Chapter 4 #2
“Ooh, Mickey, look! They even have these tiny little boots that would be so cute for the baby.”
I snickered as I picked up another set of gender-neutral onesies.
“Hollis, those are girl shoes. I’ma cut you off before we even get started. Please stick to bibs, burp rags, and baby essentials right now. Nothing that screams you want it to be a girl or a boy.” She pouted as she put the shoes down, making me smirk.
“Ugh, fine. You never let me have any fun. You’re worse than Callie was with Camilla. At least she let me manifest my niece. I feel like you’re trying to make the baby a boy.” I tried to hold my straight face but I folded the moment I noticed she was serious.
“Heffa, I’m not God. Whatever the baby is right now will be whatever He already determined they will be. At this point, I’m just the messenger on an assignment. So, don’t shoot—"
She waved me off as she released an irritated sigh. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. I guess I’ll get these green and yellow blankets with these ducks and bears. Is that safe enough for you?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
We continued to shop until me and the baby needed food to calm my raging stomach. As far as pregnancy symptoms went, the only one that showed up and showed out immediately was my increased hunger and mild morning sickness.
Hollis and I ended up at DayLux, her with a mimosa and me with my ginger ale.
I fake sniffled as she took a sip.
“I guess y’all are going to continue to drink around me knowing that I can’t, huh? That’s some real fucked up and selfish behavior, ya know,” I ranted as I watched her close her eyes with a sip of her peach mimosa.
Hollis popped her eyes open and nodded, wearing a smug grin.
“Hell yeah. What else would a good ass best friend do? I’m doing this for you and me both now. I swear, you try to do a good deed and people act like you’re not shit for it.” I rolled my eyes while I sipped my nonalcoholic drink and rubbed my stomach to calm the loud hunger rumbles.
“You just focus on feeding our baby. And as a good ass fill-in baby daddy for the day, everything’s on me today.” I cringed at her words because she had no idea how much truth they held.
“So when are you going to tell the rest of the village about our new addition? Also, heffa, you keeping crucial information from me again. What did baby daddy say? You never told me what happened that night. It’s been what, a couple of weeks now since you found out.”
I shrugged as I made my final decision on my full plate of food with my mouth already salivating as I anticipated the full spread.
“I haven’t gotten that far yet.” That was all I could give her, completely ignoring the question about Harlan.
“Well did we at least get as far as telling mystery man? What did baby daddy say? Did he like the baby announcement? And when do we get to meet him?” I cringed, thinking back to that night, how I’d called his phone an embarrassing amount of times.
I reached for the cup of water, taking a long drink before the waiter showed up to take our order, giving me more time to stall Hollis out with all her damn questions.
We put in our orders, with me probably doing way too much, but I couldn’t decide between the chicken and waffles or the French toast. I hoped and prayed the distraction was enough for Hollis to not remember what we were talking about, but of course, she did, picking up exactly where we’d left off.
“Okay, Mickey, talk. Don’t think I haven’t noticed you stalling with telling me what the fuck happened with him.
Did he get out of line or something? Because you already know I got my spiked wire wrapped bat for bitch ass muthafuckas.
” I snickered at her being ready for whatever when it came to me.
It didn’t change my mind on keeping my secrets though.
I shook my head while coming up short on a good enough excuse to tell Hollis. I wanted to tell my best friends everything, but I knew how Hollis would react. She would be calling our lawyer Nas, having her run a full length background check on Harlan.
I rolled my eyes and released a frustrated breath. “Hollis, if I tell you this, you have to swear it stays between the group. Like no telling Callie.” I held out my pinky finger. It was corny, but it was our signature move when I needed total silence from her.
Her eyes bugged out before her face grew serious. “Oh shit, this is real. Okay. I got you.” When she followed suit with her finger, linking it to mine, we shook before kissing the back of each other’s hand to seal it.
I cleared my throat before I let out a nervous sigh.
“So, that night, he came over and the pregnancy announcement didn’t go too well.
We got distracted at first. By the time I woke up, I assumed he didn’t like the idea of having a baby because he was gone.
I haven’t heard from him since. I called and texted too many times to even put a number on it that night.
I thought maybe he just needed a minute to collect his thoughts, but that was weeks ago.
I’ve tried to get in touch with him since then but no response or call back has happened.
I don’t know what to do. He just up and disappeared. ”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what the fuck do you mean he just disappeared? Oh hell no, he might not want to be involved but that bitch ass nigga is going to at least come up off some money for child support. Well, we gotta pop the hell up. He’s not getting off that easy, and until then, you can count me as the baby’s pappy.
I mean, doctor visits, late night food runs.
When we said you’re not alone, we meant that shit, Mickey.
And yes, I’m speaking for Johnni’s ass too.
” That had me chuckling while tears welled up.
I nodded. I didn’t want to tell her that I’d tried that week two and it was like Harlan had never lived in the house I had visited a few times before. Instead, I grew quiet, going for my water glass again, hoping the food came out sooner than later.
I knew Hollis wouldn’t let this topic die any time soon, so now I had to come up with a plan to find my missing baby daddy.
After I parted ways with Hollis, I ended up at Golden Age, sitting in Mackie’s room listening to a college football game playing on his TV.
“Chile, if you gon’ bring all that bad energy in here, you might as well talk about it. You got my boys playing terrible right now.” I smirked as I looked up at the screen. I noticed the ref had tossed a flag and now they were reviewing the play.
“Don’t blame my mood on their bad behavior on the field today.
I’m sure they were going to play the same way regardless,” I said in a monotone voice, half ass paying attention to what I was saying.
My mind was on this whole pregnancy situation and how I was going to track down Harlan.
Even if he just met my people then decided to disappear, I could work with that.
Mackie hit the remote, turning the TV off altogether before he called my name, pulling my gaze to his.
I could tell by his somber expression he knew without me telling him.
“Viola was right, huh?” I nodded as I wiped the single tear.
“Am I going to have to make a special trip outta here and see that bum ass nigga behind my baby?” I chuckled weakly at his question as I pressed my lips together.
“Absolutely not. I’ve got it all under control. I’m just processing, that’s all. He’s great. He’s excited.” I laid the lie on thick. Harlan was everything but great or excited. This dirty muthafucka had abandoned us and the baby wasn’t even developed yet.
Ugh, fuck his bitch ass.
“Oh okay, cool, because the chamber stays loaded when it comes to you. I’ll lay his raggedy ass out if he hurts you or my great grand.” I smiled at Mackie talking big behind me, which was nothing new. I had been named after him for a reason.
I laughed. “Put the safety on. I need him alive for the baby's sake, Grandpa.”
He grunted as he waved me off. “Not if he ain’t no good. Sometimes, the best thing for the baby is the unfit, unwanted, or piss poor parent not being around any way. I take it you haven’t told your folks yet?” I quickly shook my head as I sat on his words.
Maybe it’s for the best to leave him wherever he went, Mickey.
But I couldn’t. I at least needed to know why?
“Not yet. I… we wanted to wait until I made it to my second trimester to drop the news.” Another lie that flowed like water off my tongue.
This wasn’t like me to lie to Mackie. There was never a need.
This was the same man I sold weed remedies to.
Lying about a man wasn’t part of our relationship.
Sometimes, I told Mackie things before I even told my girls, and damn sure my parents.
I knew my deepest, darkest secrets were safest with him.
“Hmph, and how long away is that?” I put my hand on my stomach and smiled.
“A couple of weeks or so,” I answered, then quickly snapped my fingers and changed the subject.
“Oh, and before I forget, after this last batch is done, I won’t be able to make any more herbal remedies.
But don’t worry, I made enough to carry you for the next couple of weeks at least. I’ll figure something out.
” I didn’t want to give him a solid timeline just in case I had to drag this out a little bit longer to find Harlan’s ass.
“You just focus on that baby. You still need to tell your folks and make sure that baby daddy is ready to meet them. Shit, the way yo’ father is, he won’t be living for long after he finds out.
Your father gon’ kill that young man on the spot.
It’s gon’ be a quick hi-bye type of introduction I’m sure.
You’ve got a few weeks to make sure everything is in order for his funeral.
” It was like a light bulb came on when Mackie said that.
When he put the TV back on, my mind got busy trying to think of a way I could run into Harlan. I just needed him to meet my parents once, that was it.
A few days went by, and here I was, parked back outside of Harlan’s house.
Well, the abandoned one, hoping for the best. I was sure I looked like a stalker to the neighbors.
I didn’t care though. I was chasing down a memory of my baby daddy at this point.
Hoping and praying I caught up to him and would be able to convince him to just meet my parents.
“Mickey, what the hell are you even doing here? It’s obvious his ass ain’t here and ain’t been.” I glanced at the dashboard and noticed I had been posted up for the last three hours and my stomach growling let me know I was out of time on my fake stake out.
I rubbed my belly.
“I know, baby, give Mommy a few more minutes then we can go eat. I’m trying to catch Daddy,” I said to the little being, as if he or she could truly hear me.
I picked up my phone and scrolled through my call log until I came to his number.
This time when I called, the operator actually had the nerve to tell me the number was no longer in service.
I frowned at the screen. “What the fuck!” I groaned as I dropped the phone before I fell into my steering wheel, completely breaking down.
“Now what, Mickey?”
I had no idea. This wasn’t the plan I had for my life. I’d done everything right. How the hell did I end up pregnant by a man who seemed to no longer exist?
I sat up and took one final look at the house before I put my car in drive and pulled off.