Talk a Good Game (22 page)

“
You like it?” he asked as if he
didn’t already know.

“
Oh baby, I love it so much. Thank
you, thank you!”

Kaleb looked genuinely pleased.
“I
’
m glad you like it.”

It was almost an hour later before
I pulled back onto the driveway and killed the engine. “That was
fun!” I couldn’t stop grinning but when I looked over at Kaleb he
looked so serious.

“
Babe… I wasn’t going to mention
this until after we were married, but,” he paused and drew a breath
and the look on his face made me sit up on the soft black
leather.

“
Oh my God!” I
whispered. “What
’s
wrong?” He looked like he
wanted to cry. And there was nothing sexy about
that.

“
A couple of
years ago I received two
million dollars.
”

Did I hear him right? “Two
million?”

“
My father worked for years at
this meat packing plant, and lost his arm a few years back in a
meat grinder.” He sat up on the bed and I waited for him to
continue. “Something was wrong with the switch. He tried to cut off
the blade and it sliced into his arms. He had to have it
amputated.”

“
Oh no!” I
shifted on the seat so I could see him better and waited for him to
get to the money. It was then I noticed CJ standing out on the
porch, probably wondering what was taking us so long to come
inside. “
And
then what happened?
” I urged. I wanted to
hear the good part before his pesky son came over and put his dirty
fingers all over my car.

“
He settled in court and got
millions. Instead of moving out of Sugar Land, my mom and him
stayed in that little-ass town and built a house on a hill looking
down on the city.”

“
That sounds pretty.”

He gave me a look that said,
“whatever”. “It
’s
okay, but they act like
it
’s
a museum. They want their grandkids to visit, and
when they come down they bitch and complain if they touch
anything.” He shook his head. “Anyway, my father set it up so me
and my sisters each receive ten million.”

“
Ten million?” I choked
out.

“
Two in the beginning, three in
December, and another in five years.”

“
Wow! Your dad doesn’t
sound like a bad guy. It sounds to me like he loves you.”
That was more than I could say about my father.

“
I don’t
know why my
father did it,” he replied with a scowl. “I guess
that
’s
why he had his lawyer draw it
up so he couldn’t change his mind. I think he was drunk when he did
it.” He winked and started chuckling and I giggled along with him.
I was laughing because I was tickled and so damn happy. I was going
to marry a fucking millionaire! I knew Kaleb had money. I just
didn’t know he had that much. And even better he had more to
come.

“
Anyway…
I
’
m telling you this to explain why
I act so paranoid. My ex-girlfriend was only interested in getting
her hands on my money. I had no problem sharing because I believe
in spoiling my woman, but she just wanted the money. I don’t even
think she really wanted to be bothered with my son. I remember she
used to tell me CJ acted retarded.”

It took everything I had not to
laugh because she was right. CJ
did
act retarded.

He squeezed my hand. “What
I
’
m saying is, I need a woman who’s
gonna have my back… CJ’s back. Someone we can trust.”

“
You can trust me.”

“
I hope so.” He brought his lips
to my forehead, then gave me a hard look. “We have a promising
future and I want to share that life with you.”

And so do I.

CJ
came racing over to the car and slammed the palm of his grimy hands
onto the glass.
“Dad, what are you doing?” he whined.

It took everything I had not to put my new vehicle
in Reverse and roll over his big ass feet. Instead, I focused on
the money.

Cha-ching
bitches
!

NYREE

“
There she is.”

I swung around, searched the crowd
of high school graduates and their family and watched as
Jeremy
’s
daughter raced toward us. She
was followed by her brothers Chad and Jose, and the fat woman
behind them had to be their mother and her twin sister.

“
Daddy,
I
’
m so glad you made it!” Tiffany
practically fell into his arms while the other two circled and
hugged him as well.

It was good to see he had a great relationship with
his children. While they talked, I stood back feeling like an
outcast while his ex-wife tried to avoid eye contact. She was a
chunky Latina with short-cropped black hair and a round face. I bet
it was killing her to see her ex-husband with a woman as beautiful
as me. I was rocking a black pencil skirt and a white ruffle blouse
with stilettos that showed off my legs. She had on some frumpy, red
dress that showed every roll on her round body. I had to resist the
urge to laugh.

“
Babe, let me introduce you to my
kids. This is Tiffany… Jose… and Chad.”

They each gave me a warm smile and a hello. I
grinned at all of them. So far they seemed like they were receptive
to their father dating.

His ex-wife and her sister stood off to the side and
exchanged looks.

“
Congratulations,” I said to
Tiffany, and handed her a card.

Just as I thought, her eyes lit up
with surprise. I guess she wasn’t used to her
father
’s
girlfriends buying her gifts.
We talked and chatted for a few minutes before everyone agreed to
go to some popular soul food restaurant a couple miles away to
eat.

“
Dad,
I
’
m going to ride with you,” Jose
said and followed us back to his Tahoe.

I found myself imagining what it
would be like to be his wife and these kids being my stepchildren.
It wasn’t
so
bad. I
n time I’m sure I could learn to
love them as well. Jeremy took my hand and led me to his SUV where
he opened the door.

“
Everything okay?” he asked
searching my eyes.

I nodded. “Everything is
great.”

We’ve been dating for over two
months now and each day our relationship grew stronger.

Last week, I finished
The Five Love Languages
and had called my mother raving about that book.

“
Chile, me and your dad discovered
that book years ago.”

“
Really?
What
’s
your love languages?” I asked,
drawing the phone closer to my lips.

“
Well your
father is acts of service, which I should have known the way
I
’
m always running around taking
his clothes to the cleaners.” She giggled. “And
I
’
m quality
time.”

“
Ooh, so am I! Jeremy’s words of
affirmation.” Not that I was surprised. As insecure as he was, I
should have already guessed his love language. Which meant it was
my job to make sure my man felt good about himself with positive
and supportive words. What could be hard about that?

We had a great lunch with his children. Despite
their mother sitting at the end of the table sneering her nose at
me, I felt relaxed and at ease. Jeremy squeezed my hand under the
table, and I knew he was feeling what I was feeling—family.

We made plans for them to come
down in July and spend some time with us. The entire time I was
thinking,
Nyree, girl you can do this!
You
’ll
be a great
stepmother
! I know I was getting ahead of
myself again but Jeremy had already been hinting about a future
together so I knew it was just a matter of time.

After the luncheon, Jeremy kissed his kids goodbye
and I was shocked when they each came up and gave me a hug.

“
Ms. Nyree,
it
’s
so nice to meet you,” Jose said. I was amazed at
how much he favored his father. He had the same big melon head and
goofy smile. I could have hugged him all evening he was just that
cute.

“
Nice meeting you Delaney,
” I said with a two finger wave. And since I did it in front
of her kids, she was left with no choice but to
respond.

“
Nice to meet you, too,” she
muttered under her breath and then quickly climbed into her
car.

We waved again and waited until she peeled her
Sonata out the lot before we moved to his Tahoe.

“
What do you think?” Jeremy
reached over and took my hand.

“
I like them.”

He nodded, pleased. “They like you
too.”

That definitely made me feel good because I really
wanted his children to like me.

Jeremy helped me into the car and I sat there
feeling like I was on top of the world.

Was I dreaming?

I must have been because I finally
came down off the cloud and realized Jeremy was driving in the
wrong direction. “Where are we going?”

“
I want to take you to meet my
adopted daughter, Jasmine.”

My excitement suddenly came
crashing down.
Talk about sticking me with
a pin
. “Oh, okay.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about
meeting the child of a woman he used to date but I didn’t see the
point in making a big deal about it.

He pulled into a parking lot in
front of a south side Chicago daycare center. I gave him a curious
look but Jeremy’s eyes were everywhere but on me.

I had a hundred questions and he knew it, which is
probably why he was still avoiding eye contact. I decided to just
see how things played out. Jeremy held the door open and I stepped
inside. Kids could be heard laughing and playing in the playground
in back.

A childcare worker came over to
greet us. “May I help you?” she said with a curious
look.

Jeremy cleared his throat. “Yes,
I
’
m here to see
Jasmine.”

“
Oh, right! Hold on.” She had that
familiar look in her eyes as she turned and moved to the back door
and called for the little girl. I just looked at Jeremy out the
corner of my eyes. He was fidgeting nervously and still avoiding
eye contact, but I didn’t say anything. Like I said I wanted to see
how this played out.

Within minutes a little girl came
around the corner and screamed, “Daddy!” and then I watched as she
raced into his arms.

Daddy?
Why in the world was her mother confusing that child like
that? I watched the way she was hugging his neck and grinning down
at his face. It was obvious how much she missed him.

He finally turned to me. “Jazzy,
this here is Ms. Nyree.”

She waved. “
Hi Ms.
Nyree.
”

“
Hi, sweetie.” She really was cute
with a smooth dark complexion and two long pigtails. Gold studs
were in her earlobes. She was wearing jeans and a pink t-shirt. On
her feet were Nike tennis shoes. Somebody was taking good care of
her.

I stood by and listened as Jeremy
told Jasmine we had just attended Tiffany
’s
graduation.

“
Daddy, can I go home with you?
Please,” she pleaded and looked so pitiful I almost felt sorry for
her.

“
I can’t Jazz, but maybe next
time,” he said. She whined a little more then finally he kissed her
a couple of times, lowered her to the floor and she hurried back
outside.

“
Thanks for coming by.” The
childcare worker said, then she went back to writing something on a
clipboard.

We waved and headed out to his Tahoe. Jeremy pulled
onto the street and I just sat there waiting.

I caught him looking at me.
“What
’s
wrong?”

“
Really
? What do you
think?”

“
I told you about her,” he said
and had the nerve to sound defensive.

Oh no he didn’t. “You told me you
had an “adopted” daughter.” I tossed quotation marks in the air. “I
was thinking a
fake
daughter. I wasn’t expecting her to call you
Daddy.”

He had the nerve to look
dumbfounded. “Why wouldn’t she? I
am
her father.”

I crossed my arms beneath my
breasts and shook my head. There was no way this was happening.
“You knew I wasn’t interested in dating a man with little
kids.”