Page 69 of Mahogany 2
“Have a good one, bro,” Duke said, before tightening his arms around me, kissing me on the forehead again.
While we embraced, my eyes met Crescent’s. His eyes traveled up and down my body before they met mine again. He winked and I looked away. Swallowing, I put my attention on Duke and again, asked him what he was doing here. I should have been happy to see him and under different circumstances I would have been. But this? This was too much. Themmeeting, shaking each other’s hand. Crescent being… Crescent… all poised and professional as if he hadn’t fucked me a couple of days ago was a little unsettling. The way he completely disregarded my marriage was wild. How nonchalant he was made me nervous. Everything about the encounter did. I—I needed time to process.
“You eat yet?” Duke asked, completely oblivious to how discombobulated I was, as we walked into the office.
With raised brows, I said, “Not yet. I don’t,” I paused and looked up at the clock on the wall. “I don’t go to lunch for about an hour.”
“Damn,” Duke complained.
“How did you manage to leave the site?” I asked, watching as he made his way over to the couch.
I swallowed and rubbed my lips together, standing at my desk, hoping he’d get the clue and join me at it. But he didn’t. Not at all. He sat down. Sat right where I squirted the other night and I nearly lost it. Duke needed to leave. He needed to leave now. But because he wouldn’t and there was nothing I could do about him sitting on the couch, I just turned away and put my face in the noses for a whiff.Mmmh. Horrid.
Duke sat back against the couch with his arms stretched out. “Mark’s on site. He gave me a green light for an hour lunch. I figured,” he paused and shrugged. “I’d surprise my baby.”
“Well,” I said with a smile. “Let’s go!”
I wanted him off that couch. I wanted him out of the office. I wanted him as far away from Couture as possible. I wasn’t due to go to lunch for another hour, yeah but I was the boss and could move as I pleased.
Before leaving the office, I called Tamia and told her to push the Zoom meeting I had scheduled back because I was taking an early lunch. She told me she would and right after, Duke and I left.
The short ride downtown was spent with me in silence, and Duke doing all of the talking. There was nothing really new about that. Duke was a chatty patty, especially when it came to talking about work and that’s what he did. Spent the majority of the ride talking about his coworkers, about how his day was going, and his boss, Mark.
I sat there with my mind on none other than Crescent. Felt like he was all I’d been able to think about since he’d come back into my life, huh? It was like that. I was like that. I stayed in my head about every little thing, dissecting every little situation. Him meeting Duke stayed with me though. I thought about how casual he’d been when he shook hands with him and about the smirk on his face when he winked at me. And just… It gave me chills.
Duke sitting on the couch made me uneasy, too. Made me feel low. Low, low. Like the cheating whore I was. I didn’t like it. Liked to keep those feelings tucked. I hated cheating as Mahogany because I couldn’t hide from what I’d done.. It stuck with me. Stayed on me like another layer of skin. I couldn’t get rid of it. Couldn’t stop thinking about the betrayal and I hated it. I thought… figured… you know… transferring him would help. It should help, right? I wouldn’t see him as often. Wouldn’t be spending as much time with him. Would only meet with him at the end of the month for review. That was it. I could handle that, right?
With a deep breath, I ran my hands down my pants and looked out of the window. This was only the beginning. I couldn’t run away from what I’d done because it was right on my heels. It’d just happened. I needed to give myself time. Patience… grace.
“That’s crazy,” I threw in there, after Duke told me about Mark’s divorce. I was listening. A little bit. Just enough to throw a ‘that’s crazy’ in there every now and then. That was enoughbecause he didn’t even question how quiet I was. For that, I was grateful.
About fifteen minutes into the ride, we parked and got out. On the short walk to Dime Store, we held hands. Duke and I had been affectionate as hell lately. We were in my favorite place—La La Land. A place I made up when we were doing too good to be true. A place that only existed for a little while. Today, with the sun shining on me, the birds chirping, and the crisp spring air whipping through my hair, I hoped we could stay forever. It felt like we would. Felt like we could. Bold thing to say after what I’d done. After what I’d battled with. But from this point on, it was best for me to look ahead and not back. That was the only way I was going to get to that place of acceptance and moving on, right? Letting go of Crescent was the beginning of something promising between Duke and I. Well, at least I hoped it would be.
“She gon’be so mad. I heard her on the phone at three this morning,” whispered Gabe as we headed down the hall towards Aubry’s bedroom.
The next day was Aubry’s eighteenth birthday, and we were getting ready to surprise her with the usual morning, happy birthday song. It was a tradition. I cooked a big breakfast and woke the birthday person up to a song and balloons. Aubry knew what it was, and how we would come so her having an attitude about getting woken up an hour before her alarm mattered none!
Today was a special day! Eighteen was a big deal. Not just for her, but for me too. She made it. We made it. I was just as excited as she was. A little heartbroken but excited and proud still. Notof Aubry—she got praises for other things. I was proud of me! I’d like to think I got her here. To eighteen. In one piece. It was a monumental time for me. I had her at fifteen. Didn’t know a lick about motherhood. Learned what I could from my mother but took parenting in a completely different direction. All I knew back then was that I did not want to raise my daughter the way my momma raised me and my sisters. Taking that route was scary because I didn’t really have a role model for what I wanted to do.
I looked over at Gabe and shrugged. “You know I don’t care. Should’ve had her butt sleep, knowing what the tradition around here is and it was a school night. As a matter of fact, what were you doing up?”
He smiled and looked away. “Nothin. Using the bathroom.”
“Mmhmm,” I responded with pursed lips.
“You want to give her another thirty minutes?” Duke whispered.
I sucked my teeth. “Nosuper dad. Breakfast is done and she need to get ready for school.”
I twisted the doorknob to her bedroom door and wasn’t surprised to see it was locked.
“Here, hold these. Don’t let them go, Spark,” I told Sparkle, as I handed her the big bouquet of pink and white balloons.
I put my nail in the little slit on the doorknob and twisted it to unlock it. Slowly, I opened the door. She was sprawled out on the bed, lights still on, music steady playing at a low level, snoring, knocked out. Honesty cupped her hand over her mouth and giggled. I shushed her. Duke held up his fingers, counting down from three. Once he got to one, we started.
“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Aubry! Happy birthday to you!”
She squirmed, had a little tantrum, and snatched her pillow up, covering her head with it. When I got to the bed, I laughedand grabbed the pillow, steady singing happy birthday. I didn’t give adamnabout her being tired. Should have had her little ass sleep at a decent time last night.
