Page 22 of What I Needed

I unlocked and opened the door, picked up the trash bags, and took them outside. The bins were a few feet away, and after I put the bags inside, I grabbed one of them with each hand, then dragged them down the driveway.

When I walked past the front of the house, Jeremiah’s goofy ass was sitting on the front steps. He hopped up and rushed in my direction. I put the bins at the curb and turned around to find him blocking my path back to the house.

“Listen, if I fuck you up, I got way more to lose than you, so if you take your ass on and leave Erissa alone, I’ll give you a pass this time.”

He folded his arms across his chest and widened his stance.

“And if I don’t?”

He was almost a foot shorter than me, so I leaned down and whispered, “I have enough money to make you disappear, and I don’t even have to get my hands dirty.”

He smacked his lips like a bitch, but before he could say another word, my hand was around his throat, and he was gasping for air.

“Leave Erissa alone. Don’t call her. Don’t text her. Don’t email or DM her. As a matter of fact, don’t even think about her. Do we have an understanding?” I asked.

He nodded as best he could, and I let him go with a shove. He fell to the ground, coughing and wheezing, and I stepped over him to head back inside.

“Jeremiah is petty and will sue you for that,” Erissa said as I entered the kitchen.

“Let me worry about that. I’ll come over tomorrow after practice to move the bins from the curb. Listen, he shouldn’t be a problem anymore, but if you need to come back here, I’m coming with you.”

“I can handle Jeremiah, but because I had Rivvy⁠—”

“E, this ain’t up for debate. I don’t want anything to happen to you. Don’t come back here without me.”

“It’s not that serious, but fine.”

“Let’s go. You take Rivvy, and I’ll pick up dinner on the way home.”

“Okay.”

When I stepped outside with Riverlynn in her car seat on one arm and her diaper bag on the other, Jeremiah was gone. I waited for Erissa to turn on the alarm and secure the door before heading down the stairs and to the SUV.

“I changed my mind. Do you feel up to going to a restaurant?” I asked.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Meet me at Soulful Diner. I’ll take Rivvy with me.”

“What do they have there that’s healthy for you to eat?”

She cared more about my diet than I did, and even though I was conscious about what I ate, I appreciated her concern.

“They have salad. Let’s go.”

We headed to our vehicles, and once I had Riverlynn secured, I hopped behind the wheel and headed to our destination. This would be the first time we’d been out in public together, and I’d only been out and about with my daughter a few times.

After my short outings with Riverlynn, I fully expected us to end up on the blogs, but so far, I hadn’t seen anything. The three of us having dinner as a family would likely have a different ending, but I couldn’t hide the fact that I had a daughter from the world forever.

We arrived about twenty minutes later and parked next to each other in the parking lot. She got out and waited for me to gather Riverlynn and her diaper bag. Once inside the restaurant, the aroma of soul food filled my nostrils. It was unfortunate that I couldn’t have any.

The host greeted me by name and took us to a table. After we took our seats, he gave us our menus and informed us about this week’s specials. When he left, we looked at the menu. A few minutes later, Riverlynn woke up fussy. Erissa reached for her, but I stopped her.

“I got her. You’ve had her all day.”

While I removed her from her car seat, Erissa got a bottle from her diaper bag. Thankfully, baby girl didn’t cut up too much, and once she had her bottle, she was good.

“Do you know what you want?” I asked.