Miss Lola.

Chapter 26.

"Lord, have mercy." I moan because ain't nobody got time for this and then Ray walks right up to the car and thank goodness he's wearing regular clothes instead of a sequined ball gown, full make-up and a wig.

"Hey Rhonda. Hi kids." He says.

"What're you doing here Ray?"

"I came to see my son."

The kids exchange puzzled glances but then I sigh and get out the car. Ray backs up a little and folds his arms across his narrow chest.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask him.

"I have a right to see my son. Where is he?"

"Who Daddy is that?" Bella says.

"This J.r's daddy." I don't see any point in lying and besides, Ray is already here.

J.r slowly gets out of the car and mutely stands in front of Ray while the other kids gape at him like the village idiots until I hand Tommy the keys and shoo them inside our unit.

Meanwhile Ray and J.r  continue to eye each other down a long, silent moment.
Finally Ray smiles a little and slowly bobs his head up and down.

"Hi, cowboy. I'm your daddy."

"H..Hello." J.r seems a little shell shocked and right on cue he grabs himself and starts dancing around like his feet are on fire.

"Go on inside, J.r. We'll be waiting for you in the parking lot." I say and he dashes for the unit.

"He look just like my daddy." Ray has a wistful look on his face. "How old is he now?"

"Six, going on seven." I fold my arms across my chest and narrow my eyes at Ray. "Why are you really here?"

His face saddens and he beckons me over to his truck which is parked under a street light and when I get a good look at Ray's face I know that something is terribly wrong.

Ray was always skinny, however his cheeks are now gaunt and his blue eyes look too big for their sockets and there's a sallow tinge to his skin.

Leaning against the side of the truck, he lights a Newport, drags on it deeply and angles his face away from me when he exhales the stinking cloud of smoke.

"Well, I'm sick." Ray said.

"Oh, lord. Sick how?"

"I don't want to say, but J.r will be taken cared of. Don't you worry about that."

"I'm sorry to hear that you're sick, Ray." And I meant it because regardless of how our relationship ended up, he'd always been good to me and was a good person.

"I want to spend time with J.r." Ray said. "Well, as much time as I can."

"That's fine with me. Just let me know."

Ray nods, finishes his smoke and scrapes it out on the sole of his sneaker.

"So, how've you been?" He asked.

"I'm good. Still working and trying to take care of business."

"I can see that. You were always a strong woman, Rhonda."

This time when Ray smiles it's full of sadness and regret.

"Tell J.r that I'll come by after school tomorrow and take him somewhere. Where does he like to hang out?"

"Oh, well J.r ain't too picky. You can take him to the park or somewhere like that."

Nodding, Ray wished me goodnight, climbed inside of his truck and left.

Avis pov.

That lying bastard...
I'm hunkered down in the front seat of my car which is parked at the hotel where I followed Ronald tonight and saw his long, skinny, black behind go into room 26.

Now I'm waiting to see what's going to happen.

I'm mad as Hell.

How you gonna cheat on me and then run off and leave me, Ronald? After all I've done for you? I'm still the mother of your kids and that should count for something.

I don't know what I'm gonna do if and when he comes back out but I'm prepared to sit here all night...

The door just opened a crack and now here he come, sliding outside like an ink stain and then here she come right after him.

What? He's left me for that ?

She look at least eighteen years old but I can't tell because the heffa's wearing about a ton of make-up and her foundation is too light for her skin tone because her neck is 'bout as black as Ronald.

And is that heffa wearing the exact same bracelet that Ronald bought me for my birthday?

They pause right on the sidewalk and kiss and that's when I see red and the next thing I know is that I've grabbed my baseball bat, jumped out the car and start swinging it like a mad woman.

Ronald manages to duck just in the nick of time but I still hit him on the shoulder.

"Avis? Avis! Stop!" He yells.

"What for? I'm gone kill your lying, trifling behind tonight!"

"She trying to kill us!" Lil Miss skinny is  screaming like a banshee.

Yeah and you're next.

I just keep swinging the bat until either I've fallen down or Ronald has knocked me down because I'm laying on the pavement and he's standing over me, breathing hard and with his fists balled up.

Meanwhile, the doors along the front of the hotel are flying opened as people rush out to see what all the commotion is about.

A chubby, older white woman spots me on the ground, yelps and hops back inside of her unit and slams the door.

Someone has called the cops and by the time I manage to crawl to my feet the first police car screams onto the scene and two officers hop out.

"Sir? Sir, you need to back away from the woman." They yell.

"What you mean? She attacked me!"

The younger officer cautiously approaches me with his hand on his gun.

"Drop the bat." He commands and I let it clatter to the ground and start crying.

"What's going on here?" The older officer demands.

"She tried..." Lil Miss Skinny started to say but then Ronald cut her off.

"Nothing, officer. It's all a big misunderstanding."

"Then why'd you say that she attacked you?"

Ronald ran a shaky hand over his beard stubble and shrugged.
He looked so pitiful, standing there with his head hanging down.

"You're bleeding." The officer observed after shining his flash light on Ronald's face.

"I must have cut myself shaving." He mumbled.

The cops sent him a disgusted look and the younger one asked me,

"Did you hit him with the bat, ma'am?"

"No..no, Sir."

He looked around at the gawkers.

"Did anyone see what happened here?"

"We didn't see anything but we heard an awful lot of screaming." A young, Asian guy said.

The cops consulted with each other, made disgusted sounds and soon left.

10/31/21
Edited 12/20/21.