Seasons of Change

5

Brad was in no mood for Madison and her games that morning, he had a million things he needed to attend to and her bitchy attitude was not one of them.

He had tried to suggest that he pick her up after he and Fernando looked at rental spaces for their shop because it made no sense to him to drag Gwendolyn around in the car all morning, she was bound to get fussy.

Madison, always assuming the worst, took it as he was just wanting to run around with Fernando, picking up other women. Now, there had been a time that was something they may have done but that was in the past. All Brad cared about in that moment was getting his business together and making money, fuck anything else.

Brad swung by his brother's house on the way to grab Fernando. The July morning was already hot, pushing eighty degrees at barely eleven in the morning. Krist was outside with Rocco, both shirtless as they washed Atira's Subaru.

"Uncle Brad!" Rocco shouted, running to greet him at the drivers side door.

"Hey, Rocco!" Brad smiled, putting him in a playful headlock.

"Aye, what's good?" Krist asked, wiping away the water that had splashed his cheek.

"Nothing much, was headed to get Fernando and then we are headed down to Vancouver to look at shops," he told him.

Krist threw a dry wash rag at Rocco's head, "Aye, dry up!"

Rocco cackled, raising his foot as if he were going to stomp in the water that had pooled on the driveway.

"Bro, don't fucking do it," he warned his son.

Rocco stood on one foot, eyes locked On his father's as if he were challenging him. Krist cocked his head to the left, jaw tight he kept his eyes glued on the boy.

After a tense moment, Rocco laughed before darting up to the porch where Gabriel sat in his jumper, his face shaded by an oversized sun hat.

"What did you think of your new mom?" Brad asked his brother, smirk on his lips.

Krist lifted His upper lip in a sneer, "Straight up bar fly," he said, "Like the kind anybody can take home but somehow dad decided she was wife material."

Brad laughed, licking his lips, "I got that vibe too, kinda felt like She was eye fucking me."

"She probably was, I told you, she seems like that kind of broad That everybody can take Home," Krist Said matter-of-factly, "Dude she's like our age, the fact she is with dad tells you all you need to know 'bout her."

Krist tossed the damp sponges and towel into an empty bucket, glancing over his shoulder, "Beside, how would you feel if dad was thinking about your wife the way you be thinking about his?"

Brad rolled the hose up, shaking his head, "Fuck, I wish he would. He can have her."

Shading his eyes from the bright morning sun, Krist looked towards Brad, "C'mon really?"

Shrugging, Brad nodded, "I fucked up big time by marrying her," he admitted.

"Yeah, no shit but you can't be, you know, not filling her in on that. She thinks yall good I'm sure, don't she?"

"Yes but..."

"No but, dawg, if you ain't tryna be with her, don't be with her," Krist told him, "But don't be saying one thing and acting like another."

Brad folded his arms across his broad chest, "I'm hoping shit gets better...she is just such a freaking...bitch, oh my god," he confided, "She don't let me breathe even."

"I could have told you all this back before you got her pregnant," Krist told him.

Brad rolled his eyes, "You aren't funny."

"I'm not trying to be, she's always been a fucking nut job, bro, why you think her and Lainey got along so well."

As Brad began to rant, his phone went off. He shook his head, showing Krist his phone display before answering the call.

"Hey, babe," he answered, Krist mimicking him in a high pitch voice.

"No, I haven't gotten to Fernando's house yet," Brad told her, "I stopped to see Krist for a minute...babe, I literally just got here...no, nobody is here besides Atira and the kids...if you don't believe me, I would be happy to put him...no, Madison, I...I will...so because you have some personal issues wi-...no, that's not what I'm saying...look, you can either cut the shit and come along or you can stay the fuck home, I'm not...have a..."

Brad stood in the driveway, staring at the phone in his hand, "Fucking cunt," he muttered under his breath, clenching his fist.

Krist looked at him sympathetically, he knew that frustration all too well. Lainey had tripped out on him all the goddamn time over everything.

"I ain't gonna get better," Krist told him, "Trust me, I know that from experience."

"Ugh..." Brad began to pace, his fingers interlinked above his head, "If we didn't have Gwendolyn..."

Krist leaned against the hood of his matte black BMW, groaning, "You got two other baby moms that you ain't with, what's one more? Leave her now while you don't have money for her to take."

Brad was silent.

"Dude, if you fuckin' stay with her, you know you ain't gonna stay clean," Krist pointed out, "I know you know this."

****

"It feels weird as hell to be in a car again," Fernando mentioned to Brad as they pulled on to the street, "I ain't been in no cars since they brought me up to my moms."

"Is that right?" Brad asked.

Fernando nodded, his eyes gazing out of the passenger window, "Sabrina keeps offering to take me places but for real, I feel self conscious. I know people be staring at handicapped people tryna figure out what happened to 'em, ya know?"

"If they want to stare, to hell with them. You can't just stay home all the time," Brad lectured.

"I know, I want to get out and do shit, just got that mental barrier in my head right now, you know?"

The two drove in the rest of the way in silence until Madison called to bitch Brad out again.

"I thought you were picking me and the baby up," Madison immediately said.

"I told you that you need to cut your shit out of you wanted to come, you couldn't do that," Brad told her as though he were lecturing an ill mannered child.

"You're such a fucking liar, Brad," she said, voice wavering, "You didn't want to take me along regardless."

Brad groaned, his eyes rolling all the way in the back of his head.

"You and your nasty ass brother are probably out looking for bitches," she accused him.

"Krist ain't even here, it's just me and Fernando," he snapped, "Watch your fucking tone with me, Madison."

"Did you just threat-"

Brad ended the call, immediately blocking her number, his hands shaking with anger.

"Damn, homie," Fernando shook his head, "She always like that?"

"Loopy? Yes, all fucking day, every day," he muttered, "I been out not even three weeks and me and her have had maybe two good days. Two days! She's been completely tripping non-stop, constantly blowing me up and accusing me of things I'm not doing.

"I told her yesterday the way she acts makes me want to get high. Shit, if she wants to accuse me of all this crap, maybe I ought to go ahead and fucking do it."

"I feel you, for real homie."