours like your Grandme,” I told her. “She’s going to teach you new stuff.”
Callira’s head tilted to the side. “Can Grandme come, and she teach Grandme, then Grandme teaches me? I just want to sing with Miss Sundae and Wynsdae.”
Oh, this is not going to be as easy as I thought.
It was clear she had a very focused idea on the kind of relationship that she wanted with the sisters.
“If Miss Sundae teaches you things, y’all still can sing together.
What we’ll do is let Grandme come sometimes to make sure she’s teaching you the right things. ”
Her finger tapped her chin, and her eyes looked upward. Once her thoughts came together, she gazed at me. “I think that will be alright. I don’t want Grandme to think that I don’t like her to be my teacher. I do, but I want to sing with Sundae and Wynsdae.”
I smiled at her concern for Ma’s feelings. I wouldn’t tell her that this was Rella’s idea. We might have to be creative in how we made this transition. “I’m sure it will all be alright.”
Footsteps caught both of our attention. Wynsdae came into our sight. “Hey, Mr. Wick, Sundae would like to go over something with you in her office. It’s right down the hallway to the left.” She zeroed in on Callira. “Is it okay if I sit with you while your daddy talks to my sister?”
“Yes, we can practice our song.” Callira moved to put the book that was in her hand back in its rightful place. When she turned back to Wynsdae, her face tightened. “You can’t sing too high though. My grandme can’t sing, but I let her. She sings too high.”
I coughed a little at her dry diss of her grandme’s voice. My mother was one hell of a musician, but my baby girl was right. Rella Sandi Wick couldn’t sing to save her life. I waited long enough to hear Wynsdae agree to mind her pitch before I walked back to Sundae’s office.
I wanted to laugh at her attempt to remain professional. She sat behind her desk with her hands folded atop it and her back straightened. She now had on a pair of glasses. Yeah, I’m going to get her to fuck me with those on. “What’s up, Sundae?”
“Hey, Citrell. You can close the door behind you.” She finally stood. It seemed more like she had rehearsed what she would do when I came in here.
Let me shake shit up. I glanced over my shoulder at the door, then put my eyes back on her. “Nah, I’d rather keep it open. If I close it, you might as well take ya pants off and bend over ya desk.”
The top of her eyelids reached for her eyebrows. “Oh, okay. Well, we . . . we can keep it open. I really just want to give you an answer to your question.”
I walked further into the office to step into her space. It felt like she might decline the offer. We couldn’t have that now, could we? “Oh, yeah? Tell me what that answer is.”
We were so close I could smell the caramel from the creamer in her coffee.
Her breath hitched. Her eyes closed, then I heard her low but audible count down from the number three.
Not sure what that was for. Her beautiful eyes opened, she took a shallow breath, then said, “I would love to go on a date with you.”
I didn’t try to hide my excitement. Our lips connected when I leaned closer to her. It was a quick but impactful kiss. With my lips still against hers, I said quietly, “Good girl.”
She yelped when I smacked her on the ass. “Is your personal or business number on your business card?” I asked after I grabbed a business card from the holder on her desk. I smiled at her title as co-owner and educator.
“Um, it’s a Google number that is attached to my cell number.” When I took my phone out and told her to put her number in my phone, her face scrunched. “Both numbers are to the same phone, Citrell.”
“Very true; however, this number is for business. I’m not going to be calling you for business, love.
” She thought she was witty when she asked what if the call was about Callira.
“Love, my mother will be your main contact for Callira’s educational needs since she is her teacher.
If me and you ever talk about baby girl, it will be more on a personal level. ”
After a beat of her stare, she took my phone and put her number in it.
I called her from my phone once I had it back in my hand.
She asked me for my email so she could send the application, contract, and the invoice.
I gave her my mother’s email address. My mother was in charge of Callira’s education; however, I was involved in the decisions.
Sundae and I walked out to the front where Wynsdae and my daughter were knee deep in a book. Callira asked us to sit to listen to the book with her, and we of course obliged. Once the book was done, we were out of there.
Later That Evening . . .
“I’m happy her ass said yes to the date. I didn’t want to have to come get your crying ass out of your car in your driveway later.” Marco laughed at his own joke.
He came over to see how it went earlier.
Callira was already down for the night. She had a hard stop in her day at nine p.m. It was rare that I had to tell her because her body was programed to go down at nine.
There had been a few times that she whined because she wanted to stay awake longer for one reason or another.
I would let her and then find her somewhere asleep by nine fifteen.
I took a sip of my beer. “Man, shut the hell up. I had no doubt that she would say yes. I’m going to lock that all the way down.” I pulled my phone out and pulled up a candid video I’d taken when we were at the center. “Look at this shit, man.”
He pressed the play button on the screen after I handed him my phone. He watched in silence, and a smile rose on his face. My daughter was just as important to him as she was to me.
We’ve been best friends since we were ten.
We lived on the same block, but we initially didn’t like each other.
One day his group of friends and mine agreed that we would fight.
I wasn’t sure how they came up with an agreement about us, without us.
Anyway, we fought, but there was no declared winner.
We both were beasts with our hands, so we decided to just join forces. We’d been solid ever since.
In the video, Sundae and Callira were going over a visual schedule that was on the wall. The conversation was focused, clear, simple, entertaining, and organic. My daughter got lost in the extra words sometimes.
“Yeah, I can see why you want to wife her. Shit, Callira likes Sundae more than ho ass Iesha.” A laugh escaped him as he handed me my phone back.
I tittered. “I said the same thing, man. That shit is really sad.” My eyes cut over to him after he asked whether I’ve heard from Callira’s flawed mother since I left her house.
“Not since her stupid ass tagged me in that my baby daddy ain’t shit ten-part video she did on TikTok.
I swear that bitch is dense. She pulled those shits down when she got that cease and desist.”
My heart hurt that she chose a nigga over our daughter.
Yeah, she was a piss poor mother, but damn.
She had shown me over the years that she really did have my daughter with the thought that we would be together.
That shit just didn’t make sense then or now.
I shook off my feelings. “What up with you and Wynsdae?”
I saw when his eyes lit up. “Man, we chillin’. Fuckin’ and chillin’.” His smile was too wide for it to be that simple. “She’s a real cool ass female. If Sundae is anything like Wynsdae in the bedroom, I understand why you want to wife her ass.”
“So, you don’t want to wife her?” I asked seriously. Marco used to be a relationship type of dude. The woman that he was with for three years let him know that he was not her forever at her birthday party when he proposed. That shit destroyed him.