New Beginning

CHAPTER SIXTY TWO

Four Weeks Later

It's been about 3-4 weeks since that "incident" with Danny and I. It's also been 3-4 weeks since it's been buried deeply inside the back of mind. I've found a way to make peace with my decision of not telling Chris by making a vow to myself to never keep anything from him ever again. This type of situation will never occur again anyways, so for now all is well that ends well. I'm grateful that Danny and I are finally in a pleasant place with another. He respects me as the mother of his children and I respect him just the same. We deserve co-parents of the year the way we made this 360 together as a team.
Today was Danny's birthday and the twins were escatic to finally give their dad all his presents. I was excited for him to see them too. For children, they went all out and outdid themselves which means they better go crazy for their mama.
"Mama, Breezy's outside. He just pulled up," Ryan ran over to tell me. I scrunched my nose up so fast.
"Who the hell is Breezy?"
"Mr. Chris," he responded in a tone that, that should've been obvious.
"Okay, when did y'all come up with that? Breezy? Ew. Cringe," I continued to frown.
"Say it to my face little girl," Chris walked in with Danielle right at his hip.
"You know I will. Why you got my baby out here calling you that?"
"Because this my lil nigga Rylo right here," he rubbed his hands against Ryan's head making Ryan gleam with pride.
"Rylo," I couldn't wipe the disgust off my face. "Y'all are literally making me gag right now."
"Rylo why yo mama being such a hater."
"Yeah mama why you being a hater," Ryan asked.
"Lil boy move and big boy get out," I looked at both of them sizing them up.
"Damn get your draws out your crack woman and anyways why you not happy to see me?"
"I'm always happy to see you baby. I'm just trying to figure out what you're doing here. You know we're about to go to Danny's ," I asked finally.
"Yeah, that's why I'm here. I Guess it slipped my mind to tell you, but Danny came by the gym this week and invited me to his party. He said he wanted us to finally get the chance to speak with one another. So here I am," he shrugged. My eyes grew like saucers hearing him reveal this. This could not be happening.
"Ok, hold on Danny invited you to do this at his party? Logically, I feel as though we could do this somewhere private.. maybe over drinks?"
"I mean, I thought it was a random set up too but I'm already here now. Plus, he told me it would be some really great cake. You know I love birthday cake," he perked up. I forced a laugh out feeling more nervous by the second.
"You alright bae," he asked looking at me strangely.
"Mhm," I answered quickly. I pursed my lips together while tucking my hair behind my ears, a habit I developed whenever I got real nervous or anxious. "Hey, listen can you get the kids in the car and I'll be right down I need to grab my purse from upstairs."
"Sure, I got em," he left a kiss on my cheek and walked away looking for them. I made a beeline up the stairs, my heart beating wildly out of my chest. Once I got in my room, I closed the door, and collapsed on my bed letting air out of my cheeks. Nothing but unpleasant scenarios raced through my mind as I thought about how wrong this could all go. Without a second thought, I went to calling Danny in hopes of having a chance to narrate the situation. After the 5th call and receiving his voicemail I threw my phone down beside me in frustration.
"Fuck," I cried. There was nothing I was feeling more than regret. I should've just told him. I don't know why I didn't. I was starting to feel myself get worried so since I couldn't reach Danny I decided to call Naomi, just to lift my spirits up and to make light of the situation.
"Yes ma'am," she spoke through the phone on the third ring. I rolled my eyes realizing she still had an attitude from the last time we spoke and she was tryna give me advice about this exact situation. I rarely get snappy with her, but now I certainly wish I took her advice.
"Naomi, I'm in a crisis."
"What's wrong boo," I noticed her tone changed completely making me feel better. No matter what, she's always there for me.
"So you know today's Danny birthday party or whatever. Tell me why Chris just showed up here telling me that Danny invited him so we could all talk?"
"Damn, what? Talk about what exactly?"
"I guess it's more like a settle our differences type of deal, but nonetheless I'm worried. What if the conversation goes too far left? What the hell am I going to do," I felt myself wanted to go into tears. I wish I could have done this the right way.
"Raya calm down. Let's not jump ship here. You said this is for you all to act like adults and let bygones be bygones. In my opinion, there should be no reason to even bring that up. Besides, Danny is the cheater of the year I think he would have enough sense to not bring something like that up," she reasoned. I nodded trying to convince mysef that, that could be the ideal case, but still in the pit of my stomach I felt like today could also go drastically wrong.
"Yeah, yeah you're right. Danny has no need to bring that up. Maybe I'll just stay involved in the conversation so I can navigate it in my direction."
"Exactly. Stay on top of the convo and then cut it short. But listen, I think this is more than enough of a sign for you to finally come clean to this man."
"Yeah I guess so. I just need to get past today."
"It'll be just fine boo. You got this."
"Thanks sis. I knew you'll make me feel better. Oh, I'm sorry about the other day."
"All is forgiven. Get to that party so I can get the tea."
I chuckled and told her okay before I hung up. I stood from the bed and let out another breath. Here goes nothing.