Chapter 11
A Surprise Indeed
ADAI
“And what you say that bitch look like again, Dai?” Key asked. “Cause I’ll go up there right now and work her ass. You know I’ll go up there, lump her up real quick, then have me a Belgian waffle. I never cared.”
Ebone and I died laughing to the point where my side was hurting.
We’d been on a three-way call for the last thirty minutes and hadn’t stopped laughing yet.
After Pryce dropped me back off at his house, he made a run to Sullivan Towing to check on business.
I asked to ride shot gun, but he quickly shut me down, reminding me that I needed my rest. Only I hadn’t slept yet.
I was too busy on the phone running my mouth.
I had to catch the girls up on the last twelve hours.
“This bitch said I’ll go up there, lump her up, and have a Belgian waffle,” Ebone repeated, wheezing.
“Cause my girl never cared,” I added.
“Ever,” Key echoed proudly.
“That shit is hilarious.” I wiped the tears that fell from my eyes from laughing so hard.
“Back to what she looked like. She’s light skinned, about my height.
Her hair was like honey blonde. It was up in a ponytail.
Real pretty girl. Thirsty as hell though.
If it wasn’t clear who I was, I’m sure she would’ve sucked Pryce dick right in the booth. ”
“Dai!” Ebone hollered.
“What?” I laughed. “I’m so serious. If I’m lying, I’m flying.”
“And we know she a lil’ too heavy to be doing that right now,” Key said.
“Hol’ up now, bitch.” I couldn’t stop laughing. “You ain’t have to go there.”
“I’m sorry, friend. I take it back.” She giggled.
I was heated when I realized that Alexis was the girl whose name Pryce said when he was at my house.
That shit was too close for comfort. But I wasn’t going to let it stop me from eating.
I just made it clear that that bitch wouldn’t be the one serving the food.
Thankfully, Danae stepped in like she could sense the mood.
“Danae really saved that ho from getting choked out.”
“Girl, she probably would’ve helped you,” Key said matter-of-factly. “She be wit’ the shits. That’s why Aura love her ass.”
“So, wait,” Ebone said. “Back up a little bit. How’d y’all even get to breakfast? Cause last I heard from you, you were tryna get me to talk you down off the ledge from going backwards.”
“Knowing you have trouble going forward,” Key commented.
“Shut up.” Ebone chuckled. “Tell a bitch some of ya story, they hang it over ya head.”
“Judgement free zone here, boo. You know I love ya.” Key blew a kiss into the phone.
“Anywho. He got a little tipsy at the party, and I ended up driving him home.”
Key interrupted. “Girl, why the whole time I thought y’all just ducked off to do a quick lil’ make up hunching? When y’all didn’t come back, I said, ‘Well, damn, they could’ve said bye.’”
“Oh, we did some make up hunching. You had to be a fly on the wall to see how ya girl was giving it up.” I playfully humped the bed as if they could see me.
“That’s why you pregnant now,” Ebone said.
“No, but forreal. We made up for lost time but not before we had a real conversation.”
They both went quiet, which meant they were really listening.
“He took accountability in a way that shocked me. And it wasn’t his version of accountability either. It didn’t come with that deal with it or don’t attitude. Yet it was still honest and raw. Still very Pryce.”
Key hummed. “Mr. Grinch out here making changes for the better. I love to see it.”
“And how you feel now?” Ebone asked.
“Now…” I paused, thinking about all that we’d talked about. “Now, we’re making a conscious decision to committing to do things differently,” I finished.
“And that’s what I like to hear,” Key said immediately.
“Like two people who never stopped loving each other and knew that it was never really over,” Ebone concluded.
“Yeah. Kinda like that,” I agreed.
“And what about Trill?” Ebone asked.
“What the rapper nigga with the fucked-up grills got to do wit’ this?” Key asked seriously, but Ebone fell out laughing.
“Please drop this bitch from the call, Dai. I cannot laugh anymore. What is wrong witchu?”
“Nothing,” she answered. “I’m being so forreal. Fill me in.”
“I was dating him.”
“Ooouu, bitch, you sure know how to keep a secret. You could’ve been part of them B12 niggas from wit’ Olivia Pope daddy.”
“Key!” I squealed, laughing out loud. “It was B613, girl.”
“Oh.” She snickered. “You know what I meant.”
“I mean, it wasn’t really a secret. Your cousin found out I was pregnant from a post on The Shade Room.”
“Oh, then bitch, y’all was serious?”
“No. He did some goofy shit, and that’s how we ended up on there. But to answer your question, Eb, I told him that I was back home and working things out with my child’s father.”
“And what he say?” she questioned further. Just nosey.
“He ain’t like it, but what could he do?”
“Get his ass good and whooped if he even play like he can’t accept rejection,” Key answered.
I nodded because Pryce already made that clear. Only there wouldn’t be fists but bullets for sure.
“On a lighter note,” Key spoke again. “When y’all finding out the gender of Baby Sullivan?”
“Tomorrow morning. I wanna do a gender reveal maternity photoshoot.”
“Girl, that was my next question. Can I set your shoot up? Like I’ll book everything and style y’all. It’ll be an early baby shower gift. All y’all gotta do is show up. Oh, wash y’all ass too. That’s an absolute must before you come.”
“Okay. You think you can get it done this week? My dad is back home, and I wanna surprise him and my mom with it.”
“Yeah. If you want, we can do it that Wednesday.”
“Perfect. I’ll let Pryce know. Oh, he said he don’t want his feet out at all.”
“Good. Cause I don’t wanna see them. Text me your size, so I can grab what I need.”
“Okay, cool.”
We stayed on the phone a little longer, mostly talking about nothing. Eventually, fatigue hit me, and my body slowed down before my mouth did.
“I’m gon’ go head and take this nap,” I said through a yawn.
“Okay, boo. Love you,” Ebone said. “Make sure you call me after the appointment, so I know how it went.”
“Yeah. Call me too,” Key added.
“I will. Love y’all.”
“Love you too,” Key said, and we ended the call.
Taking my foot off of the couch, where it sat tucked under my butt, I stood slowly to stretch.
Walking back to Pryce’s bedroom, I went into his drawer to grab one of his t-shirts to change into.
Stepping out of my romper, I put the shirt on with no bra underneath.
I liked the freedom. Climbing into his bed, I curled onto my side and rested my hand over my belly. I found myself doing that often.
Before closing my eyes, I sent him a text.
Me: Hey, bae. I’m about to finally take a nap, so if you call and I don’t answer, that’s why.
My Forever: If I call and you don’t answer, I’ll be calling again. I’ll be home soon. I love you.
Me: I love you too.
The last thing I remembered before falling asleep was feeling like that sense of safety was back.
During the ride to the doctor’s office, it felt like we were both holding our breaths.
I didn’t think it was because we were nervous but more so anxious.
We were doing this step together. That was everything to me after having gone to a few appointments by myself.
We were going in as a team. And I knew whatever I didn’t ask, he would.
“You nervous to find out?” he asked, pulling into the lot and parking.
“Only about you possibly calling this lady the pussy doctor while we’re in this office. Don’t do that please.”
He squeezed my leg once and leaned over to kiss my neck. “Okay. I won’t.”
“Thank you. Before we go in, we gotta have a pep talk with the baby. I need Baby Sullivan to cooperate, so we can get good pictures for the sonogram.”
“Aight.” Placing his lips at my belly, he spoke. “It’s Daddy. When we get in here, you gotta act right cause I wanna see you, okay? Don’t give the doctor a hard time. Let’s just get in and get out.” He sat back up straight and looked over at me. “What you wanna say?”
I smiled big. “I think you covered it all.”
“Cool.”
He helped me out of the car, and we made our way inside the building, taking the elevator up to the second floor where my doctor’s office was located. The receptionist smiled as soon as we stepped in.
“Look at my girl over here glowing and stuff. Look at you, girl,” the receptionist, Ms. Veronica, said from her seat behind the counter. “You’ve been holding out on us.”
Before I could respond, Pryce spoke from beside me. “Yeah. That’s a habit I’m trying to get her out of. One day at a time.”
I cut my eye at him fast, elbowing him in his stomach. He smirked and shook his head.
“Sign in here.” She laughed, sliding a clipboard over to me. “Anything changed as far as personal info? Change of address? New number? Anything like that?”
I looked over at Pryce then back to Ms. Veronica. “Yes. Change of address.”
“Okay. Whenever you’re ready, you can tell me.”
I went to give the address only for Pryce to interrupt.
“Daddy’s House is the new location,” he advised.
“Boy, move back.” I laughed and read off his address. Filling out the sign in sheet, I handed it back. “Come on.” I put my hand in Pryce’s and guided him over to the seats in the waiting room.
“I meant to ask you this the other day. Did you have a place out in Houston?”
“Yeah.” I laid my head on his shoulder. “Now I’m gonna have to go back there and pack up all my stuff, one thing I’m not looking forward to.”
Although I hadn’t accumulated much while in Houston, my apartment was fully furnished, and I had a good amount of clothes and shoes in the closet.
“I’ll pay somebody to go over there and pack everything, then we’ll get a moving company to do the actual move.”
“That’s one resolution, but where am I going to put my furniture?”
He paused and stroked his goatee. “How about you sublet the place with the furniture? It’ll be an extra stream of income for you. I’m sure somebody will put it to good use. Plus, there ain’t nothing for you to return to in Houston anyway.”
His matter-of-fact tone was one that let me know that the last part of his sentence wasn’t up for negotiation.
“Can we talk about it later?”
“Which part? The sublet, right?”
“Yes, annoying.”
Before he could say anything else, my name was called. We were escorted into an exam room and only waited a few minutes before Dr. Kerri came in.
“Oh!” Her hand went to her chest dramatically. “So, this is the reason you missed your last visit? How did this happen?” she asked, giving me a hug.
“I never thought I’d be having to give you the birds and the bees talk, Dr. Kerri.” I smiled as she stepped back to look at me.
“Daddy?” she asked Pryce, who sported a smile himself.
“Yeah. To both of them,” he said proudly.
“Sounds like my husband.” She laughed. “Congratulations to you both on your bundle of joy. Are we just doing a sonogram today?” she asked, sanitizing her hands and then snapping on a new pair of gloves.
“I got the records the other doctor sent over, and it looks like you had a visit a few days ago.”
“I did. But this is Daddy’s first time, so I wanna make sure he gets the full experience.”
“That I can do,” she said.
For the next half an hour, Dr. Kerri gave Pryce a full tour of the inside of my womb with the help of the sonogram machine.
I laid back, watching him be completely amazed by his baby’s growth.
A little guilt crept up in me thinking about that six-month gap.
Then, I remembered Key’s words reminding me that I couldn’t move forward if I was hanging my decision over my own head.
“Do you know the gender yet?”
“No,” I answered. “But you can tell us.””
“Alright. Let’s see.” She moved the probe around, pressing it into my belly to get the baby to change positions.
I glanced up to see Pryce’s brows pulled tight. Tugging at his shirt discreetly, I mouthed that I was fine. He nodded and grabbed my hand.
“Okayyyy,” Dr. Kerri sang. “Looks like you need to prepare for Mommy and Daddy’s little princess’ debut.”
I froze, and for a second, my brain didn’t even catch up. Tears fell immediately as I squeezed Pryce’s hand.
“A girl,” he marveled, sounding like he was in a trance. “Damn. I’ma go to jail.”
“Pryce, shut up.” I laughed through tears. Dr. Kerri joined in.
“Well, hopefully not,” she said, wiping the gel off my belly.
Pryce helped me sit up and step down off the exam table.
“As I mentioned, you’re entering that third trimester. I want you to keep moving, but at the same time, don’t overdo it. We want baby girl to come when she’s ready.”
“Oh, I’m on her ass,” Pryce assured.
“Thank you,” Dr. Kerri said and gave me a brief hug. “Schedule your follow up with Veronica.”
I ended up leading Pryce out of the office when we left. He couldn’t keep his eyes off the 3D images. I had him holding onto the hoop of my shorts as I guided him to the elevator.
“She look like me, don’t she?” he said, holding the sonogram up for me to see.
“Yes, baby.” I giggled. “She got your head, mouth, and nose.”
He pulled me back by my shorts and forced my neck up to kiss him. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The elevator doors dinged, and when they opened, the Alexis chick from the diner walked off. She smiled the second she saw us and put her hand at the elevator door to keep it open. With a smirk on her face as we stepped on, she winked and rubbed her stomach slow and deliberately.
“Fuck outta here, clown,” Pryce gritted, hitting the door close button.
She moved her hand quickly. All of a sudden, our happy moment turned into an ominous one, as if we needed anything else hanging over our heads.