39
“ T hey’re growing so good!” Yasmine exclaimed, skipping to the flower garden.
“I told you I’d have someone come and take good care of them while your dad and I were gone.”
They’d been back for two weeks, and she and Meila had been catching up on work. Their office had been closed, giving Finx the week off, and they’d all been getting it together. This was the first time she’d had free time for Yasmine to come over and look at her little garden. Her mom had been kind enough to stop by twice the week she was away and water the small area for her.
“I’m glad I got to come over today. Daddy said you were really busy because you have to work, and I had to be patient, but sometimes being patient is hard. I hadn’t seen you in forever, and I missed you.”
Aiva smiled at her. “I missed you too.”
“You did?” Yasmine asked, studying her quizzically. It wasn’t the first time Aiva thought the little girl was far too observant for her age.
“Of course I did.”
Yasmine gave her a big smile before going to hug her. Aiva squatted down to hug her properly. She had missed seeing Yasmine and had been a bit bummed she hadn’t been able to see her in person when Knox gave her the souvenir she’d brought back for her.
“I wish Daddy would hurry. I’m hungry,” Yasmine stated when they pulled apart, and Aiva laughed, refraining from telling her she’d still be waiting even if she’d gone with him.
She’d been so excited to see the garden that Knox dropped her off on the way to pick up their food since he had to pass her house to get it. They would have lunch together, do some crafts, watch a movie, and have dinner. She’d only seen Knox in person twice, briefly, since they’d returned. He had stopped by her office with flowers and sweets.
“Tell you what. Why don’t we put your hair up while we wait on him so we don’t have to do it later?”
“Okay!”
Yasmine took her hand and allowed her to lead them back into the house. They made a pit stop in her hall bathroom, where she kept the hair products she used on Kaley and Tara’s hair and grabbed the basket they were in. She’d done Yasmine’s hair a few times, mostly when they were on vacation because the little girl had quickly learned she could do styles her dad couldn’t. Not to say that he didn’t always have her looking adorable, but his skills were limited to ponytails, buns, space buns, or leaving it down in its naturally curly state.
Yasmine took two pillows off the couch and put them on the floor to sit on between Aiva’s legs.
“How do you want it done?”
“Can I have French braids, please?”
“Sure, sweetie.”
Aiva had parted her hair and was working on the first braid when Yasmine excitedly broke the momentary silence.
“Oh! Guess what, Ms. Aiva?”
“What?” Aiva questioned, matching her excitement.
“In first grade, we have breakout classes, and one of them is Spanish. I’m so excited to learn.”
“That’s awesome, Yas. That means you can teach me what you learn.” Aiva knew enough Spanish to hold an introductory conversation and wasn’t sure if they’d teach Yasmine beyond that, but she was willing to let the little girl teach her.
“I can be your teacher!”
“You sure can,” Aiva responded with a laugh, but she was confused. She’d assumed that Yasmine knew at least some Spanish words. Her mother was Cuban, but Aiva supposed that meant nothing. There were many people who didn’t speak their mother tongue. Mia could have been one of them. Aiva finished the braid, placing a rubber band at the end before moving to the next one.
“Ms. Aiva, since you called me Yas, is it okay if I just call you Aiva? Because Ms. and Mr. are for teachers or when people aren’t friends. And we are friends, right?”
Aiva smiled to herself. “Of course we are. You can call me Aiva.”
Yasmine nodded a little, then straightened up to continue her braid. She was finishing it up when there was a knock on her door before it opened, and Knox walked in with a bag of Japanese food.
“You’re finally back. I was starving, Daddy,” Yasmine stated while Aiva put the rubber band on her braid.
Knox chuckled. “Well, then, we should get some food in you.
“Can we eat outside?”
“We can,” Aiva responded. “Let’s wash our hands, and we can go out there.”
“Okay. I’ll put this away,” Yasmine volunteered, taking the basket of hair supplies and skipping down the hall.
“She is a ball of energy today,” Aiva said with a fond smile as she stood.
Knox kissed her as she passed him to enter the kitchen. “I think she missed you. It’s been almost a month since she’s seen you, and I think she’s gotten used to seeing you more often.”
“Same,” Aiva replied as she washed her hands. “I missed seeing her cute little face.”
“I’m wounded to know you didn’t miss me, baby,” Knox joked.
Aiva shook her head playfully at him, drying her hands. “You know I did. I just missed her more,” she teased back.
She took out drinks and grabbed paper towels while Knox washed his hands. She bypassed plates since they could eat out of the containers. They found Yasmine on the patio waiting for them, and they set the food out. Aiva gave her the kid’s ramen container, which was still hot.
“Do you want a fork or chopsticks?” Knox asked.
“Fork,” Yasmine responded.
“Be sure to blow it,” he told her, handing her the fork.
Aiva and Knox opened the other containers and put them in the middle. They’d gotten tamagoyaki, sushi, yakitori, and soba noodles.
“Do you want some sushi, Yas?” Aiva asked, picking up a crab roll.
“Yes, please,” she responded, opening her mouth. Aiva fed her the roll, her little cheek puffing full as she chewed.
They continued eating. Yasmine threw out movie suggestions, and Aiva got her to try small bites of different sushi rolls. She knew she liked crab rolls because she’d seen her eat them before. They discovered she liked a couple of others, but was not a salmon roll fan. She tried a few bites of soba, but she didn’t like them as much as her ramen. The tamagoyaki and yakitori were big hits with her.
“What’s that?” Yasmine asked when Aiva picked up some sushi. “You didn’t let me try that one.”
“I don’t think you’ll like it, sweetie,” Aiva stated. She was positive she wouldn’t.
“Why, what is it?”
“Eel.”
“Like the long fish?” she asked, puzzled. Aiva nodded. “What does it taste like?”
She tried to think of the best way to describe it, but wasn’t sure what she was coming up with would convey the taste to a five-year-old.
“Mushrooms,” Knox supplied, and Yasmine pulled a face.
“Ew! No, thank you.”
Aiva laughed, popping it into her mouth. It did not taste like mushrooms, but since Yasmine didn’t like them, it was the best way to convey the message.
They’d finished eating, and Yasmine seemed content to sit there and play with the extra chopsticks before they started crafts.
“I’m having a carnival for my birthday,” she said, eyes still on the sticks she was walking across the table.
“That sounds like fun,” Aiva responded because she knew she was speaking to her, not Knox. “Are you excited?”
“Yes. We’re going to have games, prizes, food booths, and face painting. I’m inviting all my classmates from last year, the kids I play with when I go to my grandparents, and Kaley. We can get matching face paintings, and Daddy can win us prizes like he did at Disney.”
Aiva smiled at her before her eyes turned to Knox. It felt like his energy changed, and she saw the tiniest clenching of his jaw before it was gone.
“Yas, sweetie, do you remember where the bubbles are?” The little girl nodded. “Why don’t you grab them? We can blow some bubbles before we start our crafts,” Aiva told her.
“Okay. I’ll be right back.”
“What’s wrong?” Aiva asked as soon as Yasmine walked into the house.
He sighed. “Mia has stated that she won’t come to Yasmine’s birthday party if you’re there.”
“I see. Then, I won’t go.”
“Aiva,” Knox protested.
“It’s her birthday. She should have both of her parents there. I’m fine with us doing something with her another time to celebrate.”
“You know she’s going to be heartbroken.”
“The same way she’ll be if Mia doesn’t show up,” Aiva responded, and she frowned because either way, Yasmine was going to be upset, and she knew lying to Mia and telling her she wouldn’t be there and seeing her when she showed up, would likely cause a scene. Aiva didn’t want to risk it. She’d be the bigger person to keep Yasmine from having her birthday ruined.
K nox looked over at Aiva and Yasmine. After dinner, they’d watched another movie. They were barely thirty minutes in, and Yasmine was asleep in his girlfriend’s lap. He knew as soon as she’d turned and laid her head on Aiva’s chest; she was about to be out. He glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost nine-thirty.
“You can stay if you want,” Aiva volunteered. “She’s already asleep.”
“Yeah, we’ll do that.”
“I’ll put her in bed.”
“I’ll help you,” he responded.
He followed her down the hall to one of her guest bedrooms. When he opened the door, the room was dimly lit by two nightlights on either side of the bed.
“Do you think she’ll be comfortable?” Aiva asked, laying her on the bed after he pulled the comforter back. “We could put her in the pajama’s I bought her and Kaley for their sleepover.”
“I think she’ll be fine.”
She often played in the set she had on, and he didn’t see her being uncomfortable in it. She’d lost her shoes long ago when they came inside after some crafts. Aiva turned on a dome on the dresser, and outer space moved across the ceiling. She stopped to turn on the nightlight plugged up in the hall before they returned to the living room. They chose a different movie, and as they watched it, he zoned out.
He’d been trying not to think about Mia’s unreasonable request since she’d made it, but hearing Yasmine be so excited to get her face painted with Aiva and for him to win them prizes brought it to the forefront. Knox didn’t know why he thought she would be an adult and put any animosity and hostility aside for the sake of their daughter having a good birthday, but he had. He’d given her too much credit.
Knox knew Mia’s grievance with Aiva wasn’t because he’d brought another woman around their daughter; it was because they weren’t together. Which was idiotic to Knox because she hadn’t wanted to work on their marriage when he tried, and she hadn’t wanted him after that until someone else did.
He also assumed it had something to do with Aiva putting her in her place. Twice. Mia was used to her slick mouth being enough to make other people walk away from her, which made her feel like she’d won the altercation. Aiva had not done that and instead left Mia speechless. Something that didn’t happen often. Knox couldn’t be positive, but he got the feeling Aiva intimidated her, and Mia didn’t like it.
He had a mind to say fuck it and have Aiva come anyway. It wasn’t like Mia was paying for it, which meant she didn’t have a right to dictate who could and couldn’t come. Knox knew her parents were coming to the party, and maybe she didn’t want them to see him with someone else, but that wasn’t his problem.
Aiva was right; they could celebrate with Yasmine another time, but he didn’t want them to have to. He didn’t want his daughter to be disappointed on her birthday because her mother couldn’t be an adult and play nice for a few damn hours. He’d been the bigger person when he told her about the party and invited her to it because, like Aiva, he wanted Yasmine to have her parents there for her birthday. In reality, he didn’t have to include Mia. He could have told her she’d have to celebrate some other time with Yasmine, but he wasn’t spiteful. He’d leave that to her.
Having two parties was an option, but by doing that, he would be accommodating Mia, and he didn’t want to do that because if he started now, he’d have to do it for the rest of his life. That was out of the question.
The way he saw it, Mia needed to suck it up and get over it. Aiva wasn’t going anywhere. Not if Knox had his way. They’d been dating for six months, and he didn’t remember feeling this way with Mia. At least not for a long time. Arguably, it could be said that they were still in the honeymoon phase of their relationship, but he honestly didn’t see that changing. It could be three years down the road, and he would bet he’d still feel the same way.
He was sure his relationship with Mia was always going to fail because what he’d wanted at the ripe age of twenty-three, had shifted throughout their relationship and changed completely when Yasmine was born. His priorities changed, and it was no longer about going out every night when he wasn’t practicing or didn’t have a game; it had become about spending time with his wife and daughter. The problem was that Mia’s priorities hadn’t aligned with his. Hers had remained the same, and instead of growing together, they grew apart.
They hadn’t explicitly spoken about it, but he and Aiva wanted the same thing. He could tell from how they talked about certain things, her interactions with Yasmine, and how she communicated with him. They weren’t dating each other for the hell of it or to kill time.
Knox was pulled from his thoughts as she cupped his face, turned his head, and kissed him. Aiva leaned back to look at him.
“There you are,” she stated. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I zoned out for a minute. Let’s finish the movie.”
“The movie’s been over for a few minutes.”
Knox turned his attention to the screen and found that not only had the movie gone off, she’d turned the television off without him noticing. He glanced at his watch, a subconscious act to ensure time had passed.
“You want to talk about it?” she asked.
“I prefer to speak as little about Mia as possible when we’re together.”
“I don’t mind if you want to. If I did mind, it would mean she threatened me, and that’s far from the truth. I know where we stand, and I know she’s not changing that. I don’t mind being your sounding board because we don’t need to be together if you can’t talk to me about anything and everything.”
He was grabbing her chin before he could stop himself. “Do me a favor and don’t say that again.”
“I didn’t intend it, the way it sounded. I’m just saying you can talk to me about it. At no point am I going to get frustrated with you because I don’t think you’d do that with me if the situation were reversed.”
He took her hands in his. “I’m pissed that she’s trying to dictate the moments you get to spend with Yas and me. That isn’t her place. It isn’t her call. She wants to make me miserable at every turn, and she’s willing to hurt our daughter to do it, which infuriates me.” Knox took a deep breath. “Maybe I could see her not wanting you there if I was one of those fathers who introduced multiple different women in a year to Yas or if I knew the person I was dating didn’t care for Yas, but we aren’t in that situation. You’re the only woman I’ve ever introduced to Yas, and a person would have to be willfully ignorant not to see how much you adore her and vice versa.”
Knox left out that he’d like Aiva to remain the only woman he introduced Yasmine to.
“It’s tough when a co-parent only wants to be one when it’s convenient for them or when they constantly step over boundaries and make unreasonable requests. It makes it harder for everyone. I don’t think she realizes Yas will remember things like this. She’s a smart kid, and she’s so observant. Mia isn’t doing her any favors by acting this way because Yas will see it.” She paused for a moment. “But that means you have to be that balance for her and make the hard decisions.”
Knox knew what she was saying. “You want me to be okay with you not being there.”
“I want you to spend the day celebrating with your daughter and making sure she has a good time because it isn’t about me, you, or Mia. It’s about Yas. She might be upset, but I’ll make it up to her. I’m the woman her dad’s dating, but Mia is her mom. That disappointment will run deeper, and I don’t want that for her.”
Knox pulled her to him and kissed her, slow and sweet. “Where were you ten years ago?” he asked, lips brushing hers.
Aiva pulled back and gave him a playful smile. “You probably weren’t ready for me then. Come on.” She stood, pulling him with her. “Let’s go to bed.”
He followed her down the hall, looking in on Yasmine as her words sank in. She was right. The man he was then hadn’t been ready for her. Would have probably fucked it up with how much he’d focused on his career and partying for the first several years. While Mia had been into it, he didn’t see that being true for Aiva; it would have morphed into a neglect that she wouldn’t take, and he’d have probably considered her the one who got away. No, it was best that they’d met when they had.
“I’m pretty sure I have a couple of pairs of sweatpants that I took from EJ or Ali if you want to sleep in those,” she stated, looking through her drawers. She found what she was looking for and handed them to him. “You can shower first.”
“Go ahead. I’ll use the hall bathroom.”
When they were in bed half an hour later, he pulled her to his chest. He would text Mia tomorrow and let her know Aiva wouldn’t be at Yasmine’s party as much as he hated it.