Page 81 of A Trial of the Heart
In confusion, I lifted my hand to the top of my head with a sigh.
“Pops, you heard anything I said in these last few minutes?”
“Loud and clear. But have you heard her side? I mean, just from the little you told me, she doesn’t seem like the type that was going to let you go down. I could be wrong, but it’s worth the conversation. Hypothetically speaking, if she was, she is now about to be the mother of not one but two of your children. You owe it to her to tell her how you feel. You can be honest about your feelings, tell her why y’all can’t be together, and move on. But for your sake, get the closure you need on your relationship before those babies come into this world. Having children will only put more of a wedge between y’all. You owe it to yourself and to her.”
My Pops was a wise man, and I trusted and respected his words on a lot of things, but for the first time, I was second guessing his advice. On the surface, Shiloh was the one, but her betrayal put her at the bottom of the totem pole. I appreciated my pops and would take his words into consideration, but in the end, it was up to me how I moved.
With one armresting behind my head, the other dropped across my stomach and my eyes following the slow-moving ceiling fan with many thoughts clouding my brain. It was a little before two in the morning, and I’d been in bed trying to fall asleep since about midnight. The way the conversation between my pops and I played on repeat in my mind was insane, so I couldn’t get any sleep.
“Shit.” I huffed, sitting up and tossing my legs over the side of the bed. Lifting my iPhone from my nightstand, I raked my hand over my waves before going to Shiloh’s contact information. It was late, and I probably should have texted her or avoided it all together. The time mattered, but in the same breath, it didn’t. Saying screw it, I pushed the phone icon to call her. The ringing of the phone reverberated off my walls.
The phone rang twice, and my plan was to hang up after the fourth ring if she hadn’t answered.
“Hello?” Shiloh’s low voice suffused the room. At the hour I was calling, I expected to have woken her up, but her tone didn’t sound as though she was sleeping.
“I wake you?”
Shiloh giggled softly. “No. I should be sleep, but I have a new pregnancy ick called heartburn interrupting any sleep I planned on having.”
She was only a few months along, but with her carrying twins, I imagined all her symptoms to be more intense and earlier on.
“Anything I can do?” I wasn’t sure how to handle a pregnant woman since I never had to, but if I could help Shiloh in any way since they were my babies, I would.
“Yogurt, milk, tums, and a damn foot rub would be nice,” she said in a sarcastic tone.
“Say less. I got you.” I stood from my bed, already grabbing my shirt, and sweatpants. “I can be there in twenty.” I slipped on my sweats. “Make it thirty since I have to go to WaWa’s to grab the stuff.”
“Wait. Right now?” she asked in confusion.
“You said you needed it and can’t sleep because of it, so I got you.”
“Wow,” she mumbled. I imagined her to be smiling from ear to ear. “Well, since you coming, can you grab some hot cheese popcorn and grape jelly? I can Cash App you the money.”
I didn’t understand the two things together; I didn’t ask any questions, though. “Nah, keep the money. It’s not a big deal.” I casually responded, stepping into my Nike Air Max’s. “Be there in a bit.”
Again, I couldn’t see Shiloh, but I just knew she was smiling by the way her breathing had changed.
“Okay,” she said before we disconnected the call.
“Never thoughtI’d see the day where something tasted so good,” Shiloh moaned, dropping her head back on the couch with her eyes closed as she had a mouth orgasm from the nasty blend of food. When Shiloh asked for the hot cheese popcornand jelly, I didn’t expect her to mix the shit together, eat it, and actually enjoy it.
“Ain’t no way that tastes good.” The look alone had my stomach rumbling. “Keep it up with that, ya gonna have hair on your chest from the heartburn, and stomach gonna sound like Timberlands in a dryer.”
Shiloh cupped her hand over her mouth full of food, laughing uncontrollably. Her eyes squinting made her eyes look Asian. She was cute, and her laugh sounded so innocent. “You’re crazy.”
Seeing and hearing her laugh made me feel good since things had been so hot and cold for her and even us lately. Continuing to watch her laugh, I couldn’t pull my eyes from her. Shiloh was perfect in every way.
“What?” Her laughing ceased, and she narrowed her eyes my way.
“Lemme ask you something.” I hated to change gears and so fast, but my question needed an answer.
“Okay…”
“Were you ever going to prove my innocence?” I got straight to the point.
Shiloh’s brows dipped in the middle of her forehead, one eye closed more than the other, and her mouth pressed firmly together. “I was. Since I was the minority at the office and was already fighting for my own spot, I had to get all the proof I could to make it happen. I wouldn’t have let you go down; I was fighting for you but had to be smart in how I did it.” Shiloh paused. “Before I could bring it to light, your team beat me to it.” She kind of shrugged at the last part.
With an even expression, I kept quiet, studying her, trying to see her flinch, blink wrong, or even exhale unevenly to see if she was lying. Nothing changed. She was telling the truth.
