Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
Karim
Never in a million years did I ever think I’d be here at Reminisce’s home, in his space and enjoying his company.
I told myself repeatedly I couldn’t get too comfortable too fast or get too into him, but how could I not?
He was showing me a different side of him.
He was really trying, and so far, I was in awe.
“Romance, it’s time to go to sleep, baby girl.” His voice carried from the kitchen to where she and I currently were playing the game I’d introduced her to back at the restaurant. I was an auntie, so I knew all the cool shit from Roblox to the apps.
“But, Daddy, one more minute please.” She held her little index finger up, signaling that minute.
“Nah, that was five minutes ago. Karim don’t know shit about games. Why yeen ask me to help you?”
“Because, Daddy, you don’t play games. Rim do, and she’s good at them.”
The expression on his face had me cackling instantly.
He cut his eyes at me, making me laugh even harder. How was he gonna be mad that she didn’t want him to play the game with her? “Bed now, Romance,” he repeated, this time with a little more bass in his voice.
“Okay. Can we play in the morning, Rim?”
I was about to respond, but he did. “Naw, now give me the tablet so I can put it on the charger.” If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he was pouting.
I watched her stand up and walk to the end of the couch before hopping down. She then handed him the tablet. “Daddy, can Rim tuck me in?”
He threw his head back in shock, then looked from me to her. “Yeah, I mean, if she wan—”
“Yeah, I got it.” I was on my feet in seconds. “Where is her hair bonnet?”
“The fuck you mean where her hair bonnet is? She’s a child. What does she need a hair bonnet for?”
“Reminisce, she’s also a girl. You wanna keep her hair fresh, don’t you?” I turned my face up, looking at him like he had lost his mind.
He shrugged. “She good. She doesn’t have one.”
“Obviously. Good thing I have an extra one in my bag.” I stalked over to my duffle and went into the side pocket, pulling out a blue, silk, butterfly bonnet.
It was my spare, even though I had never worn it.
I walked over to her and put it on her head, making sure it covered her head and not her eyes.
When I was finished, I ushered her past him toward where her room was. “You know, sometimes I worry about you.”
“Yeah, I bet. Don’t worry too much.” He slapped my ass as I passed.
This wasn’t my first time putting a kid to sleep, as I was an auntie. However, it was my first time putting his child to sleep. Oddly enough, why was I nervous? It wasn’t like I was auditioning for a lead role or something. Or shit, was I?
Despite my overthinking, Romance was tucked in and falling asleep in under fifteen minutes after reminding me to turn on her night light and the rain sounds her daddy played for her every night.
It was cute, shit, all so cute, and here I was swooning.
Being here with him like this made me see him in a different light.
When I reentered the front room, he had his feet kicked up, comfortably laid out against the pit style sofa in the middle of the room.
“You know, being here with you like this makes me see you in a different light.”
He looked from the sports highlights on TV over at me with those sexy, lazy eyes that let me know he was tired. “You still fucking with that light?”
“I am. It humanizes you and it’s sexy.”
He licked his lips. “I didn’t realize that. Shit, I do realize her little ass stresses me the fuck out.”
I laughed, moving toward him. “In the cutest way possible. She looks just like you.” When I reached the couch, I kicked my slides off and climbed next to where he was sitting.
“How is her stressing me out cute, Rim?”
“Because it is. Plus, not many people challenge you. But her, she looks like you and pushes your buttons.”
“Glad you peep that, and nah. It’s a specific other motherfucker who is just as good at pushing my buttons, if not better.” He winked.
I couldn’t hide my smile nor did I try. “How does your head feel?”
“Better, I was able to catch that motherfucker in the door. She knocked right out, didn’t she?” He turned around, maneuvering his body so that his head was in my lap and he was looking at the TV.
“She did and she made sure to tell me how her daddy had the rain sounds and night lights set up for her.” I looked down at the side of his face, feeling the need to touch him.
Even though he was damn near in my lap, something about just being able to touch him always put me on a cloud.
Before I knew it, I was tracing the wording on the side of his face.
He chuckled. “Yeah, my baby is a lil high maintenance and she loves her some Alexa.”
“I wonder why. She’s just like her father.”
“Nah baby, she ain’t like me. Trust me.”
“What do you mean?” I looked down at him while he watched TV. I had now moved on to tracing the tattoos on his neck.
“I wasn’t shit like that, but I want that for her. I want her to be high maintenance and joyful. Shit, most of all, happy. I wanna give her the childhood I never had, regardless of the fact that I already fucked up and gave her a mother so like my own it haunts me.”
“Like your own?” I repeated for clarity.
“Fucked up, so stuck in her own ways that she ain’t thought about how her actions affect her kid.”
“You want me to go beat her ass?”
He laughed, about to respond, but the ringing of a phone interrupted whatever he was about to say.
It was my phone, because I felt it vibrating in my pocket before I fetched it. When I saw who was calling, I answered immediately. Even though she called a lot, I tried to answer all of my mama’s calls. It didn’t matter what I was doing, if I heard the phone ring, I answered it.
“Yes, Mama,” I answered, sitting back and resting my hand.
“Don’t yes mama, me. Where are you?”
“I’m not home,” I answered.
“I know that much. I got a call from your brother. You are not home and your location is off.”
“Because I’m minding my business. Are you okay, Mama?” I asked. I heard the ringing of my phone again as she now requested to FaceTime.
“I’m fine. Are you okay? Have you lost your mind? Answer the damn phone. I don’t care that you’re grown.” I was so busy listening to her that I didn’t realize he had grabbed my hand and put it back on his neck for me to keep rubbing.
I laughed and answered her FaceTime, positioning my phone in front of my face. “Yes, Mama?”
It was comical how she was looking into the phone like I was gonna move the camera for her to see more of the room. “Where are you, Karim?”
“I’m out, Mama. Can we put a pin in this con—”
“Hey, Mama,” Reminisce’s stupid ass called out, turning his head up to look at me.
What had me shaking my head was the smile that found its way onto her face. “?Es que mi hijo, Reminisce?” Is that my son, Reminisce?
“él no es tu hijo. ?Mamá, cuál es el problema?” He is not your son.
Mama, what is the problem? She was already calling him son after having breakfast with him one time.
I swore she always jumped the gun. I felt his eyes on me before I could finish speaking.
When I glanced down, he was looking up at me.
His lips looked so good I wanted to lean down and kiss them, but of course I was on the phone with my mother.
My mother laughed. “Hello, son. Did Karim tell you I wanted you to come by for dinner soon?”
He reached up and grabbed my phone, aiming the screen and front camera at himself instead of me. I let him, resting back against the couch with my eyes closed. I was kind of tired because that fitness class I had taken earlier with Kay kicked my ass.
“Nah, she didn’t.”
“Figures. Well, I want you to come by for dinner.”
“I can do that, just let me know when and what time, Ma.”
There she was giggling again. She was on that giddy shit, like he’d said something funny, when he hadn’t in fact. Shit, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was crushing on him. I didn’t like that at all. I mean I saw it, believe me I did, but nah.
When he finally finished talking to her, he handed my phone back and turned his face into my body.
“Don’t be trying to hog him, Karim. I want to see him at my dinner table soon and I mean it.”
“Aight, Mama, I love you and I’ll probably see you tomorrow.” She laughed and told me she loved me as well before hanging up. A quick silence filled the room then he spoke.
“To answer your question earlier, nah, I don’t want you to beat her ass.”
I laughed. “I hear you, but I still might.”
“Itell you, when a woman gets a man, she forgets who was there when she didn’t have one.” Kaydence’s voice had me smiling as I sipped from the coffee mug in my hand. I had her in my AirPods while I sat on the counter waiting for the breakfast I ordered.
“You’re sick, okay? And please don’t let my brother hear you say that. He’ll be all in my shit.”
“Too late. Your mama called and told all your business. I didn’t know you were into the ones with tattoos on their faces.” She was, of course, poking fun because her husband had a big ass tattoo on the side of his face.
“Damn for real? She was quick with it.”
“Very. Now tell me why you didn’t tell me about this yesterday. Is this the guy you loosely told me and Krisis about?”
I couldn’t fight my smile. “Yes.”
“And you’re at his house?”
I nodded crazily like she could see me. “Yes.”
“Girllll, you got a mannn,” she sang into my ear and I busted up laughing.
“Shut up.”
“I will not. Plus, I like this. I’m so excited for you and can’t wait to meet him. Because you’ve kept him away from everybody.”
“Except my mama. We literally woke up to her making breakfast, now she’s calling him her son.”
Kay laughed hard as hell. “Sounds like her.”
“What the fuck you in here laughing at and why yeen wake me up?” Reminisce’s voice made me jump, then I felt his hard body behind mine.
“My own business, why are you up?”