Stenton turned to me and I saw the regret in his eyes. He went to kiss an ornery Jordan, who was beyond sleepy at this hour and whispered, “I’m sorry I have to do this, but I have to go. I’ll be by tomorrow to pick him up at the agreed upon time,” Stenton whispered at Jordan’s head, speaking discreetly to me.
He looked over to an expectant Erika, who appeared even more frustrated by her inability to ear hustle. She had some nerve ruining my child’s party. Jordan’s best friend, his father had to leave. Jordan reached for his dad.
Stenton turned toward Erika. His nose was flared and his face was tight. “Let’s go,” he growled.
Erika’s expression morphed into a pout before pivoting behind her to snatch her purse from the chaise she’d sat on nearly all afternoon, glared down at her sister and ordered through gritted teeth, “C’mon! We’re so out of here!”
As they walked off, Jordan sounded off, flailing in his arms and wailing. “Da-Da, cummmm! Da-Da, cummmmm!”
I had to constrain him after he almost fell out of my arms. Stenton never looked back as he trekked out of the room, with Erika, Emily and Alton in tow. I guess Alton wanted to be sure Stenton had a cool head before he left. I immediately excused myself to calm my child. That took a couple of hours. Jordan was so upset that he went to bed without his normal warm sippy cup of milk. He’d exhausted himself from crying. I guess sometime after we’d left the party, my mother took over, handing out favors and dismissing the guests. One by one, my mother, Angela, Ruth and Tynisha crept into Jordan’s room to say their goodnights as I soothed him to sleep in the rocking chair.
When I surfaced from Jordan’s room after he’d passed out, I noticed my kitchen was squeaky clean, the food was put away and the order in the great room had been restored. I trudged into the pantry to the wine cellar and pulled out a bottle of Merlot. Not long ago, I drank socially, rarely alone. I’d only kept wine in stock because the apartment came with this particular amenity. However, my preference for wine had increased and taste had broadened. Tonight, it was a much needed necessity. I drank the entire bottle while poring over business plans for a possible second bakery and then a bath. When I realized the bottle was empty, the levy broke and I cried into my pillow where no one could hear my sobs but God himself.
~~~~~~~~~~
May 2010
~Stenton~
“So it’s over?”
I nodded.
“But I told you I wasn’t seeing Shirez months ago. And I’ve apologized for your son’s party a hundred times. It’s just hard knowing you have this secret life from me. Why have you never introduced me to your son?”
That question halted my gaze of her naked hourglass frame. She’d come to my Agoura Hills rental I’d had since we’d been dating, clandestinely with the agenda of sex. I guessed she’d shed her clothing somewhere between the front door and the deck off of my master suite. I arched a brow.
“Didn’t I tell you when we started this shit I’m a private man with a child who I try to protect by not having my shit archived on the Internet for when he’s old enough to surmise what type of person his old man was?”
“Yeah, but—”
“But yet, without fail, you’ve breached my privacy. All your pictures from our dates, the tweet of my new tattoo, your fucking Shirez on my watch, and then finally you running up in my seed’s party uninvited? What the fuck, E?”
Erika looked startled.
“What the hell did you think would happen?”
With tears falling from her chocolate orbs, she asserted, “Since we’ve started seeing each other, I’ve opened up to you, waited on you to open up to me. Yeah, I like sharing my life with the world. I’m in love…sue me! But you’ve never been in this with me. You aren’t in love with me. You talk about family, your son, your need for privacy, but you’ve never let me or my family into your circle.”