Chapter 18
The next few days, Eva was deep into wedding planning, while I was deep into trying to clear up the bullshit my ex started. Initially, my publicist, Loreal, suggested I ignore it. None of the big media outlets had picked it up, and she thought it would die down quickly.
I wasn’t sure about her suggestion, but I rolled with it. When the notifications began to slow down, I thought Loreal was on to something, but three days after the initial fallout, I realized Loreal was wrong.
Eva posted a few pictures from her birthday, and the last one in the post was of her ring.
Her caption read, “Best birthday ever. God is still in the business of creating good men. Don’t give up, ladies.
” One of those internet detectives Eva had mentioned must’ve had time because they went down the rabbit hole and connected the dots.
By the time we got wind of it, the blogs had crafted stories that couldn’t be further from the truth.
One of the stories they concocted had me and Eva as long-time lovers, who snuck around behind our partners’ backs.
They claimed it was easy for us to do because Semaj was my best friend and was married to Eva’s sister.
A source “close to me” reported that Eva and I began our affair years ago when I found out Mia couldn’t have children. Another source “close to Eva” stated that she refused to marry her ex because she was waiting for me to divorce Mia and marry her.
We had no idea who these sources were or how they came up with their crazy stories, but the situation had gotten out of hand. I refused to ignore it any longer and allow others to create a narrative that wasn’t true.
Loreal reached out to Keeping It In the Closet and made them an offer for an exclusive interview.
If they wanted the interview, the only thing they could post regarding the situation was my interview, and they had to remove everything else from their social media pages and website.
They also could never post anything about Mia again.
Keeping It In the Closet tried to negotiate and asked for exclusive access to our wedding, but we’d already promised that to a larger platform with the same requirements we’d given them. Eventually, they agreed, and the interview went smoothly. It would be posted in a few days.
Social media blogs were like monkey-see, monkey-do. I knew once KIITC posted my interview, smaller platforms would jump on the bandwagon and repost it.
The last thing my publicist suggested was moving forward with suing Mia. I didn’t want to take it that far, but I had no idea if she’d continue feeding lies to the blogs, or if she felt she’d done enough. I decided to hold off on suing her for now but kept the idea locked and loaded.
After two weeks in paradise, I didn’t expect to come home to a shitstorm, but I hoped things would begin to settle down in the coming days. I told Eva not to worry about anything and assured her I’d handle it.
Thankfully, she trusted me and took everything in stride . . . Either that, or she was too busy with the wedding plans to let social media drama bother her. Whichever it was, I was grateful things between us continued to be smooth sailing.
“You clean up well,” Semaj commented when he stepped out of the dressing room.
I’d asked him to be my best man, and we’d been tasked with choosing and getting fitted for our wedding day suits. I invited Mr. Fuller to come with us because he needed a suit as well.
“That’s not news, nigga. I ain’t never been a bum. You wanna go with that one?” I asked, referring to the suit he was wearing.
“It’s cool, but let me see what Pops says.”
As if on cue, Mr. Fuller stepped out of the dressing room. He looked dapper, and I could tell he was feeling himself as he joined Semaj in the mirror.
“What do you think, Mr. Fuller?” I asked.
“I like it. My wife won’t be able to keep her hands off me.”
Semaj and I laughed.
“That’s a good thing,” I said. “Semaj, can you let the tailor know we’re ready to be measured?”
He nodded and walked away, leaving me alone with my soon-to-be father-in-law.
“My wife tells me you don’t have much family,” Mr. Fuller said.
“I don’t, sir. My grandparents passed away before I was born, and both my parents were only children. They died when I was in my twenties.”
“Wow. I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Thank you, sir. They were addicts for most of my life, but I truly believe God gave me the good parts of each of them.”
“From what I’ve seen, I would have to agree. What’s going on with that situation on the internet?”
“Basically, my ex-wife is pissed I moved on so quickly and wanted to get my attention.”
“Did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Move on quickly.”
“I don’t believe I did. I loved Mia, but after falling for Eva, I realized I was never in love with Mia.
She came into my life when I was vulnerable and tired of being alone.
I wanted someone to come home to, someone to build a life with, and I was content, but I wasn’t happy.
Then she switched up on me, and instead of staying married and becoming resentful, we agreed a divorce would be best.”
“It sounds like that chapter of your life is closed.”
“You have my word, sir.”
He nodded, offered his hand, and I took it. After he placed his free hand on my shoulder, he said, “I believe you. I know I can’t replace your father, but as long as you love, cherish, honor, and respect my daughter, I’ll fill that void for you as best I can.”
The knot in my throat made it hard to speak, but I managed to say, “Thank you, Mr. Fuller.”
“Stop with the formalities. Call me Pops.”
He pulled me into a hug as I held back tears.
I considered myself a tough nigga and could probably count on one hand the number of times I’d cried as a grown man.
Yet hearing this man offer to fill the void left by my father and then give me permission to call him ‘Pops’ almost broke me down.
It probably would have, had Semaj not returned with the tailor.
“He’ll hook you up first, Solo,” Semaj announced as the tailor approached me.
It took about an hour to measure the three of us for shirts, pants, vests, and suit jackets. Before going our separate ways, we had dinner at a bar and grill that wasn’t too far from our location.
Aside from my coaches when I was in the league and Semaj’s father, I didn’t have any older, wiser men in my life. Mia’s father and I were cool but didn’t connect in a father-son way. Things with Eva’s father were already different, and I looked forward to continuing to bond with him.
I was out a lot later than I anticipated. When I arrived home, Eva was already showered and in bed, but she wasn’t asleep.
“Wait up for me. I’ll be out in ten minutes,” I told her after kissing her cheek.
I quickly showered, took care of the rest of my hygiene, and slid into bed naked next to Eva. She was facing the opposite way, and I eased behind her until her back was against my chest.
“I missed you, pretty girl.” I kissed the top of her head.
“I missed you too. I’m so tired.”
“Is that your way of telling me I can’t have no pussy?”
She giggled lazily. “I’m never too tired for that, but I am tired.”
“I’ll leave you alone tonight, but don’t be surprised if I wake you up with my tongue on your pussy.”
“That’s my favorite way to wake up, so please do. I take it you got everything squared away with your tux.”
“Me, Semaj, and your father are all good.”
“Good. Where’d y’all go to dinner?”
“Some place around the corner from where we got our suits. I don’t remember the name, but the food was good. Your father is cool.”
“He is, and so is my mother.”
“They both make me feel welcome. I already feel like a part of your family.”
“Good. Before you know it, they’ll love you as much as I do.”
She yawned and tried to move her body even closer to mine, but it was impossible unless she got inside my skin.
“Good night, baby,” I whispered.
“Night.”
Almost immediately, the pace of her breathing changed, and she was fast asleep. I wasn’t far behind her.