Chapter 11
Chapter
Eleven
Reminisce
I woke up this morning and wanted to see my child.
FaceTimes weren’t shit when I was used to seeing her standing a few feet from me.
She had been away from me for days and that bothered me because I had literally gone from not needing to see a soul every single day to needing to see certain people every single fucking day.
My child and my woman were at the top of that fucking list, no matter the moment or time of day.
It was funny because with my child I understood my attachment immediately, but with Karim I questioned at first. After all that I had been through, hell yeah I was skeptical, but in the shortest amount of time she became what I knew I needed but feared opening up to after all that Pynk mess.
After dealing with a human like Pynk, it was easy to cut shit like love off.
The last thing I felt like doing was getting hurt again. Karim wasn’t Pynk though.
“Why are you up?” Her lips found my chest, then she lifted her head and our eyes connected.
“Thinking.”
“Good or bad things?” She laid her head back on my chest. Knowing Karim, she was listening to my heart. One night she told me it was soothing, so anytime she laid her head on my chest, I assumed she was doing that.
“Neither, just random things about life.”
“Oh, okay.” She moved her head a little more before I felt her drifting back asleep.
“Do I make you happy, Rim?”
“Yes, you do. You make me feel like life would be impossible without you. You got me in the afterlife, Reminisce, as long as you don’t make me shoot you before.”
When I didn’t respond, she raised her head, chin nearly digging into my chest. “What, you don’t have a response for that?”
“’Cause it ain’t. What’s understood don’t need to be explained.
She couldn’t hide the smile that surfaced, not even if she tried. “So what? We’re up at four in the morning professing toxic life afters?”
“Nah baby, not at all. I just don’t want you acting confused when I ask you to prove it.”
That statement really threw her. She sat up immediately, looking at me. Too bad she was showing too much fucking skin. The sight of her loose supple breasts and perfect flesh sent my mind into other spaces.
“And that means?” she asked, rocking my favorite expression. The one that let me know she didn’t know what was next.
“It means stay on your toes, baby.”
“Reminisce.”
“You’re saying my name like that don’t do shit but get my dick hard. Now get some rest; we’ve got an early morning ahead of us.”
That pissed her off quickly. Not a second after I closed my eyes, she sucked her teeth. She’d be aight. Mad ass.
Neither of us rose from the bed until like nine, and for Rim, even that was too early.
I didn’t care how much shit she gave me.
I’d planned to be up earlier, but the night of endless thinking took a toll when I finally closed my eyes.
Rim assumed we were headed to get my baby, but I had a stop before that, one that had been on my mind since she told me I had her forever.
“Why are we going downtown, Reminisce?”
“To take care of something. What are you over there mugged up for?”
“Because I could’ve just sworn I told you I was hungry before we left and now you’re talking about going to handle something.”
“We’ll eat after.”
She sighed dramatically, then turned to look out of the window. “What the hell is wrong with you this morning? You’ve been in your head, now you’re starving me with secret, impending plans.”
I smirked, deciding not to answer.
For the remainder of the ride, she said nothing, sure to let me know she was hangry. So when I pulled into a park right in front of the courthouse, she turned and looked at me, expression sexy and unforgiving. “Reminisce. Why are we at City Hall?”
I cut the car off and finally gave her my undivided attention. She liked to be in control, knowing everything, but at this moment those eyes of hers held nothing but confusion.
“You said I have you in the afterlife, right?”
More confusion poured from her expression. “Meaning?”
“Meaning I’m not some fairytale ass nigga.”
She bit into her bottom lip, eyes going from City Hall to me. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack. I’m asking you to prove it.”
She sucked her bottom lip before unlatching her seatbelt. “Okay. Just know there is no turning back and there damn sure isn’t a rewind button.”
“I’m not looking for one.”
She grinned. “Good. Let’s do this.”
I didn’t ask her if she was sure or anything.
I hopped out of the car like time was of the essence and approached her side.
Once I had her door open, I extended my hand for her to take and she gladly took it.
That shit right there was all I needed before we walked into this old ass building I bet smelled like mothballs and dust. It didn’t matter though.
This was happening, no matter how impulsive it may have seemed.
About a half an hour later we exited the courthouse with a marriage license.
Illinois had a mandatory twenty-four hour hold, which meant we’d be making it official in the morning.
I could tell Rim wanted to reach over the counter and lay hands on the dry ass clerk who nastily told us we had to come back in the morning.
“Can’t believe we just did that,” she murmured once we were in the car again.
“What, you regretting it? You’ve got about twenty-three hours to change your mind.”
“When it comes to you, I don’t regret anything. I just hate that we didn’t get our shit together sooner. That we played cat mouse for so long before seeing what could happen.” Her hand found the side of my face as her thumb rubbed across where her name was tattooed on my temple.
“I don’t. Neither of us were ready then. Shit would’ve been fucked up before we started. There is a timing for everything, this is within our timing.” I cut my eyes between her and the road. “Now what you wanna eat? Since you were so fucking hungry earlier.”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Get me anything. Are we still going to get Ro?”
“Hell yeah, especially since Rennix’s bitch ass is acting like she ain’t my daughter.”
Rim laughed. “He knows she’s your daughter, Reminisce. She’s just adorable and the only girl in a family full of men. Didn’t you say all of your siblings have sons?”
“Yeah, at this point everybody has sons, except me and Indiri.” I smirked at the thought. The big homie had jokes ’cause of course he gave me a daughter. “Indiri doesn’t have kids though. Young nigga probably won’t have any either.”
She nodded. “Did you guys ever tell him?”
I shook my head. “Nope. Every time we agree on a date or time, plans change. Keeping it a buck, it seems like nobody wants to fuck up his mental space with this. Then the question is if it’s even something to tell him at this point.”
She nodded. “Would you want to know?”
“Hell yeah, but he ain’t me, G or Rennix. He’s Indiri. How do I know telling him this won’t fuck him up in the long run or something?”
“You don’t. I guess you just make the decision to tell him or you don’t. What does your gut tell you to do?”
I shrugged. “Shit, I don’t know, baby.”
“You do, but you don’t want to make the wrong decision. Move with discernment. I’m sure the right answer will come to you.”
I nodded, not offering a verbal response, but instead accepting her words. The rest of the drive we both spent time in our own heads. A few minutes longer into the car ride and Karim’s phone was ringing. It was her mother.
I didn’t know what the hell they were talking about because two minutes into the phone call Karim’s mama went Spanish despite Karim initially reminding her to speak English.
On the way to Rennix’s, I stopped and grabbed her a burger and fries while she talked.
Right when I was on the road headed toward Rennix’s, Jason called and asked if I’d stop by the house.
That was cool, because I had been meaning to do so, but time was getting away from me.
When we pulled up in front of the house about ten minutes later and I felt Rim’s eyes.
“What are we doing here?” she mouthed, her mother still speaking in her ear.
“Jason asked me to stop by. You can stay in the car if you nee—”
She began speaking English while looking at me. “Yes, Mama, I’m with Reminisce. Yes, I’ll tell him, and yes, we’ll come by next week instead of this one.”
A few seconds later she was telling her mother to feel better and that she loved her. Then she slid the phone into her pocket. “My mother pushed dinner to next week. She isn’t feeling too good.”
I glanced over at her. “She good right, though?”
“Yeah, she probably caught one of the kids’ colds. I’m gonna check in on her tomorrow.”
I nodded, my eyes on her briefly before I looked up at the house. This motherfucker was massive and I was just now seeing that after years of owning it.
“It’s really a nice house. Especially in the light.” She cut her eyes between the house and me. “I wonder how much space I’ll have in here.”
I chuckled. “As much as you want, now are you ’boutta eat or come in?”
“Both.”
“No. I’m about to see the new additions to what I presume is our house.”
I grinned, then got out of the car, moving to the other side to open the door for her. When she stepped out of the car, she was holding her burger in one hand and drink in the other. She then extended the burger for me to take a bite.
“You haven’t eaten today and you didn’t get yourself anything.
Didn’t you tell me your migraines were contingent upon stuff like that?
” Concern was etched in her beautiful eyes.
It was moments like this that let me know that no matter how impulsive what we did this morning seemed, it wasn’t that at all. It was just meant.
“For a nigga who ain’t done us the honor of dying yet, you’re a hard motherfucker to get in touch with.” I glared at Ross’s back as I walked into his favorite watering hole.
He laughed. “Good to see you too, son. You here to buy me a drink?”