Page 30 of Christmas Luvin

Mydad huggedPee-Weeand then hugged me tightly, kissed me on my forehead, and congratulated me on the engagement.

“Youknew all along too.That’swhy whenIwalked over yesterday, y’all stopped talking.Youwas supposed to give me a hint,Daddy,”Ijoked, and he laughed.

“Icouldn’t ruin the surprise, beautiful.Here,Igot you something.Ibeen dying to give this to you,” he said before walking away for a minute and coming back with a small gift bag.

Iquickly opened it and pulled out a black jewelry box.Therewas a beautiful necklace inside with a heart on it.

“ItwasBritney’s.Igifted it to her back in college.Ispent a pretty penny on it, and when we broke up, she didn’t feel right holding onto something she knewIhad spent a lot of money on, so she gave it back to me.I’veheld onto it for all these years because, back then,Iused to believe we would get back together, andIwould have an opportunity to give it back to her.She’sno longer here with us, soIwant you to have it,” he said.

Hearingthe story behind the necklace caused a couple of tears to fall from my eyes.Ihugged him and thanked him, then he put the necklace on me.Itwas silver and so beautiful.Knowingthis necklace used to be around my mom’s neck,Iwould probably never take it off.

Afterthat,Iwent around speaking to the rest of my family.Mymom’s best friend,Athena, wasn’t there because her family had gone toMemphisfor the holidays.Butshe andIspoke on the phone this morning and told each otherMerryChristmas.Itold her thatPee-WeeandIwere engaged.Shewas so happy and screaming into the phone.Ashappy as her reaction made me, it also made me a little sad because it had me thinking about my mother and knowing that it would have been just a piece of her reaction if she had been there to hear about my engagement.IlovedAthena.Welived in two different states, but we called to check in on each other often.

Allmy cousins, aunts, and uncles had congratulated me on the engagement, andIjust kept thinking about how big of a wedding this was going to be.EvenifIwanted to do small,Iwouldn’t be able to because my dad’s side of the family was huge.Pee-Wee’sfamily was big, and he had so many friends.Iwas sure he would want to invite everyone he knew.Hewoke up this morning talking about the wedding, and according to him, our wedding was going to be a movie.

Iate good food at my grandparents’ house, opened gifts, exchanged gifts, and just overall enjoyed being around my loved ones.Asmuch fun asIwas having,Icould still pick up onCarmen’senergy and tell she just wasn’t herself today.I’dalready asked her twice if she was fine, but she kept downplaying it, saying she was good but just hungover.Ididn’t want to keep pushing her, soIleft it alone.

Rightnow,Iwas outside, sitting with my other cousins, andIdidn’t seeCarmenanymore.Pee-Weewas not too far away, sitting at a table with the other men, playing spades.

“WheredidCarmengo?”Iasked my older cousin,Emilia, whoIwas cool with too.

Emiliawas pregnant.Shewasn’t showing or anything yet, but yesterday she wasn’t drinking with everyone else, and that’s whenIlearned about her pregnancy.Wefollowed each other onInstagram, and she was one of those women who would put emojis over her partner’s face whenever she posted them, and she didn’t come with anyone yesterday or today, soIdidn’t know too much know about how her relationship worked.EmiliaandIhad a good relationship, but she was just very secretive and didn’t talk too much about her love life, which was cool becauseIcould be the same way.Ididn’t hide my man, though.Mysocial media account looked like it was me andPee-Wee’saccount with the way that we posted each other.

“I’msure in the house, arguing withRamonte.That’sall her ass does.Ifshe continues to keepSofiaaway from him, that man is going to eventually find her ass and snap,” she let me know.

RamontewasCarmen’sbaby daddy.Isaid before that their shit was toxic.Ihad witnessed the two of them go at it over the phone plenty of times.Theystill fucked each other, too.Well,Iknew they used to, butIwasn’t sure if that was still the case.

HearingEmiliasay thatCarmenwas keepingSofiaaway from him just put a lot of stuff into perspective.Shewould often leaveSofiawith either her mom or her dad and then just pop up inMiami.Shewas so adamant about moving toMiami, and she told me the other day that she’d accepted the bartending position at one of the clubs inMiami, and her lease for the new apartment was set to start onJanuarysecond.Icouldn’t help but wonder if she was running away fromRamonteand what the hell she had going on.

Istood up and excused myself, then went inside the house.

BeforeItook the stairs up,Iremoved my boots.Thishome was so big thatCarmencould have been in any of the guest bedrooms.Itdidn’t take long to find her, though, becauseIheard her speaking from the other side of a bedroom door.Hervoice cracked as she talked, which was weird becauseIhad never seenCarmencry.Shewas always so strong, never really having a weak moment, so it was just shocking to hear her like that.

Insteadof knocking on the door,Ijust walked right in.Shejumped when she saw me, and her eyes were red like she’d been crying.

Iwalked into the bedroom, then closed and locked the door behind me.

“Youdoing spiteful, bitter baby mama ass shit!WhenIsee you, watchIslap the fuck out of you.Yourunning around, leaving my fuckin’ daughter in places, andIdon’t even know where the fuck she be at!Ionknow where your people stay, andIdone already pulled up on about three of your homegirls, andSofydon’t be over there.Thisshit funny to you?Youthink that shit cute that you keeping me away from my fuckin’ child?Andwhat the fuck is this shitI’mhearing about you out inMiami, applying for positions at a fuckin’ club out there?Doyour dumb ass not know thatIgot folk inMiamitoo?Whileyou doing all that shit, where the fuck my daughter be at,Carmen?Movemy daughter fromAtlantatoMiami, andI’mbeating the fuck out of you!Tryme!” he barked at her.

Thething is, the phone wasn’t even on speaker or anything like that, but he was yelling so loud thatIcould hear what he said word for word.

“Ramonte, those fuckin’ threats don’t scare me!Theynever have.Youknow as well asIknow whyI’mkeepingSofiaaway from you.Youhad my daughter around that fuckin’ bitch, andSofycame back to me with a bruise on her back.Iasked her what happened, and she told me that daddy’s friend hit her, and that’s whyIpulled up on that bitch at her job and beat her ass.Stopleaving my child around fuckin’ hoes!Iget on you about this shit all the fuckin’ time!Then, you be having my daughter in fuckin’ trap houses!Toontold me—”

“Toonwants to fuck you, so that nigga is going to say anything to get some brownie points.Letthat nigga fuck, andI’mkilling you!Ididn’t haveSofyin no fuckin’ trap house!Idrove by that shit whenIhad her with me, but we never fuckin’ went inside!Youstill on that shit, talking aboutNoriput her hands onSofy?Noriain’t stupid enough to do no shit like that.SheknowsI’llkill her for less.Yougon’ take your dumb ass ’round there to that girl’s job, fighting her and shit, whenIalready told you she ain’t do that shit, but fuck all of that, though.Wherethe fuck is my daughter?Igot gifts for her thatIwant to drop off!” he barked.

Atear fell fromCarmen’seye that she angrily wiped.Insteadof responding, she just hung the phone up.Noteven a second later, her phone started ringing.Itwas an unknown number calling, andIwas sure it wasRamontecalling her back.

“Ugh!Ifuckin’ hate him!Bri, go back downstairs.Ineed to get my shit together, andIdon’t need my issues ruining your holiday,” she stated, and her voice cracked.

Iwouldn’t dare leave her alone while she was going through this.

“You’renot ruining my holiday.Carmen, what’s going on?Areyou running from him?It’sthat why you’re about to move toMiami?Allthem threats that he was making over the phone, do you think he will really do it?He’stalking about killing you,”Iresponded.

Shewiped her eyes and looked at me. “Thoseare scare tactics.That’swhatRamontedoes.I’llnever keep my daughter away from her father, butIdon’t trust the reckless shit he does when he has her.Granted,Iknew the kind of street dude he was whenIwas with him, andIknew the dangerIput myself in by having a kid with him.Buthaving his hoes put their hands on my daughter and havingSofiaat trap houses, whether he went inside or not, and just a bunch of other shit,I’mnot going for.So, no, she’s not going with him!” she spat.

“Whatelse aren’t you telling me, though,Carmen?Ifeel like you’re leaving out a big chunk of information,”Isaid.

Shesighed and took a seat next to me on the bed.Insteadof looking at me, she just looked ahead at the mirror that was mounted on the dresser.

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