Chapter 3
“You gonna stop just walking up in my shit, Pop.”
I shook my head at Deuce as I stood at the stove in his kitchen.
I’d come over to cook breakfast for my grandbabies like I did every Monday.
The fact that he was acting like this wasn’t a routine blew me.
My kids had designated days where I would come cook breakfast. I went in birth order so there was no confusion as to what day was theirs.
“Deuce, go sit your ass down somewhere.”
“How you gon’ tell me to sit down in my house?”
“Nigga, I built this bitch, and you came from my nuts, so I can tell you what to do anytime, anyplace.”
“It don’t work like that, old man.”
“It works how I say it works. Either come give me some love or sit down and shut the fuck up.”
He smirked as he walked over to where I stood flipping bacon.
“I’m just fucking with you, old timer,” he said, hugging me. “I don’t want no smoke.”
“I know you don’t.”
I kissed his head and released him.
“Awww!” Salima cooed from the entry way behind him. “I love when you two are affectionate.”
Deuce rolled his eyes. “Dramatic ass.”
“Shut up, Stanley.” She mushed him as she came over to greet me. “Good morning, Daddy.”
She hugged me and kissed my cheek.
“Good morning, baby girl. Your coffee is ready.”
“Thank you. You know I need my caffeine before I get your son’s kids up for school in the morning.”
Deuce scoffed. “Now why they gotta be my kids?”
“Because they act like you. They don’t get that bullshit they be on from me. I was an angel as a kid. Mama Stephanie said they do the same shit you did at their ages.”
“Mama be exaggerating. I wasn’t that damn bad.”
Salima looked at me with her hands on her hips. “Daddy?”
“You were a fucking terror, son. Your mama and I were just talking about how you used to bully my damn kids.”
“He still bullies them,” Salima said.
“Your kids get on my nerves, Pop.”
“And I know damn well you get on theirs. You be tapdancing on mine.”
Salima broke into a fit of giggles, causing Deuce to throw her a glare.
“I’m glad you think that’s funny, wifey.”
“Deucy, be for real. You can be mean at times. You were mean to me when I first met you.”
“I wasn’t mean to you, love. I was trying to save your life, and you were doing all that damn screaming.”
“Gun to your head, what would you do? Exactly. I missed my daddy, but I wasn’t trying to meet him again anytime soon.”
He pulled her into his arms and pecked her lips. “Have I not made up for it, love? I mean, if you need me to get on my knees—”
“Deucy! Not in front of your father!”
“Right,” I agreed. “Deuce, go make yourself useful and wake them babies up so they can eat.”
He waved me off before kissing his wife and going to do as I said. Salima shook her head as she started grabbing plates.
“You good, Daddy?” she asked as I pulled the bacon off the griddle.
“I’m straight, baby girl.”
“We missed you at Sunday dinner. You just grabbed a plate and left. Where did you go?”
I chuckled. “You nosy.”
“And is. Spill it.”
“I had a day in with Steph. She wasn’t feeling her best this week, so I wanted to make sure she ate and whatnot.”
Salima smirked. “Mmm hmm. You still pining after my mother in-law? You haven’t even joked about her in a long time. Let me find out you moved on.”
Moving on was laughable.
How do you move on from the person you loved since you were a chap? I remembered the first time I saw her… like really saw her. It was a hot ass summer day and my father had Blake and I on the block, working our way up the ladder. At that point, I was fifteen and my brother was seventeen.
Pops decided that summer was the perfect time to put us to work. There I was making a sale when I saw her strolling up the block looking good enough to have my fifteen-year-old hormones raging.
She was dressed in a pair of bell bottoms, a graphic tee, and a pair of Nike Roadrunners. Her hair was in fashioned in two big puff balls and silver hoops dangled from her ears. Headphones covered those same ears and a cassette player was in her hand.
Fellas on the block turned their heads as she walked past, ignoring them all. Some were my age; some were too damn grown to be looking at her like that.
“Who that?” I asked, nudging Blake as she got closer.
“Nigga, I don’t know. I ain’t ever seen her before.”
“Ain’t she fine?”
“Hell yeah.”
I punched him in the arm. “Watch your mouth when you talking about my girl.”
He frowned. “You just asked me if she was fine.”
“It was rhetorical question, nigga.”
He waved me off. “Whatever.”
“Shhh! Here she comes.”
She walked past us, our gazes meeting for a moment before she looked straight ahead. I was grinning from ear to ear.
“I’ll be right back,” I said as she headed to the corner store.
A quick jog later, I was walking inside. I gave a head nod to Mr. Marco, a longtime friend of my pops. He kept an eye on us to make sure we were straight.
“Don’t come in here starting no shit, Stanley,” he warned as I followed behind the beauty from outside.
“I don’t ever start shit,” I countered, grinning.
I wandered onto the chip aisle where she was perusing the selection of flavors.
When she saw me, she gave a light smile and went back to what she was doing.
As I neared her, I saw just how fucking beautiful she really was.
Like, drop dead gorgeous. I knew exactly what I wanted to say until I got right in front of her.
All of a sudden, my mouth went dry and I went mute.
She looked up at me with a blank stare. When I didn’t say anything, she frowned and pulled her headphones aside.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
I blinked rapidly and cleared my throat. “Uh… nah. Not really. I uh… I just wanted to introduce myself. I ain’t seen you around here before.”
“Oh. Well, hey.”
She went back to look through the chips.
“So what’s your name, beautiful?” I tried.
“Not interested.”
She grabbed a bag of chips and brushed past me to go the cooler.
“I don’t mean any disrespect,” I said, following her.
“None taken.”
I extended my hand. “I’m Stanley.”
She sighed heavily as she turned to me. “Stephanie.”
A smile spread across my face. “Stanley and Stephanie. That sounds good together.”
She laughed. “How many girls have you used that line on around here?”
She walked around me again and headed for the candy aisle.
“None,” I answered honestly. “I’m not worried about these girls around here. I’m too busy getting my money.”
She looked me up and down. “Oh, I’ve seen you and the other boy on the corner. Looks like you’re asking for trouble to me.”
“Oh, so you’ve seen me before?”
“Yes, and like I said, you look like you’re asking for trouble.”
“Ain’t nothing wrong with a little trouble.”
She rolled her eyes as she walked to the register. As she placed her items on the counter, I went into my pocket and pulled out a wad of cash.
“I got it, Mr. Marco.”
He ignored me and looked at Stephanie. “He hasn’t been bothering you, has he?”
“I’m not worried about him. And I can pay for my own things.”
“Men provide for their lady.”
Stephanie rolled her eyes. “Well, I’m not your lady, so there’s that.”
“Not yet.” I slapped a twenty in Mr. Marco’s hand. “Keep the change.”
He shook his head at me as he took the twenty from my hand and bagged up Stephanie’s snacks. I grabbed them and motioned for her to follow me outside. As soon as we hit the sidewalk, she held out her hand to me.
“Thank you, but you don’t need to do that again.”
I grinned as I handed her the bag. “Nah, the least I can do is buy your snacks when I see you. You come this way often?”
“I just moved here about a month ago. Still learning my way around.”
“Maybe I can show you around sometime. Nobody knows this city better than me.”
“I bet.” She looked down at her watch. “I gotta go. I have to babysit my neighbor’s son in a little while. Nice to meet you, Stanley.”
“Nice to meet you too. I’ll be seeing you.”
Taking her hand, I kissed her knuckles. This time, she blushed.
That was the start of it all. I saw her a quite a few times at the same corner store throughout the summer.
She always played hard to get… or maybe she wasn’t playing at all.
I didn’t give a fuck. If I saw her, she was gonna see me.
Once school started back and I found out she was in my homeroom class, I was on her ass heavy.
I made it a point to sit next to her. Since she was new and knew me from the block, she was a little more receptive of my friendship. Once she really got to know me, we were locked in and my heart hadn’t let go of her since.
“Nah. I haven’t moved on from anything,” I finally answered. “Just… being mindful. She lost a husband. I don’t know what that loss feels like, but I can imagine it’s like losing a part of yourself. I just wanna respect her process of grieving.”
Salima smiled and playfully nudged me. “You really love that lady, don’t you?”
“Put it like this. I ain’t ever loved another woman the way I love her. I don’t have it in me.”
“Well, maybe fate will be on your side. We love a good second chance romance. Now your son… that’s a different story.”
“I ain’t worried about my son. I brought him in this world. He can’t tell me shit.”
“That might be true, but that’s his mom. You know how he feels about her. I, on the other hand, would love to see the Senior love story play out in real time. I’m just gonna say a silent prayer that you find love, whether it’s old or new.”
I smiled. “Thank you, baby girl.”
She kissed my cheek and busied herself with setting the table, then helping me plate the food. Everything was ready by the time Deuce returned with Darlyn and Liam.
“Hey Pop Pop!” Darlyn said, running and jumping into my arms.
“Hey, suga. How’s my big girl?”
“I’m good. Can you take me to school?”
“I got you.” I scooped up Liam, who was still rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Hey, big man. You good?”
“I tired, Papa,” he said, groaning. “Can I stay with you today?”
I chuckled. “Nah, man. You gotta go to school. If you behave, you can stay with me tonight and I’ll take you in the morning, okay?”
“Okay.”
I kissed both their cheeks and placed them in their respective seats.
“That’s why they are so spoiled now,” Deuce muttered.
“Shut up, Stanley,” Salima and I said in unison.
“You are the main one that spoiled them,” Salima said. She pointed between us. “Neither of you stand on business when it comes to these kids.”
“I’ll stand on business with the next one,” Deuce promised. “Darlyn is my firstborn and only girl. Liam is my boy. Cut me some slack. It ain’t like you ain’t spoiled too.”
“One… I wrecked my body twice to give you two beautiful babies. Two… I work, cook, clean, and perform my wifely duties very well, so I deserve to be spoiled. And three, we ain’t talking about me. Go on and sit down Deucy. Don’t make me embarrass you in front of our father.”
Deuce grinned as he sat his ass down. I would always maintain that Salima was the perfect woman for him.
She damn near had this nigga trained and I could tell he loved it here.
Hell, all of my girls had my boys under control.
Maceo knew when not to act up with Shar.
Romi was the only person that could keep Smoke from being the abrasive asshole he was at times.
Steel was a sucker for Neha. Quaid was puddy in Jaeda’s hands, and Titan…
well Titan was a different breed behind Mia.
Those two grew so much in the last couple of years.
They were nowhere near where they used to be and that was all I could ask for.
It was a beautiful thing to witness my children happy, healthy, and in love.
My grandbabies were growing and thriving...
all fourteen of them muthafuckas. I was shocked that nobody had gotten pregnant again in the last four years.
Knowing these niggas, it was coming and when it did, I’d be right there ready to welcome them with open arms.