Chapter Seven #3
Bloom batted her eyelashes but then widened her eyes after getting a better look. Both Bloom and Yaya knew what a younger Nazir looked like from the pictures I showed them. Not much about his appearance had changed, except that he became finer with age and had a few gray hairs.
She cleared her throat and grabbed her tote that was on the counter.
“Um, hey Jonah,” she quickly greeted, then made herself scarce, but not before giving me a confused look once she was behind Nazir.
A Spanish man with a bald head and tattoos covering his muscular arms entered the kitchen. He had a scowl that could send even the meanest man cowering. He nodded to Nazir, then approached the counter and extended one of his tattooed hands.
“Hi, I’m Emilio. I’ll be head of security for you and your daughter. Jonah has given me the rundown, and I can assure you that you and your seed are safe with me.”
My seed? Using that lingo, I could tell this was a man who grew up in the hood, and if I had to put any bets on my safety, it would be with him. The gun tucked in the back of his waistband told me everything I needed to know.
Just then, Bloom peeked her head back into the kitchen. “I can take Zira to school in the morning if she’s going back.”
Emilio looked at Bloom, and I could’ve sworn I saw his cheeks turn red from blushing. His eyes were locked on her, then he glanced over at Nazir, who nodded in response. They both understood what it meant because Emilio left the kitchen and headed down the hall without saying another word.
“She can return to school,” Jonah replied before I could even gather my thoughts.
When it came to Nazira, Jonah didn’t play. I prayed for the day she decided to start dating and for whoever the young man would be, because I knew her godfather would give him hell.
Bloom nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll take her.”
“Security will accompany you two,” he said, never looking up from his phone. “I’m heading out. I’ll walk you out, Nazir.”
Nazir walked past me, his scent wafting through the air and overwhelming my senses.
“It was nice seeing you, Mrs. Sterling.”
I could tell from his tone that he didn’t take my new last name seriously. When we were together, I was Ms. Rich, and had he never abandoned me, I would have been Mrs. Kane. Who knows where our lives would’ve gone together? One thing was certain: we would have been parents.
Jonah looked at both me and Nazir and laughed.
“Was shit really that fucked up to be on a last name basis?”
When neither of us responded, he shrugged his shoulders and left the kitchen with Nazir following behind him.
As soon as they were gone, I took a deep breath and leaned on the counter.
Bloom spun around the corner and nearly hopped onto the kitchen island to hear what I had to say.
We waited a moment, listening to the chime of the front door, before exchanging a “Girl, what the hell” look.
“We cannot wait for Yaya to dig into whatever just happened.”
She was leaning halfway across the island, her eyes trained on me. She followed every move I made.
The drink I had downstairs didn’t have any effect, so I grabbed a bottle of wine from the wine fridge and popped it open. Taking two glasses, I poured nearly the entire bottle into my cup and handed Bloom what was left.
“Years have passed, and I moved on, never thinking I would see him again. I’ve spent years trying to forget him, and now…now he appears.”
I was speaking to both Bloom and myself. These were the thoughts that filled my head when I saw him sitting downstairs. Bloom sipped her wine, giving me the chance to ramble a bunch of words that eventually stopped making sense. When I was done, she slid my full glass of wine toward me.
“Take a sip and breathe for crying out loud.”
I grabbed the glass, leaned on the counter, and slowly sipped the merlot that wasn’t doing anything to calm my racing heart.
“I never expected to see him again. I had gotten used to the idea of never seeing him ever again. I even started thanking God that I wouldn’t have to have that conversation with him.”
“Who says you have to?
I looked at Bloom like she was drinking something stronger than aged merlot.
“I can’t have this man around here, knowing we share a daughter, and not tell him. He already asked about her birthmark.”
“What about her birthmark?”
“Apparently, his mother has the same birthmark.”
Bloom leaned back in the chair as she sipped her wine. “So, his mother has the same birthmark. Why didn’t you mention that before?” she questioned.
I remained leaning on the counter while staring at her.
At times, I cut her slack because she was often out of the loop.
While Yaya and I were known for popping a bottle of wine and cuddling up on the couch for deep conversations that always ended with us crying in each other’s arms, Bloom was the complete opposite.
She wasn’t emotional like us, and whenever we had a girls’ night, she was almost always somewhere doing something else.
When she did join us, her advice was always fuck everything and everybody.
Sometimes her advice was solid, but not always––and especially when it came to her understanding how I felt about losing Karim.
She assumed, because he had been gone for some time, that I would move on with my life and not grieve so much.
As much as I looked like I was carrying everything well––and for the most part I was––there were times when I wasn’t.
That’s when I needed someone to tell me it was all right.
My mother wasn’t that person because she was off living her own life, and I would never hold that against her.
For years, she sacrificed her happiness for her family––always showing up and being the rock because my father never cared to.
Now it was her turn to be free and in love with someone who actually showed her love in return.
I wanted nothing but the best for my mother, and that meant not giving up more of her life to move in with me because my husband died––although she tried.
“Girl, you just spaced.” Bloom waved her hands in my face, and I looked over at her.
“Sorry. What were we talking about?”
She set down her wine glass. “Birthmark and your ex-boyfriend from college being in your home.”
I sighed. “I never met Nazir’s family. He was always closed off about that side of his life, and I respected that. I never brought him around mine either.”
“So, you both treated each other like side people? Tati, the man could’ve been married for all you knew.”
“He wasn’t married. Nazir wouldn’t lie and betray me like that… I don’t think.” I lifted my glass and took a slow sip.
The Tatiana I was in college wanted to believe he would never do something like that to me. That whatever made him leave, he did it because he had to––not just to hurt me.
“Girl, he could’ve had a wife, a child on the way, and been the mayor of Bloomville.”
“Bloomville?”
“Not important,” she replied with a wave of her hand. “My point is, he’s not the same man you fell for when you were in college. So much life has happened since then. Neither of you are the same people.”
“He saw her, Bloom. He’s going to put the pieces together.”
“And you’re gonna have to be honest with him.” She paused for a moment. “Actually, he abandoned you with a child, so you don’t owe the nigga nothing.”
I snorted. “He had no clue I was pregnant when he left.”
She folded her arms across her chest as if she wasn’t convinced. “Yeah, well, he damn sure ain’t checked in on you since he left you butt naked and full of cum.”
“Bloom!” I threw the wine cork at her, laughing.
She ducked and started laughing, too.
“He works for the security firm,” I said once I caught my breath. “So luckily, I don’t have to deal with him. Jonah will more than likely handle everything security-related.”
“Jonah wants to handle everything, hmm?”
I chuckled. “Well, your sister has set clear boundaries and doesn’t want anything to do with him.”
“Yalina has always been stupid when it comes to what’s good for her. What does she think is gonna happen when Sav comes home? They’re gonna braid each other’s pussy hair and live happily ever after?”
I choked on my wine, bending over the counter as I coughed.
“Bloom! Why would you say that?”
Bloom tucked her feet under her and shrugged. “Sav isn’t in love with Yalina. She likes the control and bragging rights. Do you know how many niggas want Yalina? Sav knows that. That’s why she keeps her claws in her.”
It was rare for me to agree with Bloom, but she wasn’t wrong.
Sav was in love with the control and status she got from being with Yaya.
Yaya was loyal, and if she gave you her word, you could take it to the bank.
That’s just who she was––and Sav knew it.
But there were many nights when she cried to me about being tired and not being in love with Sav. Still, she stayed.
Bloom’s phone rang, and she glanced at it before hopping down from the stool. “We’re good here?”
I saw my own phone ringing and recognized the family’s lawyer’s number. I ignored the call. I had enough going on and didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with anything else at the moment.
“Yeah,” I replied, continuing to slowly sip my wine as my mind drifted to the ghost from my past, someone I never expected to see again.