Page 45 of Falling for Autumn
“We’re gonna eat, and then you gon’ take your tired ass in there and take a bath. I’ma chill while watching the fight. When you finish, I’m showering, and then we’re going to sleep. In the morning, we’ll deal with all this shit. You got me?”
“Yes, baby.”
“A’ight then.”
I only prayed that we would finally put all the past to rest.
Chapter 16
October
Autumn slept like a log all night long. It wasn’t surprising, though, because while I was away, she told me that she hadn’t slept well. When I woke up this morning, she was still asleep, and surprisingly, Auburn was too.
I tried to wake Autumn, but she muttered “Go away” and rolled back over.
I left shortly after to head to the shop, and I had been working my ass off all morning. It wasn’t until a little after four that I pulled out from under a 2005 Crown Vic. I had been changing the differentials on the car for the last four hours and had finally finished.
“You’ve got a visitor,” Tree announced when I grabbed a cloth to wipe the grease from my hands.
Mugging him, I asked, “Who?”
“You already know who it is.”
“I ain’t in the mood for company, Tree.”
“You may not be, but he’s sitting in your office waiting for you. I tried sending him on his way, but he’s not having it. Either you deal with him, or he’s threatening to beat all of our asses and turn this ‘bitch on its head.’ His words, not mine.”
“Damn.”
I threw the towel into a bin filled with other oily hand towels and headed inside the shop. I took a few seconds to gather my composure outside my office before pulling the door open.
“What do you want, Polo?”
“I want you to forgive Kevin.”
“I ain’t much in the forgiving mood.”
“Didn’t ask you what you were in the mood for. I’m telling you what needs to happen. This bullshit has gone on long enough, and it wasn’t worth it. Not over some pussy when pussy comes a dime a dozen. Now, unless that pussy pops out gold, then it ain’t worth you letting that relationship go.”
“It’s the principle of the matter. How’s he gonna betray me like that? And how the fuck you gon’ ask me to forgive him . . . again?”
“I’m not saying it’s right, but we all know that girl got around. She was easy and ripe for the picking.”
“Does that excuse him from doing that?”
“No. It doesn’t. But you’ve done plenty of shit in your time, too, Son, that you need someone to forgive you for.”
“Polo, don’t come up in here gaslighting me.”
“I’m not. But family is everything, and without it, you ain’t got shit. This shop, that brownstone, that car. Ain’t none of it worth nothing if you ain’t got family and people who love and care about you around you.”
“If that’s love, then fuck it. I don’t want or need it.”
“Why’re you being so gahdam stubborn, Son? You’re stubborn as shit and don’t listen to a damn thang people tell you.”
“You’re right. That’s the problem. When people were telling me what was going on, I wouldn’t believe ’em. That’s how they we able to make a fool out of my ass for so long.”
My father dragged his hand down his face. “You know. Ain’t no sense in talking to you.”
