Page 59 of Sunday

“Is that how you want it, Sunny? I’m not with this sneaky shit.”

“I’m so damn over you and your accusations.”

“Do what you gotta do then, Sunny.”

“What are you saying to me?”

“I’m saying maybe you’re right. Maybe this shit ain’t meant for us to be.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ll be gone when you get home.”

“Don’t bother, Cedar. I’ll leave.”

“Where you taking my kid to?”

“Home. With my family where I belong.”

I chuckled sarcastically and shook my head. “And you was the same one who said you wanted me to have as much say-so over my kid as you do. Now you’re running out on me.”

“Weren’t you about to do the same thing?” she challenged, crossing her arms over her chest.

“You think I’m playing with your ass, Sunday?”

“I don’t care, Cedar. When I said I needed space, you blew up and left the house. You haven’t spoken to me in days, and now, when things don’t go your way, you want to say the same thing to me, and I’m just supposed to be okay. Now you’re saying that you’re going to leave. I’m tired of the merry-go-round.”

I walked up to her and stared her down. “It’s not the same shit, and you know it. You’re carrying my seed. You don’t get to just walk away from me like that.”

“Watch me.”

She turned her back on me and walked away again. I ran up on Sunday and snatched her by the elbow. “The only thing I’ll be watching is you carrying your ass back to work, heading home, and taking care of you and my seed.”

“I’ll take care of me and our son just fine. I don’t need to be under you to make that happen.”

“I’m clear on that,” I replied. I marched her back across the street and made sure she made it to the building safely. BecauseI had an appointment with the city inspector, I couldn’t stick around for a longer conversation.

“I’ll talk to you at home, Sunny.”

Just as I left her at the door of the building and turned away, Sunday declared, “I don’t have to be at the apartment either.”

I turned around and mugged her. “Don’t have your ass there when I come home. I’ma know something.”

“Cedar, calm your ass down before these white folks call the cops on you.”

“Nigga, you didn’t have to roll with me,” I replied and banged on the door again.

“I did. I’m probably the only one who’ll be interested in saving your ass from going to jail,” Shawn hissed as the front door opened.

I mugged the man on the other side. I wanted to break my size thirteens off in his ass.

“Have you lost your goddamned mind banging on my door like that?” he seethed through clenched teeth.

“Is Sunday here?”

His scowl transformed into a smirk as he crossed his arms. “My daughter finally wised up and left you. Good for her. I knew she had some self-dignity.”

My right fist instinctively went out. Shawn snatched my arm and pulled me back at the same time that Mrs. Monroe stepped in front of her husband. I’d barely missed punching him in his shit, but I did manage to grab his shirt collar with my left hand.

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