Chapter 24 #2
I didn’t know why Orion felt the need to bother me, but I wasn’t in the fucking mood.
“What the fuck did you even come here for? Matter fact, the next time you feel the need to drop by… don’t. You can shoot me a text, and then I will let you know if she is available for a visit.”
He set Oriana on the carpet, which pissed me off because he didn’t even wipe her hands or mouth first.
“Can you wipe her hands before she starts touching stuff?”
I snatched a baby wipe out of the case on the counter and rushed to the hands that she was surely about to place on the wall.
“It’s already a fucking mess in here. And I came over here to see if she could come with me somewhere. My whole family is going to be there, and my aunts, uncles, and brother have been asking for her.”
“When are you trying to take her?” I asked as I wiped her hands.
Again, I never wanted to be the kind of female who kept my child out of her father’s or his side of the family's lives.
“This Friday.”
“That’s in two days,” I huffed.
“I’m going to get her something to wear because I want her to match me anyway for what we’re doing. I know ya ass ain’t got it to get an outfit. That’s probably why I’m on child support right now.”
I rolled my eyes at his light jab.
“That’s fine… she can go,” I said, totally ignoring his ass.
He smiled as if my saying no would ruin his day.
“Okay, bet. I’ll be back on Friday morning for her. Oh… I’ll make sure to text before I come if that’ll make you feel better.”
He said the end of his statement sarcastically.
He walked over to the door, and when he stood in the doorway of the kitchen, we just stared at each other for a bit.
I nodded to the door so he could get the fuck going.
He just smiled, showing off his pearly whites before walking out my door.
I rushed to go and lock it, and when I did, Oriana started wailing.
I just sighed, knowing I would have to calm her down before I could get back to unpacking.
I didn’t have any plans for the day, but Kassidy being over last night put into perspective that I really needed to get back to tending to my house.
I had to get all this shit unpacked and put in place.
I didn’t even know why I hadn’t done it already.
Maybe a small piece of me, the weak piece, thought I wouldn’t be staying here for long.
Somewhere deep down inside, I figured that Orion would come back for us.
I sighed before glancing over at the corner of boxes and bags that I was determined to go through.
I moved sluggishly around the house and was thankful that I had another day off.
After unpacking the rest of my things, I had spent the night prior on the phone with Kassidy.
We spoke until I fell asleep on the phone, and when I woke up at 2:00 a.m. to use the bathroom, I heard him snoring on the line.
I smiled before hanging up and then putting my phone on the charger.
He had asked multiple times if I was off work today, and I felt like I had answered the question a thousand times.
When there was banging on my front door, I just knew that it had better not be Orion.
I walked lightly to the front door, looked out the peephole, and saw a white man standing on the other side of the door, dressed in a Stanley Steemer uniform shirt. I pulled my robe closed across my body before cracking the door open.
“Yes?” I said lowly.
“Ms. Carmichael?”
“Yes?” I said, lower than the first time.
“We are here to install new carpet all through your apartment.”
I swung the door open wider and just stared at the man in disbelief.
“You must have the wrong apartment. I didn’t place this order, and I don’t have the money for this.”
“No, no,” he quickly cut me off, “Mr. Crawford set this up, and it’s already paid for. He even paid a little extra for us to move the furniture around for you so it’s not in our way.”
I smiled at the news I had just gotten.
“Wow.” I covered my mouth in shock and stepped aside to let the four workers in. “About how long will this take?”
The man looked around. “It’s just this living space, the hallway, and then a bedroom, right?”
“Yup, that’s all.”
He squinted like he was thinking.
“With us four, give or take about four to five hours.”
I figured that I could take Oriana somewhere during that time to get us out of the house.
“Is that okay?” he asked while I stood there like a deer in headlights, thinking.
“Yup. I have to get me and my daughter dressed, and then I will be out of y’all’s way.”
“That works.”
I went into my bedroom to give Kassidy a call to thank him.
But he didn’t answer, so I decided to get Oriana, and I dressed for the day.
I didn’t know where we were going, but there was so much free stuff to do in the city that I was sure I could find something for us.
I decided to check my bank account to see if I had a bit of wiggle room, just in case I had to spend some money.
When my account loaded, my eyes shot open.
There were nine hundred and twenty dollars there that I did not put.
When I saw that it was from a deposit labeled NY CHILD SUPPORT, I almost jumped up and down in place.
I hadn’t heard from my case worker or anything.
I hadn’t checked my mail in a while either.
I felt a sense of relief knowing I had this money, and my check hadn’t even hit my account yet either.
“Baby girl, Mommy can breathe a little.”
She had no idea what I was saying, but she was smiling anyway.
I rushed to get us ready so we could go get some cleaning supplies for the house.
With the new carpet being installed, I wanted to slowly but surely bring my place back to life.
After hauling her stroller down the stairs, I had to take a little break on the ground level.
Once I got my breath together, I was eager to get outside and head to the Target that wasn’t too far from the house.
When I started to push her down the ramp, a horn honking got my attention. I looked toward the street and saw Kassidy’s car double-parked. He had stepped out of the car, and I looked up at his stature as he walked in my direction with a bouquet of pretty pink roses in his hand.
“Kassidyyyy,” I squealed.
“Caylaaa,” he squealed back playfully.
He walked up to the curb and then handed me the flowers.
“Little mamas,” he greeted with a smile when Oriana looked up at him.
“This is too much,” I admitted as I nuzzled my nose into the bouquet.
Between the new carpet being installed and the popping up on me with flowers, I didn’t know what to say. Of course, the first thing out of my mouth should have been thank you, but I was still smiling widely over everything.
“It’s not. It’s just the right amount of pressure.”
I smiled and then looked him deep in his brown eyes. He didn’t seem to have a problem with eye contact. Whenever I looked him in those eyes, he matched my glare.
“Where were you heading?”
“Target to get some cleaning supplies. I wanna clean the house up really good, you know, with the new carpet and all. Thank you for that, by the way.”
“You’re welcome. The Target around the corner?” he asked as he looked back at his double-parked car.
“Yup.”
He looked up the block and saw that a car was pulling out of a spot.
“Okay, let me come with y’all. I need to grab that spot real quick.”
After rushing back to his car, he backed down the block to get the empty spot.
Not wanting him to have to walk back this way, I walked in his direction with my new pretty flowers placed on the top of the shade over Oriana’s stroller.
He met us at the corner, and then together we walked to Target.
I picked up some things to clean the house with, along with some smell goods.
It felt good getting back to my roots. One thing I always kept was a clean space, and with the lack of funds lately, I had to get what was necessary.
When we got to the register, Kassidy paid, and that was another thing I had to thank him for.
I actually had the money for the items, but it was refreshing for someone to take the heavy load I had been carrying lately.
We made it all the way back to my place and saw that the men were still working.
The gray plush carpet looked like it would feel so good between my toes.
With a toddler, I had to be mindful of this color.
I had gotten all the right products to make sure that any stain she could possibly get on it would come out.
On top of everything I had put in the cart, Kassidy had added a carpet steamer cleaner as well.
“Since they aren’t done, do y’all want to go to the movies?”
I had never taken Oriana to the movies before, and I honestly didn’t know how she would do, but I would never know how she was if I never tried.
“I don’t know if she’s gonna sit that long,” I admitted.
“Well, it’s a good thing we are going to see something that caters to her.”
I loved how he seemed to put her first. I was so leery about opening up to him, but he made it damn hard.
Quickly, I remembered that at the beginning of Orion and me, I had felt this comfortable.
I felt vulnerable, and look at where that left me.
I could feel the PTSD building in my body, and everything in me wanted to decline the movie date because of it.
But under the nagging feeling of repeating history was a voice telling me to try something new.
I went to the kitchen and put my roses into the vase that I had unpacked earlier that day.
Once I snipped the ends and put them in some water, I looked at the door.
“Okay, let’s go.”
A smile appeared on his face. He genuinely seemed interested in me and my daughter, and I had to give that a try, right?