“What are you doing here?” Robin asked, shocked to find Jay at her door before ten o’clock in the morning. It was her day, so she was dressed in nothing more than a t-shirt that barely covered her undies and big bunny rabbit slippers that she reserved for her lounge about days. Her was pulled up in a ponytail as she had just gotten out of the shower and had planned to spend the rest of her day watching soap operas and the women’s network channel, while eating bowl after bowl of cereal. She hadn’t long gotten back from dropping the girls off to school and nursery, while Monique had left the house early to prepare for some important meeting at work or so she had said. She folded her arms as she waited to see just what had brought her estranged husband to her door.
“Can I come in? I really need to talk to you.” Jay said, his words disguised with a hint of urgency that peaked Robin’s curiosity.
She was a little hesistant at first, but she wasn’t in the mood to argue. Besides, everything that needed to be said between them had been said and their marriage was nothing more now than a dead horse waiting to be buried. “Okay,” she said as she stepped aside to allow him passage in. The scent of his cologne brought back fond memories and he for some reason looked much better today than he had in a very long time. “What are you doing?” she thought to herself as she showed him to the living room. She shook her head as she quickly took a seat in the loveseat, making sure to stretch out her legs so that Jay was forced to sit in one of the other free chairs.
“I wanted to talk to you about health insurance for Jordan-“ Jay started but was quickly interrupted.
“Justine.” Robin corrected Jay before he could even finish his statement. It still burned her to know that he had given her daughter almost the exact same name as his other daughter.
Jay continued as if he hadn’t heard her corrections saying, “I wanted to know if you wanted to keep everything like we have it or did you want to carry her on your insurance.”
“Why? Is it too expensive carrying two babies on your insurance? I know you have to insure the other baby now an-“ Robin said but before she could finish her statement she found herself being corrected.
“Cree. Her name is Cree and I don’t care what problems you have with me, you’re not going to talk about my daughter.” Jay said and as the words left his mouth he realized that they conveyed how he really felt. Cree was his daughter and even though he had created her under unfavorable circumstances, he didn’t love her any less and expected the same respect for her that he wanted for his daughter with Robin.
Robin was stunned, to say the least, but she was also impressed. He had danced around the issue of his other daughter for more than a year, changing the subject whenever Robin had tried to bring it up. The look on his face was stern, as if there was nothing else to say on the subject and for Robin there wasn’t. She had beaten that horse to death, so it was time to move on. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I get better benefits at the hospital and we’ve already had annual renewal so I added her up there then.”
Jay was stunned. Mentally, he was ready for a fight with Robin. He had come prepared for it, so he didn’t know what to say now that she had changed her tune so quickly. He was a little flustered, so all he could say was, “Are you sure because I already had the paperwork filled out? I pretty much just needed you to sign these forms.” He said pulling some folded papers and an ink pen from his jacket pocket. Robin’s calm demeanor made him nervous, shown by his inability to straighten out the forms on the coffee table. He knew from past experience that Robin’s calm demeanor always meant something bad for him.
“No, it’s fine. It’s already being taken out of my paycheck, so it’s all good.” Robin said as she lifted her bowl of cereal from the end table only to find it too soggy to eat. She was expecting Jay to leave any minute, as his business with her was surely done. She bounced her bunny slippers up and down in anticipation of just that. Jay just sat there for a moment, looking as if he didn’t know what to do or say next so she said, “You know, you could have just called over here and asked me that.” She then folded her arms across her chest, as she had caught him staring at her braless chest area.
“I did call and left messages, but you never returned my calls and I have to get this to human resources today…so.” Jay replied amazed at how nervous he had become while talking to her. There was so much he wanted to say but he wasn’t sure if it was even worth it. He had said it all before and she had shot it all down like ducks at hunting season. He didn’t have any further business with her but he still didn’t want to go. It was nice talking to her without having her screaming at him about things he couldn’t change. She was just sitting there with her all knowing smirk, waiting for whatever he had to say next, which was nothing. For no other reason than to keep the conversation going he asked, “why aren’t you at work today? I thought Wednesdays were your day off.”
“I switched days with this girl at work so that she could go to a parent conference tomorrow.” She replied. She smiled as she thought about how he thought she was working, yet he was standing on her front porch at ten o’clock in the morning.
“Oh,” he replied as he looked around the room in search of something else to continue the conversation. He looked around at all of his daughters belongs thrown about the room and asked, “So, how long are you going to be staying with Mo?” and realizing how intrusive his question was he added, “I mean, because I thought you said that you were going to move into your own place after our lease was up…and the lease…you know, it’s been up, which is probably why you moved out.” Reading the disgust on Robin’s face Jay knew he’d just crossed the line so he continued, “Yeah, since I just keep putting my foot in my mouth I think it’s time for me to go.”
“Ya think,” Robin giggled, amused by Jay’s inability to gather himself together enough to carry on a simple conversation. She still didn’t know what he really wanted but she didn’t really care. She was just ready for him to leave so that she could get back to eating cereal and watching television. Jay seemed hesitant to move from his seated position so Robin decided that she would initiate the first step in getting him to actually leave. She stood up and as if on queue, so did Jay after gathering his papers from the table and stuffing them back into his inside jacket pocket
There was still so much he wanted to say, but as he followed Robin to the door he couldn’t find the nerve to say anything, so he didn’t. He watched as Robin turned the knob on the door. Her ponytail sat high on her head, leaving the birthmark on the back of her neck exposed. He thought about how he had kissed her neck for the first time in Biology class; a little trick that caused her to slap his face red in front of the entire one hundred fifty plus students in their class. He smiled, as he listened to the sound her voice and not the words she was saying. It was light hearted and carefree, which was far from the sharp tongued, ill tempered, venomous tone that had laced her words before.
Something stirred within him. It was a moment. A moment that he couldn’t let pass regardless of what may or may not happen, he was about to live in it, so before Robin could pull the door open, he reached over her shoulder to prevent her from doing so, by holding the door shut with his hand. They both just stood there for a second. Waiting. Wondering. They both stood frozen, with each wanting to ask a question but neither ready to say the words. Time seemed to stop as the silence between them became too loud for either to bear. Robin took a deep inhale, signaling that she was about to say something to break the tension, which meant she was about to ruin the moment for Jay, so he kissed her birthmark just as he had done a million times before. He had kissed the spot that sent shivers throughout every fiber of her being. Robin stood frozen, not sure what was going on, but afraid to ask a question. She could hear the sound of her breathing, as it sounded as though it were the loudest thing in the room. She heard a moan escape from her lips.
“Wait…Jay…Jay, stop.” Robin managed to pant through heavy breaths. Robin’s pride wanted him to stop but she hadn’t had sex since they split so she found it extremely hard to make any sounds other than moans. Her toes curled as Jay ignored her request as he ran his tongue up her neck to nibble on her ear. He slid his free hand up her shirt to caress her breast, which sent flushes of warmth all over her body. She had to stop this thing before it went to far, before she did something she would regret. She took a step closer to the door before turning to look him in the eye. His eyes were filled with lust, lust that Robin knew would make Jay hard to resist if she didn’t put a stop to it while she still had the upper hand in the situation. She placed her hands in front of her to place a barrier between herself and Jay. He moved closer to her, grabbing wrapping one hand around her waist and the other around her waist. “Jay! Wait…I…I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Why not?” he asked assured that he was in total control of the situation. As she stumbled over thoughts in mind to get around what was about to happen, he casually slipped his tongue inside her mouth. She wanted to resist him and for a moment or so she put up a valiant effort to do so, but his delivery was too breathtaking. Before she knew it, she felt her eyes roll back in enjoyment and soon her arms found their way around his neck. She had given in to enjoy the pleasure of what was about to happen. Robin and Jay would make love three times that day.
“Monique, you are so late. I already know that Sterling is that baby’s father. I knew that as soon as I saw them at the doctor’s office a couple months ago. I love Sterling to death but I’m not about to have that bat working here.” Nikki said, as she took a seat opposite Monique at her desk.
“Yes, but do you know who you’re new office tech support guy is?” Monique asked as she laced her fingers in front of her. Nikki was confused for a moment. What did her new tech support guy have to do with Tia working in her salon? Sensing that Nikki still had no clue who she was hinting at, Monique continued, “Sterling, Nikki. Sterling is your new tech guy.”
“Really.” Nikki said still not getting the connection between that and Tia’s employment she continued, “So what.”
“Don’t you guys have an employee daycare there?” Monique asked surprised that Nikki was so slow on the uptake. Nikki was one of the most conniving women she knew, so she was sure that she would be able to connect the dots. She wasn’t.
“Okay Momo, I have no idea what you’re getting at so why don’t you just let me know what’s going on here.” Nikki said tired of playing the guessing game.
“Damn, Nikki.” Monique said before she sat up in her seat and continued, “Okay, she’s working here and Sterling’s working in your office where he gets to drop the baby off in the same building that he works in. No big deal, until you factor in the fact that Sterling doesn’t know that Ricardo thinks that he’s the baby’s father too and I can just see mountains of potential to expose her little secret. Sterling is not going to deny that Morgan is his son and from what I hear neither is Ricardo.”
“So, what’s your plan? Ricardo never comes to my office and Sterling would be out of the office servicing all of our buildings. So, how would she get caught? Besides, I already told Ricardo that wasn’t his baby and he don’t believe me, so how are you going to expose her secret?” Nikki said intrigued by Monique’s new information.
“That’s where I need your help. I know that you still don’t like Tia and I don’t trust her any farther than I can throw her but you know what they say about enemies. I’m tired of her using my brother to take care of her and her baby, while she’s sneaking behind his back to sleep with a man she’s telling he’s the baby’s father. She’s got Sterling giving her all of his money but she’s treating him like shit. I just want to get her, Sterling and Ricardo in the same room with the baby and see her talk her way out of it.”
