5. Emerald
Emerald
“ L ola, you did not have to come here and help. We don’t even have a lot of stuff.” I folded the last items from my dresser and stuffed them into a few of the totes I’d purchased for the move.
We stood inside my bedroom together, and she was stuffing my already folded clothes into a separate tote.
I didn’t have much to move outside of clothes, some kitchen stuff, and our hygiene products in the bathroom.
Ivo said the place was fully furnished, so there was no need to bring anything else.
I was anxious to see it, and it took everything not to catch an Uber over there last night and check it out.
“Girl, please. I had the day off, and I need to see these new digs anyway.”
Sapphire was in the other room packing what little he had.
I’d saved a little money and now that I didn’t have to worry about paying rent this month, I planned on giving it to him so he could go shopping for himself.
New place meant he was finally going to have the opportunity to decorate his room.
I didn’t need much; I was just happy that he’d been in such a good mood the last few days.
I couldn’t help but wonder about Rashida and that last discussion, but I tried to push it to the farthest corner of my mind. I had more positive things to focus on.
“I know. I haven’t seen them yet either, but I appreciate you giving us a ride and helping us move our shit in. I would call Ivo, but he had a rough night, and I don’t want to bother him right now.”
“Girl, how is that working for you?” Lola queried, placing the lid over the tote and lowering it to the ground.
“What you mean?”
“I mean how you doing, Em. The truth. This man is going home to a wife every night and putting you up in some condo like a side chick. On top of everything else, you are about to be implanted with his child. I need to know how you not unraveling right now.”
“It all sounds complicated, but . . . I trust Ivo.” I felt like a damn fool even saying that about a married man, but it was the truth.
For some reason, I had no doubts about us. It was everything else that had me second guessing. The hormones I was taking had my emotions all over the place. Now I was crying at the end of movies and swinging off the mood tree like a monkey.
“Well, you are grown and you know what you’re doing. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“I know. I was worried about it at first too, but Ivo’s not leading me on, and I don’t have to question what’s between us. I just need to be patient. I’m not dealing with the same sixteen-year-old boy either. He’s a man now, and he’s got obligations and priorities.”
“You just make sure you’re one of them, and don’t let him play with your feelings,” Lola warned.
From the dresser behind me, my phone chimed, alerting me to a new FaceTime.
I’d been so busy with work and distracted by everything else that I hadn’t had time to think much about anything on top of moving.
Seeing my ex’s name flash across the screen and a picture of our beautiful, brown sugar-skinned baby girl, my heart skipped a beat.
Immediately, I swiped to pick up with a grin.
Jury’s face popped on the display, and I caught Juke moving around in the background.
“Mommy!” my baby squealed.
“Hey, my Jury! Look how pretty you look! I miss you!”
“I miss you too!” She bounced on the sofa and grinned as her little ponytails bopped up and down with her movements. “Guess what!”
“What, baby?”
“It’s almost time for my visit with you! Daddy said in four more weeks, so he let me call today! Are you ready to see me?”
“Oh, I am so ready! Me and your uncle are moving into our new place today. I got a car and soon I’ll have a better job. We are going to have so much fun!”
“Yeah!” she cheered and glanced over her shoulder. “You hear that, Daddy?”
“Yeah. I heard, Jury.” Juke’s deep voice spoke up as he came around the couch to sit down with her.
There was no denying his gruffy beard and piercing eyes had him looking like a whole snack, but the indifference in his glare reminded me of harsher times.
Juke came from the streets, but he retired by the time I met him and focused on building a graphics business.
He was very successful, and it left him able to still be tapped in with the hood.
There was a time I loved him more than anything and thought we would get married and have more kids.
Instead, he abandoned me during one of the hardest times in my life, and I could never forgive him for that.
“What’s up, Em?”
“Juke,” I grumbled with a slight eyeroll.
“So it sounds like things are looking up for you.” He flicked the tip of his nose.
“They are,” I muttered. “I’m moving today and working on trying to find a better job. I can’t wait to see my baby though.”
“Yeah, she’s excited about it too. I thought I would stick around a few days, just to make sure she’s good. I know the visitation is for two weeks.”
“You’re not doing that for Jury. You trying to keep tabs on me.” I tossed the last of my clothes into a tote and shook my head. “I got the clear from my therapist and the judge for visitation. Unsupervised. Not that you care.”
“What that mean?” he sneered.
“Nothing. I guess I’ll see you in four weeks.” I wanted to talk to Jury some more, but Juke had already triggered me, and I wasn’t in the mood.
“Bye, Mommy! I love you!” My baby poked her head back in the camera and waved excitedly.
“I love you too, Jury! See you soon, baby!”
We ended the call, and I stared down at my screen for the longest. I tried not to think about Jury as much because it was just such a painful time losing her.
I cried for months over that, and begged God for a second chance to be her mother again.
Juke took advantage of my mental state after losing my father.
All because he had a new bitch who didn’t like me and thought she could take my daughter and raise her as her own.
I hadn’t even asked about Ashley because I didn’t want to know if they were still together or not.
For all I cared, that bitch could kiss my ass.
The only thing that mattered to me was that Jury was loved and cared for when I couldn’t be around.
“You good?” Lola questioned, breaking into my thoughts.
“Yeah,” I assured her, my misting eyes saying otherwise. “I miss her,” I whispered.
“I see. She sounds good though, and you get to see her before you know it. So, don’t let it get to you.”
“I have to keep telling myself I’m not just doing this for me and Sapphire. This money is going to put me in a position to be able to petition for custody again. I deserve to be a part of her life. I don’t care what her daddy thinks.”
“Come on. Let’s start loading some of this stuff into the car. You go make sure you got everything in the kitchen together. Dinner is on me tonight, so you don’t have to worry about cooking either.”
“Thanks, Lola. I really appreciate all this.”
“Girl, it’s no problem. I’m happy for you. You deserve good shit to finally happen for you, Em. So don’t ever doubt that.” She gathered the tote off the floor and carried it with her to the door.
I searched the rest of the room. The only thing left was my bedroom set, which I decided I would just put in storage when I got the chance.
I still had a couple of weeks left on my lease since I just paid rent, and I was sure Ivo wouldn’t have a problem with it.
It felt like things were finally moving in the right direction, and all because I walked into that clinic almost two weeks ago.
Talk about a turnaround. My head was spinning from all the changes taking place so quickly.
About an hour later, we had Lola’s Jeep loaded to capacity with our stuff, and Sapphire was tucked in a corner between boxes and totes with his earbuds in.
I gave Lola the address, which she plugged into her GPS, and she drove us across town to our new spot.
I could tell by the streets that we weren’t in the hood anymore.
We were sliding into suburban territory, which was about fifteen minutes from the very block my family’s house used to sit on.
“Here we are,” Lola announced, coming to a stop in front of a building with a wraparound balcony on the second level.
A set of winding wooden steps led up to the front door of a very vast-looking condo.
There was a garage on each side, and I was guessing there was another resident across the way, but it was broken down with privacy access for both units and a large ten-foot fence wrapped around each. There was even a rooftop swimming pool.
“Yo, this shit is hard!” Sapphire exclaimed.
“Watch your mouth,” I mumbled, craning my neck and staring up at the structure.
“Girl, talk about moving up! Let’s go take a tour!” Lola shut her car off and we all piled out together.
Fishing around for the keys in my purse, when I finally got the door unlocked, Sapphire rushed off ahead of me.
Clearly, he was excited. Everything smelled fresh and new.
The eggshell white walls were covered in gold, white, and baby blue marble style art, matching the European, luxury, carved sofa and two matching armchairs.
A solid wood, marbled top table brought the room together.
Examining the high ceilings, I listened to my brother’s footsteps echo and squeak across the shiny floors.
The living room itself was large, and down the hall was two bedrooms and a private bath for each.
Behind the living room was a glass-encased staircase leading to a second story, and just past that was the open kitchen and dining spaces, all viewable from the top of the staircase, overlooking the entire bottom floor.
“Chile, talk about being put up! This shit is nice, Em!”
“Look at that molding in the ceilings.” I was in awe.