Page 7 of When It’s All Said And Done

“He hangin’ in there. Takin’ every day one day at a time. You know he misses you like crazy right?”

“Yeah, right.,” I agreed sarcastically before kissing my teeth as I rolled my eyes. “He misses me so much but denied me access to be there for him. I ain’t tryin’ to hear that shit, and he better not come home tryin’ to sell me that bullshit. Speakin’ of which, when does he come home?”

“I thought you ain’t care about him?”

“I don’t. I just wanna know when I should tell Nyla.”

“I ain’t got an exact date, but soon. Look I gotta get up outta here. You still pickin’ up Chanel on Friday for me?”

“You know that ain’t gonna change. We got our girl. I’ll drop her off Saturday night.”

“Bet. Thanks, Nessa.”

“You’re welcome. Now good luck,” I smirked at the thought of him separating the girls so they can leave.

He dropped his head as he made his way over to them. Just as I’d suspected Chanel wasn’t ready to leave and started having a fit. Shortly after she started Nyla was with the bullshit too. I chuckled at the sight until it was too unbearable to watch. I intervened and explained to them both that Chanel would stay the night on Friday. That got them to calm down, and we were able to leave the park.

On the way home, I texted my boyfriend of the last two years, Desmond, to let him know that me and Nyla were headed home if he wanted to come over for dinner. At first after my devasting breakup with Nas, I just focused on me and Nyla. Especially, with me being a first-time mom and a single one at that. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t anything like my mom and that I gave Nyla the best that life had to offer despite our circumstances. So, for the first two years of her life she was my main focus.

Hell, when Desmond came into the picture, I wasn’t even looking for a relationship. One night I was out at a bar with Yas and that’s how we crossed paths. At first, I turned him down because I was only twenty-two and he was thirty. He was adamant about being with me no matter how many times I turned him down. Eventually, he won me over and we started dating but he didn’t meet Nyla until we were a year and a half in.

That was a conversation I wasn’t prepared to have with her about her mom dating someone that wasn’t her dad, but she took it better than expected. The cherry on top was when her and Desmond met, they hit it off. Never in my life did I see myself being in a relationship and fucking anyone but Nas. We only started fucking after he met Nyla and his patience surprised me that he stuck around that long without sex. He had the mindset of getting to know me and actually dating before we fucked and I liked that. When we did finally have sex, it was mediocre to me which was shocking because his talk game was crazy.

Parking in front of the duplex apartment we called home, I cut off my 2010 Honda Accord. After I helped Nyla out of the car, she wanted to check the mail for a letter before going inside. Once I sat her up in the living room with her favorite show, Bluey, I made my way into the kitchen to get dinner started. By the time I pulled the last pork chop out the grease, there was a knock on my door.

“Hey, Baby,” I greeted as I held the door opened for Desmond.

“Hey, Gorgeous,” he acknowledged after he kissed my lips. He continued deeper into the living room as I secured the door. “Hey, Nyla.”

“Hey, Desmond. You came over to eat?”

“Yep. It smells good up in here. What we havin’ tonight?”

“She cooked my favorite!”

“Pork chops,” they said in unison, causing me to chuckle.

Nyla would eat pork chops every day if she could, which wasn’t a surprise because that’s what I craved the most during my pregnancy. Pork chops were on the menu at least three times a week at Mama Eva house. It didn’t matter how she made them, I’d devour them. Desmond joined Nyla on the sofa to watch TV with her while I made our plates. Despite his lack-luster bedroom performance, the way he treated me and my child overshadowed that.

I called everyone to the table before Nyla blessed the food and we dug in. Of course, Nyla caught us up on her daycare drama she had going on. Who would have thought that four-year-olds had that much drama going on. Every day it was something new. After we finished, I bathed Nyla while Desmond cleaned off the table and put the food away. Once Nyla was in her bed for the night, I rejoined Desmond in the living room.

“What’s goin’ on with you?” I questioned Desmond once I noticed his energy seemed to have dropped.

“Just a lot on my mind that I’m not tryin’ to worry you with,” he answered as he pulled me onto his lap.

“I mean I’m yo’ girl, so you can talk to me when you got a lot on yo’ mind. Now, what’s goin’ on?”

“I didn’t want you to worry so I didn’t tell you that almost three weeks ago, I lost my job. They had to lay off a few of us, so it wasn’t anything that I did personally. I’ve been applying to places like crazy, but nothing has come through yet. It has me in a bind because I can’t pay my last month’s rent and when they renew I won’t have proof of new employment because they call to verify my employment every year. In so many words, I’m pretty much fucked and stressed about what to do.”

“Desmond, I wish you would’ve come to me before this.”

“I was tryin’ to figure this shit out like a man.”

“Well, a real man would’ve known he could lean on his girl. Had you done that I could’ve offered you could stay with us until you get back on your feet.”

“Yo, you serious?”

“Yeah. We’ve been seeing each other for almost two years now, and you have a great relationship with Nyla. I know you won’t be down like this forever so it’s just temporary until you get back on your feet.”