Page 84 of Honey's Special Roux

“Keep your fingers spread when you dribble the ball to have more control. You want to pivot when necessary.”

“What’s a pivot?” Quis asked as he slowly dribbled the ball.

“Pass me the ball, and I’ll show you.”

Quis used both hands to throw the ball to Marquise. Marquise showed how to pivot and the rules in which a player would pivot on the court. Then he taught Quis a few drills. Quis was just happy to play with the man, which kept a permanent smile on my face.

The sun swapped places with the moon, so it was time to intervene in their playtime.

“It’s time to eat and get ready for bed.”

“Aww, Mommy. Can we play for a little while longer, please?” Quis whined.

Marquise scooped him into his arms. “We can play some more tomorrow. Your mom is right. We have to eat and get cleaned up for bed.”

Quis pouted. “Okay. Can Mr. Marquise do bedtime with me, Mommy?”

“I don’t know. Ask him.”

Quis looked up at his twin.

Marquise grinned. “I’d love to do bedtime with you, kid.”

Quis naturally gravitated to his father without even knowing Marquise was his dad. Crazy how things worked like that.

We ordered takeout tonight because I was too exhausted to cook. Once we’d all eaten, Quis and Marquise handled bedtime while I straightened up the kitchen and living room. I went outside and deflated the T-Rex costume and put it in a bag for Marquise to take home. Once I finished cleaning, I opted to keep the productivity going. I poured a glass of wine and opened my laptop to catch up on emails while I waited for Marquise to come back down the stairs.

About thirty minutes later, Marquise emerged with a smile on his face. “I love that little boy.”

“Me too.” I finished the contents of my second cup of wine and closed my laptop.

“Thank you for giving me another chance. I knew if I hadn’t made a grand gesture after the call we had yesterday, you might have blocked me.”

I smirked. “Glad you know. You were ten seconds away from getting blocked. I almost regret letting you in his life, but the bond y’all have grown over such a short amount of time… is beautiful.”

“You mind if I join you?” he asked as he motioned to the seat beside me.

“Go ahead. You can get a glass of wine too.”

“Fa sho.” He went into the kitchen and retrieved a wine glass and the chilled bottle from the refrigerator. When he returned, he sat beside me and filled both of our cups up.

“This parent shit couldn’t have been easy alone,” he commented.

I shook my head. “It wasn’t too bad because of the village I have. Postpartum wasn’t too bad, but there were nights when I’d cry myself to sleep because I wasn’t sure the decisions I made were what was best for him, you know?”

He nodded. “I feel it. From where I stand, you did an amazing job of raising him. You’re an amazing mother, and he’s lucky to have you in his life.”

I reached out and held Marquise’s hand. I rubbed his knuckles and sighed.

“Thank you.”

“Nah, thank you.”

“For what?”

“Being open to letting me be a part of y’all’s life again.”

“It was the right thing to do. We were very much in love until that moment.”

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