Page 30 of Love Next Door
Briana leaned over and passed the baby to me before I could respond. I took her in my arms, and she squirmed, wriggling her body up as she made a face. A smell emanated from her that shouldn’t come from any person this little. A long sound accompanied it.
Briana giggled. “She’s a little gassy. Breast milk does that to her,” she explained.
“It’s fine,” I declared, staring at the baby. She was beautiful, and she looked just like Briana with her toasted cinnamon brown face, with her thick curls and pouty, heart-shaped lips. “She’s beautiful,” I noted, handing the baby back to Briana just as she started crying.
Briana placed her on her shoulder and patted her back gently to burp her.
“What did you name her?”
“Tynique Solé.”
I wondered what happened to the time when parents just named their kids shit like Mary, Anne, and Deborah. Half the names that these kids were given, the kids couldn’t even spell them.
“Congratulations,” I replied instead, shoving aside the hurt over the fact that she should have been mine.
“Thank you. Sooo . . . I know that you didn’t come to see her. You didn’t come bearing gifts.”
I frowned, thinking about that. I felt bad because maybe I should’ve gotten the li’l jit a bear or a rattle or some shit.
“Stop thinking too far into it,” Briana countered and squeezed my arm.
I dragged my hand down my face so that I could refocus on the purpose of my visit. “Have you seen Abril since the day you popped up at my place and y’all got into it?”
“Abril?”
“Yeah. My girl.”
Briana’s face scrunched up, and I knew that she hated hearing that, but we were in the place we were because of her actions. It wasn’t anything that I had done to break us up. Her selfishness and nympho ways were what led us here.
“Uhm, . . . I might have seen her a few days ago.”
“Where?”
Briana’s face twisted into a grimace as she looked away from me. She glanced down at her baby, who had started squirming again and released one of those noxious odors.
“Aye, you gon’ have to do something ’bout li’l mama. She’s too little and too cute to smell like that, man.”
Briana rolled her eyes. “She can’t help it.” She moved the baby to her other shoulder and continued patting her.
“Yeah, a’ight. Anyway. Where did you see Abril, Briana?”
She cleared her throat. “At your place.”
“The fuck you mean at my place? You went back to visit her?” The doorbell rang, and Briana looked relieved to escape my presence.
“Can you hold her for a second?” she asked, holding the baby out to me.
I took her warily and stared into her precious face as Briana went to answer the door. I shook my head as heartache ripped through me once again. This was supposed to have been my kid. I still couldn’t get past the fact that her daddy didn’t want shit to do with her. How the hell could you skip out on such a precious miracle like a baby?
She was so beautiful and chunky with her rosy cheeks. I smoothed a finger down her face, and her little eyes fluttered open. She blinked several times before her gaze landed on me.
“Hey, beautiful. Your mama lucked up with you, precious. I mean, once she does something ’bout them bubble guts you got going on, you gon’ snag everybody’s hearts who lay eyes on you.”
The baby opened her mouth and grinned, showing nothing but a mouthful of gums. My heart squeezed in my chest. Shit. I wanted a baby of my own. My attention was drawn away from her when I heard loud voices arguing.
I stood up and walked out into the hallway and toward the front door. Briana quickly made introductions to me and the man standing there. “July, this is Keith, and Keith, this is July.”
“Wassup, man. I was just leaving,” I stated as I held the baby out to Briana.
