Page 48 of Through Treacherous Weather
Fatima offered to come over and cook for Esco and the girls. She was going to prepare pot roast with carrots and potatoes along with green beans and cornbread. Since she’d cleaned for Esco he asked her for the info on her cleaners, and he was getting his home cleaned once a week. She could tell they had been there that day because his kitchen was spotless and everything was in its’ place. Fatima looked around for everything that she would need to start the meal.
She went to the YouTube app on her phone and turned on an episode of her favorite podcast to watch while she was cooking. Fatima had great examples of women in her life. Her mother, both of her grandmothers, Trinity, etc. She had a few ratchet cousins, but Fatima was around a lot of classy women. It had been that way most of her life. She’d never seen Nana, her father’s mother wear sneakers. It was always heels, boots, flats, or sandals. Her mother was a sneakerhead, but she was a fashionista. She stayed fly and was the one that taught Fatima the importance of always looking her best. Her mother told her if she looked a mess, she’d feel a mess.
Fatima also liked to listen to podcasts that motivated and inspired women that looked like her. She loved to see smart, educated women that had their shit together with or without a man. When she told Heiress that once the mystery was solved, she needed a vacation, she hadn’t lied. Fatima had been juggling both jobs, working hard because she was about to go on a five day vacation to the Dominican Republic. Winter was busy with her wedding and the rest of the women in the crew aside from Trinity had kids. Trinity had classes to teach that were already planned and set up, and since the thing with Heiress, she didn’t trust anybody outside of family. So, Fatima was going to DR by herself.
She’d watched enough of her favorite Youtubers to know that people traveled solo all the time and as long as she took the necessary precautions, she should be okay. Once the pot roast was in the oven, Fatima started on cutting the carrots and potatoes. Esco joined her in the kitchen and leaned up against the counter.
“I swear you’ve only been in here for thirty minutes, and it smells good as hell.”
“You already know how I get down in the kitchen,” she simpered.
“I damn sure do, and my mouth is watering. Both the girls have been on one today. I’m about to go ahead and get them bathed, so after they eat, it’s lights out for their asses.”
Fatima grinned and shook her head as he left the kitchen. With all of the kids around her, she was good on having her own until she was at least thirty. She didn’t think Esco would mind. As she caught herself, Fatima chuckled. She wasn’t even with Esco at the moment, so it was bold to assume they’d be together when she was thirty. They were going with the flow, and she didn’t mind. She liked him. A lot, but only time would tell if they were truly compatible. No matter how much she liked a guy or his dick, she refused to force anything. Either it happened organically or it didn’t.
Attempting to force something that wasn’t meant to be was nothing but a waste of time. She’d rather for it to hurt now than to hurt later. After washing the carrots and potatoes, she placed them aside and went into the living room. It was empty, but she didn’t change the channel from the Gracie’s Corner that was on the television. Setting a timer on her phone, so she wouldn’t forget to add the carrots and potatoes, Fatima got comfortable on the couch and began to scroll on her social media apps.
When Esco came back into the room, Star and Shai’Ann were running behind him all smiles clad in matching pajamas. Fatima didn’t like that she couldn’t spend the night. They weren’t there yet. The girls had only seen her twice, so she wasn’t going to sleep in Esco’s bed while they were home but aside from that issue, dating a single father wasn’t so bad. It was actually quite sexy to see him being such a great father. Even the way he’d worked things out with Grey showed how mature he was. Fatima was all for fun in college, so the immature guys that she met that only cared about being turned up every weekend and running through different women didn’t bother her. But she was no longer a college student, and she wanted something different.
The doorbell rang, and Star ran for the door.
“Don’t open that door,” Esco instructed her.
Star waited at the door while Shai’Ann crawled onto the couch. Fatima was helping her as Esco opened the door. “Mommy!” Star squealed as Sophie stepped inside the house while Esco frowned.
Sophie’s eyes landed on Fatima, and her gut twisted as she watched the woman with her daughter. “Hey, baby,” Sophie tore her eyes away from Fatima and looked down at Star.
She didn’t ask Esco about Sophie, and he didn’t bring her up. Fatima immediately noticed that the woman had put on a few pounds. The added weight was obvious in her body and her face. It looked good on her. Fatima couldn’t deny that she was a very pretty woman. She was dressed in a sweatsuit and no longer looked like an addict.
“Who is she?” Sophie asked Esco with eyes full of pain. She’d been so high the day he confronted her on the block, she didn’t even recognize that Fatima was the same person from that day.
“I think the better question is what are you doing here?” Keeping in mind that Star was present and excited to see Sophie, he refused to get out of pocket in front of her, but he was so pissed that his upper lip was curling.
“I was released from the program this morning. I finished. I’m clean, and I wanted to see my kids.”
“You’re clean, mommy?” Star looked up at Sophie curiously. “I’m clean too. Me and Shai’Ann just took baths.”
Fatima could tell that Sophie wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Star was too happy to see her, and Esco wouldn’t upset her by telling Sophie to leave. She stood and cleared her throat. “In about an hour, you can add the carrots and potatoes to the pot roast.”
Sophie grilled Fatima but didn’t say anything.
“My bad, yo. I’ll call you. Thank you,” Esco responded.
“You’re welcome.”
Fatima walked out to her car feeling some kind of way. Sophie was Star and Shai’Ann’s mother. No matter how much dirt she’d done in the past, Star’s eyes lit up when she saw her mother. As long as she was on drugs, Fatima knew she wouldn’t have to deal with Sophie like that, but clean Sophie might be a problem. The sober version of Sophie more than likely realized what a good man she let go of and even if Esco never took her back, she wouldn’t be happy about it. Drama was what Fatima didn’t have time for, but Esco was a good man, and she wasn’t going to let someone that didn’t appreciate him run her away from him.
“You have a girlfriend now?” Sophie asked as Esco closed the door.
“You’re here for Star and Shai’Ann. Not to be in my business, and make this the last time that you come to my crib without calling and asking permission.”
“Mommy doesn’t need permission to come here, daddy,” Star giggled.
The look Esco shot her told Star that even if she didn’t understand the reason why, daddy wasn’t in a good mood. “If I say she does then she does.”
“It’s not her fault, Esco.”
“You’re right. It’s not her fault it’s yours. You have an hour.” He walked off without waiting for a response.
