Page 34 of Fever: Love In Scrubs
“Yes she did. The audacity. Fool me one time and you won’t get to fool me again. She went back to putting the blame on me for her cheating. I get it, I had to work, and I worked a lot. But I still took care of home. I took care of her and Jamari. I didn’tdeserve her cheating and I for damn sure didn’t deserve to be stolen from.”
“Does this woman you’re going on a date with have a good job?”
I nodded. “She does. She works with kids in foster care to prepare them for life on the outside. Kind of like a mentor.”
“So she likes kids. That’s good. She knows about Jamari?”
“Of course. I never keep my baby a secret. We’re a packaged deal.”
“You know Amandela is gonna start some shit when she finds out you’re dating.”
I shook my head as I dried the frying pan in my hand. “I’m prepared.”
“So…tell me about her.”
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. “Well, she’s thirty. Never married. No kids.”
“What’s her family like?
“The only family she’s told me a good bit about is her aunt and cousin. She lived with them after leaving her dad’s at fifteen. Her father was a hoarder. Her mother passed away during childbirth, and he never really got over it. She said their home was like a graveyard for her mother’s memory.”
She shook her head as she dried her hands. “Grief will consume you if you let it. That poor child. You make sure you make her comfortable, Jaxson. I’m sure she has some trauma from living like that for so long. Don’t make her feel bad about it if it ever surfaces.”
“I hear you, Ma. I’m on it.”
I knew dating Wynter might be a challenge, but I was prepared. If medical school taught me anything, it was how to approach things with caution. I had patience and understanding, and I would give it all to her if she let me.
I tappedon Jamari’s room door and waited for her to answer.
“Come in!” she called.
I opened the door to find her putting on lotion.
“You got everything together?” I asked.
“Daddy, can I skip this weekend with Mom?”
My brows furrowed. “Why?”
“I don’t really like going over there anymore.”
“Something happened?”
“Not really. It’s just… Mom doesn’t act like she wants me around all the time. She’s always on the phone or she invites her friends over and makes me go to my room so they can have privacy. If they bring their kids, she sends us outside to play and I don’t like those kids.”
Truth be told, I didn’t like her friends’ kids either. They were bad as hell, grown as hell, and disrespectful as fuck.
“It’s not just that,” Jamari added. “She makes me go to bed early so her friend can come over.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Like, we’ll be in the middle of a movie or something and he’ll come over. It’s like she can’t wait to get rid of me to spend time with him. I’ll go in my room, but I’m not sleeping. I can hear them through the walls. Daddy, they’re so loud and it sounds nasty.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I couldn’t tell Amandela what to do in her house or who to do it with, but she could at least make sure our daughter didn’t have to hear her having sex. If she wanted to entertain a man, that was on her. But to cut hertime with her child short to get some dick didn’t sit right with me. She only had weekends with her, so why couldn’t she focus on being a mother from Friday to Sunday?
“And I don’t like him,” Jamari added. “He walks around naked when he thinks I’m asleep. Twice I’ve gotten up to go to the bathroom and he wasn’t wearing any clothes.”
“What!”
