“I know. I don’t know what I ran over. I didn’t feel anything or hear anything.”
“Well, obviously you did. I mean, look at this, Zoey! These tires alone will set you back about two grand. This is a luxury SUV. You think your boy, the baller’s gonna deduct this from your child support check?” Bernard scoffed, “Because this expense is ASAP.”
I tossed him a sharp eye, cautioning his candor of my business with Stenton as if he nickel and dimed me or Jordan. I never discussed our arrangement with anyone. Stenton had been extremely generous and I didn’t need to assert that. That part of his heart was good.
“I’m just saying, Zoey. You need to be more careful. This ain’t Bessie. You’re driving luxury now. You don’t want to give him any reason to believe you’re irresponsible or ungrateful.”
“You’re overstepping, and more offensively with each word you speak about my son’s father. Bernard, if you can’t offer solutions, please get in your car and go about your business.”
His eyes grew wide as did his mouth. “Oh, Zo, honey, I didn’t mean to offend you. I just don’t want him coming down on you li—”
“He doesn’t come down on me!” I qualified. “I don’t know if I’ve ever given you the impression that Jordan’s father and I have a capricious or estranged relationship. If I have, let me clarify that we don’t. And what he does or doesn’t do financially will never be a topic of discussion between you and me. Do you understand?”
When Bernard’s eyes dropped to assess my stance, mine followed and I realized my index finger pointed to his face, my center shifted in poise as though I was preparing to attack him. That wasn’t my intent, so I slowly retracted my finger, hand and then arm before turning to face my truck. I pulled out my phone and realized my battery was on red. The day couldn’t get any worse.
“I’m sorry,” his tone now timid as I prepared to call Chesney’s firm, something I dreaded. When emergencies arrived, I was to contact his office—an office I was sure was closed on Christmas Eve. “What can I do?”
At that, my head popped up from my phone. My brows quickly peeked, then dropped.
“No. My family’s spending Christmas in Pennsylvania this year, out near the Poconos. Everyone’s there and I should have been on my way an hour ago, but I stopped here to drop off those printed offering envelopes that Pastor Whitaker forgot to before his family left for upstate New York yesterday.” I brushed my face with my hands while letting out a long exhale. “Then when you asked me to listen to the Tye Tribbett cover, I lost track of time. I should have hit the road right after my last final,” I sulked.
Too late for that.
Stenton had his “people” rent a house out there for the holiday. He thought it would be great for Jordan’s first Christmas to be a white one. I knew my mom would be texting or calling at any moment, asking me to pick up a forgotten item, believing I was in town. And my Jordan. He probably wondered where his mother was. He had plenty of milk there from my frozen inventory, but I needed my pump to relieve myself. Everyone was there, so I had no one to call for a lift.
“I can take you.” Bernard disrupted my reverie.
“Huhn? Oh, no. Bernard, I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“Sure you can. I was only going home to throw on my headphones to drown out my mother’s fussing anyway. I would only ask that you put the gas back in old Henry over there because a brother is broke…and starved,” Bernard’s crooked smile appeared.
There was something charming about that physical flaw. Some women couldn’t get with men with bad teeth. I’d wondered if Bernard had a hard time with his.