When He Cheatin' and You Still Love Him 2 (2 page)

Shanair

Two and a half months later…

              As I maneuver my truck into the available parking space, I scan the lot looking for Naomi’s car. I’m excited to see my friend. I haven’t seen her in a while because I’ve been on maternity leave from work. We’re definitely in need of some catching up. Even though I’m only five months pregnant, I decided to take off until after I have the baby. With all the germs that pass through the department I work in on a day to day basis, I don’t need to catch anything that could possibly affect my unborn child. Add in the fact that my doctor also wanted me to keep my stress level down, so the break works out perfectly in my favor.

When I spot Naomi’s car not far from where I am, I put the gear in park and kill the ignition. Before I climb out I pull down the visor and reapply a coat of gloss to my lips. I smile when I realize that I can finally see ‘the glow’ that everyone else speaks about when they see me. My skin is blemish free, and my eyes have a sparkle that can’t be ignored. After staring at myself a few more seconds, I close the mirror and slid the pair of shades back over my eyes. The weather is beautiful today. The sun is shining high in the sky, and the clouds are clear even though the meteorologist said that there would be a chance of thunderstorms throughout the day. Although I grabbed my umbrella for the ‘just in case’, I don’t believe that it will rain; especially because there isn’t a cloud in sight. After placing the umbrella under my arm, I throw my purse over my shoulder and climb out heading in the direction of the restaurant's entrance.

“Hey, boo.” Naomi stands to greet me as soon as the server escorts me over to the table.

“Hey, baby.” I respond and lean in to give her a kiss on the cheek.

“I love that dress.” She tells me talking about the bright pink strapless maxi dress I’m wearing. Her hand reaches out and lands on my stomach. “You look so cute with your little baby bump.”

“Thank you!” I gush, before carefully sliding into the other side of the booth. “People don’t even believe how far along I am when I tell them.”

“I bet because you damn sure don’t look it.”

“Right,” I agree. “You look beautiful as always.”

Naomi strikes a pose, puckers her lips and bats her eyes slowly before she responds. “Why thank you, my dear.”

I laugh at her silliness and remove my shades, placing them on the table.

“Have you been here long?”

“No, I just got here about ten minutes ago,” Naomi answers digging through her purse.

After a few moments, she pulls out her cell phone, taps it a few times before she places it on the table beside her. I, on the other hand, pick up the menu that’s laid in front of me and begin to flip through it.

“I don’t have a clue what I want,” I sigh when nothing catches my eye.

“I couldn’t figure out what I wanted at first either, so I just ordered us both an iced tea to get us started.” She tells me. “I got a lemon in yours.”

“Cool. That’s a start, thanks.”

She smiles. “You know I got you boo.”

When we settle on what we both wanted to eat, we put in our order with the waitress, and she walks away. Once she’s out of earshot Naomi began to tell me about her upcoming vacation for her tenth-year anniversary. She said that Derrick, her husband, had surprised her with a trip to Rome a few days ago and that she couldn’t wait to go. The bright smile and wide eyes she wears as she talked about it let me know that my best friend was truly happy in her marriage. Of course, I already knew that because her husband is a sweetheart who does anything he can to make sure that she’s happy. I’m glad that she has someone like Derrick in her life, and I look forward to the day where I can be just as happy as she is.

“Keith asked about you today,” Naomi spoke between bites of her Teriyaki chicken that had been brought to the table a few minutes prior. “He wanted to know why you haven’t been to work.”

“Is that right?” I peered at her from across the table. My lips are pursed because I already knew this conversation was coming.

“Yep, I told him that you were out on maternity leave. He got all crazy thinking something was wrong with either you or the baby.” She chuckles. “Girl, I had to calm him down.”

As Naomi continues to laugh, I exhale loudly while shaking my head because she always finds a way to slide him into our conversations. I don’t care what we’re talking about, Keith’s name is brought up. Let me bring you up to speed. Keith is a guy who works with the two of us at the hospital. He also happens to be Derrick’s best friend and frat brother. Just like Derrick, he’s a sweetheart, and if I can be honest, he’s one of the coolest guys that I’ve ever met because he’s down to earth and keeps me laughing. In fact, he’s one of the only other people besides Naomi that I deal with at the job.

That hasn’t been the case as of lately though because our friendship has been a bit strained ever since the altercation that I had at the job about a year ago. A chick who was messing around with my boyfriend, Terry, got hired in our department, and after she had followed me to a restaurant that we all frequented, she and I ended up fighting during our lunch break. Keith was one of the guys who assisted in breaking up the tussle. His account of what happened that day also aided in helping me to keep my job. He let our supervisor know that I was only defending myself, and not the aggressor.

Although I was extremely grateful for his help, immediately after that day, I pulled back from Keith and only spoke in passing. I was not only humiliated because I allowed myself to be provoked into having a fist fight in front of him and the rest of my colleagues, but also because the chick who I fought had aired out all of my business which spread throughout the hospital like a wildfire. Due to that, I kept my distance from Keith and all of the other muthafuckas who I thought were looking at me sideways. Since then Keith has tried numerous times to spark back up our friendship, but I won’t let him because I’m still too embarrassed about the entire situation. Of course, I know that it’s not Keith’s fault that it went down the way it did, but I can’t stand to face him knowing that he knows just how much of a fool I am. There’s no doubt in my mind that he thinks less of me. Especially, since I bragged about Terry on a daily basis back when we were cool.

“He also wanted me to tell you hi.”

I look up at Naomi and even though I notice the smirk on her face, my only reply is, “Tell him that I said hello.”

“Umph,” She looks me up and down. “Are you sure that’s
all
you want me to tell him?”

Before responding, I roll my eyes to the back of my head. “Yep…that’s all.”

Forking a juicy salad dressing covered tomato into my mouth, I glance back over at Naomi and see that she’s still watching me with that same silly ass grin on her face. I know she wants me to say more about Keith, but I refuse. You see, it’s no secret that Keith has a thing for me. He’s made it clear quite a few times. Just about how many times I’ve made it clear that I’m just not interested. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not because he isn’t attractive because the brother is fine as hell. He’s a little over six feet tall, chocolate and has a deep dimple in his left cheek whenever he flashes those perfectly white teeth of his. Add in the fact that not only does he make good money from working at the hospital, but he doesn’t have any kids, and that in my book is a plus. From the outside looking in one would think that Keith and I would be a perfect match, but I don’t think so. The reason being is the fact that not only am I involved with someone else, but we work together, and that’s a no-no. I’ve always promised myself that I would never get involved with someone from the job because it can get too messy, and I’ve had enough mess to last me a lifetime.

“Girl, yo’ ass know you be tripping,” Naomi scoffs. “That’s a good man.”

“Don’t start Naomi,” I warn giving her a stern look.

“Don’t start what? I’m just saying that he’s a damn good man, and a woman would be a fool not to—”

“Oh my God, can we just enjoy our meal, please?” I cut her off. Frustration is evident in my voice.

“Whatever,” she dismisses me with a wave of her hand, before changing the subject. “When do you find out what you’re having?”

“Next month,” I answer taking a swig of my drink, glad to move on from the Keith topic, “and I can’t wait.”

“Shit, me either. I’m ready to go shopping for my God daughter.”

“How do you know it’s a girl?” I ask with my lips pursed.

“Girl bye! That’s a damn girl in your stomach.” She takes a drink of her tea. “You just watch and see.”

Naomi and I continue to talk about the baby for the next hour or so before she pays the tab, and we part ways promising to see each other again soon. Back inside my truck, I stop at the gas station to fill up, before heading home. Terry picked up Terrance Jr. for the weekend and took him and Kendrick to the park earlier. They should be back home by now. I sure hope so because I’m looking forward to taking a bubble bath and then lying in my bed while enjoying a foot rub. I know you’re probably wondering how Terry and I have been doing lately, so to answer your question; we’ve been doing great actually. 

I went ahead and told him that I was pregnant two weeks after he came home. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t worried about how he would take it being that he already had a baby on the way and all. Well, to my surprise, Terry was excited. I remember he picked me up and swung me around, telling me how he was so happy that we were finally going to have a child together. The smile on his face was priceless. One would think that I was telling him that I was pregnant with his very first child, the way he was carrying on. That night he damn near talked my ear off. If it wasn’t baby names, it was future plans that he had for the both of us and everything in between. I ended up falling asleep with a smile on my face, because for the first time in a while, I was actually hopeful that things would change.

Since he’s been back, Terry has done a complete turnaround. He’s been spending more time at home and catering to all of my needs. Whether it’s me craving a large supreme pizza from
Pizza Hut
, a double scoop of icecream from
Cold Stone
, or something simple like a foot rub, he makes sure that I get whatever it is that I want. Besides making sure that I’m always satisfied, he also hasn’t given me any reason to suspect that he’s cheating again. When he’s out and about, he answers my calls without me having to ring him numerous times like I used to, and if he happens to miss one, he calls me back immediately. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that I’m pregnant that has him doing the right thing, or the fact that he’s gotten all of the bullshit out of his system. Whatever the reason, I’m glad and hope that it continues.

So you see, everything is good between us. Well, not everything.

The chick Brittany, you know the one that Terry fucked around and got pregnant. Now that’s a whole other issue. This bitch goes above and beyond to piss me off. It’s crazy because I already knew that she was going to be a problem from the very beginning. Shit, the bitch showed up at my house and broke every one of Terry’s windows out. Why in the world would I believe that she would magically turn out to be as sweet as an angel? Anyways, whether it’s calling in the middle of the night to ask Terry to come over and bring
whatever
it is that she wants at the moment, to fake hospital visits, she does it all and everything in between. I swear that if we both weren’t pregnant, I would beat the shit out of her dumb ass because the shit she does is just that aggravating.

It amazes me how far a so-called “polished” and “well-off” woman—these are her words—would go just to get
my man
to her house. I don’t go for that shit, though, and I’ll be damned if I allow another bitch to dictate when my man jumps…oh no, that’s my job. Terry has already told me that she’s a spoiled little daddy’s girl, who’s used to always getting her way. Well, she can keep playing her daddy like a fiddle because that shit ain’t gone fly this way. I’ve already let Terry know that he is to deal with that hoe only when it comes to the baby, and to pacify me he’s set boundaries with the bitch, that she tries to overstep every chance that she gets. As I said, it’s annoying as hell, but I knew what would happen when I took him back. I had to realize that the mistake of getting the bitch pregnant was already done, and even though it’s been a hard pill to swallow, I’ve forgiven him for that.

While I’m on the subject of his baby mommas, Katrina hasn’t been an issue since our last conversation. Once Terry came back, he called her up on speaker phone and let her know that there was no need for her to call him unless it was strictly about their son. Of course, she tried to play her hand and threaten to keep Shad away from him like most miserable ass baby mommas do, but Terry played the game with her. Her little stunt lasted for a few weeks, but when she noticed that Terry wasn’t going to kiss her ass, she quickly changed that shit up. Since then, everything with her has been quiet, and I for one am thankful. I guess you can say that I’m happy that Terry has finally stepped up and not allowed either of his two “mistakes” to run his life or put a wedge in our newfound relationship because I couldn’t handle it if he did. We’ve been through more than enough, and it’s about time that we got it right.

Truthfully, all I want is for Terry to stay being the good man that he can be. It’s scary because although he’s been doing well these last few months, that is nothing compared to all the damage that he’s done in the past. I know firsthand how men can fall right back into their old habits, and that’s not what I want. No, what I want is to be a happy family with my two children and the man that I love. All of that extra shit is for the birds. I’m about to be thirty at the end of the year, and I don’t want to do the whole, ‘Going through the phone routine’ anymore just to see if my man is cheating. I’ve been there and done that more times than I can name, and I’m tired. So again, I hope Terry is really ready to be with me, and only me because I don’t know what I’ll do if he decides to play games again.