Having her along for the rest of our day was also a pleasant surprise. I’d lost all hope that she would ever let me close to her again, so when she accepted the girls’ invitation, I was pleasantly surprised. I’d asked her more than once to hang out with us and she declined each time. After our conversation tonight, I realized that she didn’t want to impose on our time. The girls and I enjoyed her company, so I planned on asking her to hang out with us again. Then she mentioned Angel, my, for lack of a better term, girlfriend. I understood her being concerned about my relationship with Angel, but she couldn’t add any more strain to the relationship than was already there.
My vibrating phone interrupted my mental recap of the day’s events.
Speaking of Angel…
“Hello?”
“I miss you,” Angel responded.
“I thought about you earlier.”
“You did?” She sounded surprised.
I did think about her. I wondered how much longer we were going to pretend our situation wasn’t on life support.
“Yep, are you back in town?”
“No, but I will be soon. Do you think you will have some free time for me?” she asked.
“Possibly. I can try to work something out.”
“Why can’t you ever give me a definitive answer, Moe? We haven’t been together in weeks and all you can say is you will try?” Angel whined.
“I have two girls that I am raising by myself, remember?”
“Believe me, I remember,” Angel mumbled.
“I can’t tell,” I shot back.
I’d met Angel at her family’s art gallery. They were hosting a fundraiser for Chuck Henry, a city council candidate.Valentine and Bellewas one of Chuck’s backers, so the firm was in attendance. She and I sat at the same table together for dinner and started talking. We exchanged numbers and eventually started dating.
We spent a lot of time together before I got shared custody of the girls. While I was going through the process of fighting with Beatrice, meeting with lawyers, and going to family mediation, Angel chose to do other things. She was not supportive nor did she understand when my plans had to change because of the girls. I wasn’t looking for support from her, but at least the human decency to understand my situation. She needed all my attention and didn’t understand it when she had to share my attention with my girls.
The time that I had to spend with her was drastically cut after the girls moved in with me. My unavailability led to a huge argument and we called it quits. A few months after the breakup, she came around again. I didn’t have anything else going on, so I decided to give it another shot. The relationship hadn’t been the same since.
I spoke through my yawn, “It’s been a long day, Angel. I am going to go ahead and go to bed.”
“Moe! Really?”
“Text me and let me know when you will be back in town. Maybe we can get together.”
She hung up.
* * *
Imade sure to stop at the bank before going into work to get the cashier’s check for Bee’s bail. I wanted to have documented proof of what I had given just in case she tried to be stupid and take me to court again over the girls. She promised me that she wouldn’t, but if she did, I would not go easy on her this time.
“Morris, there is a Kelsey Barnes here to see you?” Anna announced.
“Thanks, Anna, send her in.”
Anna walked into my office, followed closely by Fats, Bee’s cousin.
Fats wore a Cardinals baseball starter jacket, a pair of baggy jeans, and some wheat-colored Timberlands. You would have sworn she was a man at first glance. The crazy thing about her was that she was not gay. She’d been in a relationship with a man for years and had two kids.
Fats and Bee’s mothers were sisters and raised their children together. While Bee stayed close to the projects, Fats worked hard and got out. Since she was the most successful one in the family, she was often used as the problem solver. Fats was really the only one in Beatrice’s family that I dealt with.
“Dang, Moe! This office is nice,” Fats complimented after giving me a bro hug.