Page 2 of Virgo Type Sh*t
Her mother comforted me and encouraged me to leave. When I got back to my house, I cried myself to sleep. I wanted my baby boy.
I was at my baby boy’s funeral, and I hated that I was pissed. An hour before the funeral, James told me that he wouldn’t be attending, because the grief was too much.What the fuck do you mean the grief is too much!I wanted to go to his ass, but I let him have it.
Today was about Derrick James Henderson. That was another thing that he and his mother had an attitude about. They wanted my son’s last name to be Nelson. I declined nicely. James and I had been together for four years, and I was still waiting for the last damn name. I told him well before I became pregnant that my children’s last name would always match mine.
His mother was here with a stink ass snarl. Ask me if any of my people cared. She needed to chill before a grave was dug next to her grandson’s grave for her ass. The funeral was short, beautiful, and sweet. Just how I wanted it.
“Cousin, I didn’t know you were coming.” I almost ran to my favorite cousin, Fiona, and her husband, Croy. They lived all the way in South Carolina. I assumed that they wouldn’t make a trip all the way here for this.
Fiona pulled me into her arms. “Shut the hell up, girl. You know I’m here whenever you need me.” She pulled back, then cupped my cheeks in the palm of her hand. “You should havecalled me when D.J. was born, but I’m going to give your pretty ass a pass.”
There was a pretty big age gap between Fiona and me. None of that mattered because it felt like we were more like sisters than cousins. What I loved about our relationship was that we didn’t have to be in each other’s face or business about everything, but if we needed each other, we were there. When we talked, you would never know that we hadn’t talked in months. Her father, Dan, and my father, Derrick, were brothers.
“I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to bother you.” I wrapped my arms around her again. “Thank you so much for coming.”
“Dang, I can’t get any love? I did come with her ass.” Croy feigned annoyance. I loved him too. Separately, these two were brilliant. Together, they were brilliantly insane. They both were with the shits, and it was no secret in our family. My Uncle Dan ran a weapons training center here in Silver City for Christianson Enterprises, who Fiona and Croy used to work for before they retired.
I moved over to hug Croy’s muscular body. When you saw him, you wouldn’t think,oh this is a world-renowned surgeon.There was a street edge that he had to himself. “Hey, Croy. You’re looking bigger than ever.” I laughed wholeheartedly when he mushed my forehead.I didn’t think that I would be able to do that again.
“Girl, hush.” He tittered before his expression got serious. “How are you?” He looked around, then asked, “Where is D.J.’s father?” When I told him about why James chose not to come, his jaw tightened, but he didn’t say anything.
“We are here for you. Fuck that nigga.” Fiona proclaimed it, so that was what it was.Fuck that nigga.
A Little Time Later . . .
“You are so beautiful,” I cooed as I held my month-old goddaughter. Pepper had been the main person that kept me sane these days. I appreciated my best friend for allowing me to have as much access to her as I wanted.
Faheeta laughed before she rolled her eyes. “Girl, she might be beautiful, but her ass is shitty as hell. That breast milk runs right through her ass.”
I laughed because I’d changed a few of those stink ass diapers. “Don’t do my baby Pepper like that. Tell mama that you can’t help it.”
I loved this little girl. Every time I saw her and spent time with her, my heart didn’t hurt as much as it did when she wasn’t with me. We were sitting in the den of my house after we’d come in from brunch. I tried to keep myself busy with spending time with my family, best friend, goddaughter, and going to work. James and I were in a weird place. It was like we were two silent ships sailing in the night past each other. I wished it bothered me, but I couldn’t say that it did.
Did I want my relationship to work? I guessed I did. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make it work because I loved him or because I felt that I had invested so much time in this relationship. I loved the hell out of his ass, but the loss of our son shifted our relationship in an ugly way.
“I wish you would let me keep her for your work trip,” I told her. “We would have so much fun. Give my baby some princess treatment.”
Faheeta worked as a regional trainer for a franchised restaurant. They had just opened a new restaurant in Texas, so she had to train the managers so that they could train their staff. She was amazing at what she did. “Girl, you act like you’re not on her daycare authorization list. You know good and well if you call my mama and say you want her that she’ll pass my baby like a bag of beans.” We both laughed at that shit. She was right.
When Pepper fell asleep, I placed her in the egg-shaped baby swing that was in the corner of the room. I still owned a lot of the baby things that I brought for my son because I used them for my goddaughter. There was no reason to get rid of the stuff when I knew that I would have Pepper a lot. James didn’t like that I kept a lot of the things, because he felt some of the things that I kept, Faheeta could have brought with her like bottles and diapers. He was barely home anymore, so like Fiona said, fuck him.
Speak of the devil. My alarm alerted me that he came into the house. We both worked at different construction sites right now, at opposite hours. When he wasn’t working, he might have been home for a few hours of the day, but then he was gone. I wasn’t stupid and knew that he more than likely was cheating, but I didn’t care. James cheated earlier in our relationship, and I left him. He begged me to take his ass back, so I did.
The girl that he cheated on me with became a thorn in his side. I wouldn’t say mine because I was a hard person to bother. I could never remember her name, so I nicknamed her baby back whale.Baby back whale tried hard to get on my nerves. The more she tried, the more upset she became because I didn’t respond the way she expected.
I would never react the way these bitches wanted me to. You could never be too predictable for these hoes. Baby back whale fell back from her crazy behavior, when she opened her car door to go to work one morning and it was infested with roaches and ants. A note was left that saidthe family needs a ride too.All I needed for that plan was a few good crackheads. I didn’t ask any questions about where they got the bugs from, and I didn’t care.
James walked into the den and immediately rolled his eyes at my best friend. Without a formal greeting, he said, “Look, Mekole, we need to talk.” He glanced at Faheeta, then back at me. “I would ask her ass to leave, but I know your ass is going to tell her anyway. I’m saving you some time.”
He paused like I had something to say, or he wanted to give me time to say something. “Um, did you want me to say something? You’re right. More than likely, I will tell her because I already know this is going to be bullshit.”
He shook his head. “Yeah, whatever. I know we just lost our son, but let’s not act like our relationship wasn’t struggling before he was born. I don’t want to be the nigga to drag the relationship out because I want to be overly considerate of your grieving. That would only make it harder on everyone involved. I think we should just be done with it.”
Was I hurt? A little, but not for the reasons that one would think. “Ok, that’s fine. I appreciate you letting me know. Yes, our relationship was struggling, and you shouldn’t have felt the need to wait because I was pregnant. How long will it take for you to get your things out?”
He gawked at me, then his head ping ponged between Faheeta and me. “You don’t even give a fuck. What the fuck am I here for if you don’t give a fuck!”
My head popped around to make sure Pepper didn’t wake up because of his loud ass. “James, can you please keep it down? Pepper is sleeping. No one is yelling, so there is no need for youto. Again, how long do you need to get your things out, hun? It’s not that I don’t give a fuck, but I’ll never let a nigga tell me twice that he doesn’t want me. You told me once, and I’m good on you.”
