Chapter 18
Solana Thomas
I had to go get Sunshyne early from school since I wouldn’t be at the shop to get her off the bus like normal.
I was going to be at one of the other shops training a new office manager because the last one got fired.
It was a good thing the old manager was lazy as hell and prayerfully the new one, Marie, was better.
For the last few weeks, I had to bounce between the two shops, and it was exhausting.
Marlo hated it because he I had to be away from the main shop most of the time and let him tell it, nothing got done right when I wasn’t there.
When we both knew the way I had the shop set up now, it basically ran itself.
I loved and hated how close I Marlo and I were becoming.
He was the best friend I had always wanted in life.
I told him almost everything about me and he never batted an eye, nor did I feel like he was judging me.
He gave me the raw truth about things while still being able to encourage me.
Whenever he was around I had no doubt that everything would be okay, he was my safe space.
The issue was, Marlo had a family, and a girlfriend.
The time we spent together made me want what I couldn’t have from him.
It wasn’t like Marlo had ever misled me or made me believe he wanted more from me.
Me falling for him came naturally. He cared for me in ways that no one else had and my heart couldn’t help but love him.
No matter how many times I told myself he belonged to somebody else it didn’t stop my feelings from growing.
It didn’t help that he would say or do little stuff that insinuated his feelings were deeper too.
Like him getting mad at Mikael for calling me Pretty Brown.
There was nothing wrong with that name. I kind of liked it.
Marlo never hid his feelings about me dating either.
The few times we’d sort of spoke about it her either got annoyed and changed the subject, or he flat out said I shouldn’t be focused on dating.
I had to tell myself I was reading into his action to much because Marlo didn’t strike me as the type of nigga who was shy about he felt.
This entire situation had me feeling stupid as fuck for falling for Marlo when he probably never would be mine.
He seemed content with his life with Fallon, and I wasn’t a homewrecker I wouldn’t push the envelope.
I’d just have to settle on watching the man I loved, love someone else.
That was a battle I had to deal with on the daily because our lives had become so intertwined together.
When I felt myself getting overwhelmed I would try to put distance between us.
That never worked because Marlo never wanted to read the room.
When I pulled away he’d make it his mission to be in my space until I gave into him.
On top of that, our girls loved to play together so he was always bringing them over on the weekend or just popping randomly.
Since the last sleep over we’d had plenty of them.
I felt like so many lines were getting blurred between us and I had no power to stop it.
The only thing that ever got in the way of us spending time together was Fallon.
The first few weeks after their son was born.
She’d called him nonstop. If Braxton burped too loud she was calling Marlo.
He’d would be annoyed but he always went to make sure everything was okay.
I respected how he loved his kids and nothing stood in the way of him being a father.
I wished I would have looked for those same traits when I picked Sunshyne's sperm donor.
Other than that, my life had improved so much over the last few months.
Like he promised, Marlo gave me the Outlander as promised.
Getting around was a lot easier now. My skoolie stayed parked in the back of the lot.
Since I wasn’t having to dish out so much money I had a nice little savings.
I had initially thought I was gonna have to wait longer to get a house but with the money I was making now had me feeling secure enough to go house hunting.
Life had been good to me, and I felt like I owed it to Marlo.
Not in the since that I couldn’t have gotten here without him because I most definitely would have.
He sped up the process making things easier for me and he took a lot of the weight off my shoulders.
“Hi, I’m here to pick up Sunshyne Robinson,” I smiled politely at the school secretary who was an older Black lady, when I made it in the office.
I loved Sunshyne’s school because it was a predominantly Black; both students and staff were Black. As well as it being one of the top elementary schools in Beaumont city. I was proud Sunshyne got to get her early education from Beaumont Prep.
“Do you mind if I see your Id really quick and then I’ll be able to page her down,”
I reached into my pocket pulling out my ID. She scanned it then gave it back to me. She picked up a Black walkie talk off her desk then called for Sunshyne to be brought down to the office. After signing the papers to sign Sunshyne out I stepped back from the desk to wait on Sunshyne.
“Excuse me,” I looked up hearing someone trying to get my attention.
I saw a dark-skinned female, her hair pulled up in a tight bun, round thick glasses on her face, she had her head sticking out of a doorway in the back of the office.
“Are you Sunshyne’s mother?” She asked me in a professional voice.
I saw the principle tag on the side of her door.
“I am,” I responded.
“Do you mind coming into my office to talk real quick?”
“Uh sure,” I said nervously. Sunshyne wasn’t a bad kid. Her teachers loved her so I couldn’t imagine why the principle wanted to talk to me.
I walked into her office; it was modestly decorated. I sat down in the brown chair in front of her desk. She was motioning for me to sit in. Zaylee Cooper, I read the gold name plate with Black cursive writing sitting in the center of her desk.
She took a deep breath; she looked like she was contemplating what she was about to say.
“Umm, I usually don’t do this, but I couldn’t not give you a heads up.
First let me say you are doing an amazing job raising Sunshyne she is one of the brightest students here and that’s why I wanted to let you know someone called children’s services on you.
They came by the school, and I told them they were barking up the wrong tree because Sunshyne is well taken care of. ”
Zaylee was still talking but the only thing I could make out was the loud beating of my own heart.
I couldn’t believe somebody called child services on me.
You could call me a lot of things, but I always took care of Sunshyne.
That was my baby and I be damned if she went out looking a mess.
I couldn’t even figure out who would do something so malicious like this.
I didn’t bother nobody. Hell, I didn’t have fucking friends, Mikael and Marlo were the only people I was around.
The only person that came to mind was Pricilla.
She was the only person that had a vendetta against me.
I could see her doing something evil like this just to fuck with me.
I had to fight to hold back the tears threatening to fall. “Umm, thank you so much. I really do appreciate you for telling me. If you don’t mind, I want to get going.” I stood up and gave her the nicest smile I could muster up.
I thanked God Sunshyne was sitting down waiting for me when I walked out of Ms. Cooper’s office. I quickly grabbed my Sunshyne’s hand, and we made our way out of the school hand and hand. I felt like the world had just set itself on my shoulders.
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The next evening.
I hadn’t left my house since yesterday. Sunshyne didn’t go to school today and I called in sick to work.
My mind was getting the best of me, and I found myself fighting an internal battle.
Everything in me was screaming to take Sunshyne and leave.
The thought of losing my baby girl scared the hell out of me.
As much as I wanted to say I trusted everyone around me when it came to Sunshyne I wasn’t risking trusting anyone.
Marlo had been blowing my phone up constantly, but I didn’t answer.
He even came out here a few times and banged on my door.
I heard him fussing when I didn’t answer and Sunshyne was just as confused by my actions.
She loved Marlo and Mikael. Sunshyne had a little attitude all day because she hadn’t seen her Unky today.
Sunshyne was too small to understand, and I wasn’t going to try to make her either.
She’d just have to be mad at me for the day while I figured out our next moves.
“Mama, I wanna see my fwends.” Sunshyne pouted, sticking her bottom lip out. “You aren’t fun as my fwends.”
We were laying in my bed watching cartoons and eating junk food. Sunshyne used to love when we spent time together like this. I frowned at her; Sunshyne was switching up on me.
“Since when is mommy boring?”
“I dunno mommy. I just need fwends my size.” Sunshyne looked at me with a serious expression on her face. I wanted to laugh at her so bad because she was being serious.
“Well, then Imma get some friends my size too.” I fake sassed her.
“Yeah, I think you need to.” Sunshyne said nodding her head as she talked. “You too old to keep trying to hang out with me mommy.”
My jaw dropped in shock. Sunshyne was trying play me and I couldn’t believe she really wasn’t fooling with me. Damn, it really be your own kids that will throw you under the bus.
“Girllll, you finna get put out my skoolie!” I threaten tickling her, making her bust out in a fit of giggles.