Page 38 of A Trial of the Heart
“I know.” I shook my head.
“I gotta ask. D?—”
“Nah, Pops. I didn’t do it.” I didn’t allow him to finish because I already knew what he’d say.
The line fell silent “Then how are such charges a thing for you?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out, I have a feeling of who it could be, but it’s not a definite thing. I mean, I didn’t do shit, but somewhere and somehow, someone was convincing enough for me to be charged.”
“You have enemies in the streets?”
I chuckled. “Pops, you know I don’t even move that way.”
In school, I was popular, and it followed me through my adulthood. I was just likeable I suppose.
“You don’t move that way, but it’s clear this is personal, and someone has a vendetta against you. So, you can’t think of someone who would want to do this?”
“Nah… I mean, the only person might be Lauryn. Remember her?”
It was my pops turn to chuckle. “Can’t forget her crazy ass if I tried.” My pops rarely cursed, so when he did, it was shocking. “What about her?”
“She would be the only one since she didn’t take the breakup well. Honestly, though, I don’t see her doing that or even having the connections to do so.” Lauryn was bat shit crazy and would go to great lengths to get her way, but this didn’t feel like her.
“You know her better than I do, but I wanna say this. Remember when you and your brother were growing up? I always told you never give a female all the inches you had because you’d only create a monster. That should be reserved for your wife.”
I laughed to myself. I remembered the many talks, and up until Lauryn, there hadn’t been a reason to follow that advice. Lauryn hadn’t gotten all of me, yet she acted as though she had.
“I hear ya, Pops.”
The silence had returned. “Something else on your mind, son?”
I exhaled deeply. I was a grown man that handled things on my own, but I was never too old for my father’s listening ears and wise responses.
“Remember the woman I had mentioned meeting on the cruise?”
In one of our phone calls, I had mentioned Shiloh, never really giving her name, but I told him how she affected me in such a short time.
“Is she pregnant, son?” He sounded exhausted already. My parents wanted to be grandparents, but they always hoped we got married first.
My chuckle couldn’t be contained as I could imagine his expression when he asked the question. “Nah, Pops. She not pregnant.”
“That’s surely a relief.” I imagined him wiping the nonexistent sweat from his face. “Wait. She gave you something?”
I howled in laughter with my eyes closed, forgetting I was driving for a second.
“Nah.” I barely could get it out. “You on a roll today, Pops.”
“Son, you never know in this day and age. I’m going to stop guessing and let you tell me.”
For a few, I was still laughing, so I couldn’t say why I had mentioned her. Finally, I had gotten myself together.
“She’s with the prosecuting team.”
“She’s your lawyer? Wouldn’t that be bad for business?”
“She’s a lawyer… just not mine. In fact, she is on the team of the ones trying to lock me up.”
“What the hell?”
