Seasons of Change

21

Atira felt a bit like a hoarder when loaded every single piece of clothing (excluding undergarments) that belonged to her mother into the Subaru. She had already made a trip for her mother's shoes and jewelry and would need to go back to make sure she hadn't missed anything else.

"God damn," Krist said when she pulled up to the house and asked him to help load, "Your mom wore all this?"

Atira shook her blond head, "Some of it still has tags on it?"

"What are you going to do with everything?"

She blew a strand of blond hair from her eyes, "I'm going to go through and pick what I want, what I want to save for Audrey, and then donate the rest. I was looking online and there are nonprofit groups that take clothing donations. There is one that helps women who are getting on their feet get clothing for job interviews and one that gives high school girls dresses for homecoming and prom. And then I was going to see if maybe Madison or the other women at her house wanted some of the less formal stuff. It's all nice stuff."

Krist grimaced, "Why Madison?"

"I mean, she's small like my mom was and I felt like if I just brought a bag of clothes over there for her whole house without giving her first dibs, that would be kind of crappy of me."

He gave her a soft smile, she was a lot nicer than he was.

"It's nothing crazy fancy, just like Lululemon stuff and some jeans and stuff. I might throw in some sneakers too, but I'm not sure. I was just thinking that a lot of those ladies probably don't have much money and even though it's technically used it's nice stuff and wearing nice stuff makes people feel good."

He cupped her chin in his hand, bringing her lips to his, "I love you, baby."

****

Atira didn't bother to sort the clothing out until she had the kids down for bed, except Rocco who was watching Raw on the living room television while she sorted through the clothing on the couch.

"When can we go back to my new grandpa's house?" He wanted to know, "I want to watch the big TV."

"I've got to go back tomorrow, I'm sure you could come along," Atira said, glancing to Krist, "You want to come?"

He shrugged, spooning ice cream into his mouth, "Yeah, I'll go." Krist didn't want to but ya know, happy wife, happy life. Not that Atira ever made things difficult for him no that wasn't sarcasm. She was a saint.

"You're the best," she smiled at him, examining a cocktail dress before tossing it into the donate pile.

Krist scrolled through Facebook, landing on Fernando's page, and saw a previous live video, "Looks like Fernando and Brad opened their shop up," he said, watching the ended live video of Fernando shading on a woman with a clown face, cumbia blasting in the background.

Atira shimmied her shoulders along to the music, "That's some festive music," she commented.

Krist groaned, "Bruhhhh...it legit is like nails on a chalkboard to me," he informed her, muting the video.

"Why? It sounds fun."

Shaking his head, he told her, "Dude, I once spent four days with Fernando in some bitch's motel room and he had that shit going nonstop. At first, it was whatever but after like the second, third day, I'm all burnt out, irritable, and spying on demons goddamn that fucking music.

"Dude and I swear he played this song with like whistles and some guy yipping like a coyote 900 times. And Fernando ain't like me when he, ya know, indulges. He don't get quiet or weird, he dances around and is so goddamn loud...like bruh..."

Atira laughed, "So like he always is?"

"Yes, exactly, just more of it. Fuck man. Instead of lecturing kids on how bad drugs are, they should keep them up a few days and put them in a room with Fernando and his fucking music. Shit, woulda scared me straight."

****

Opening weekend went decent. Fernando and Ivy had been booked solid in advance as they both had existing clientele. Brad spent the first few days doing $80 flash tattoos as a way to conjure up business. He stayed busy though and got a few people wanting repeats.

Since he was working, he was able to get his parole officer to change his curfew from eight to ten P.M. to accommodate the shop's closing hours of nine.

Things with Madison had slightly improved, maybe he just needed to dick her down good and lay down the law on her but she was behaving herself and that was about all he could ask of her.

She had kept asking if she could stay with him since she felt she had been clean long enough to maintain her sobriety in the real world. Though Brad wasn't keen on the idea, he would be working enough to where he would not have to deal with her more than just bedtime and he wasn't opposed to coming home to a hot meal, warm pussy, and her by his side as he slept.
Anything beyond that, however, was less than ideal.

So it was agreed upon in the beginning of September that they could move in together. Being that his background was trash, he would need her to lease an apartment in her name and he would notarize a letter claiming he paid her whatever in child support so she would have some proof of income.

They technically could have stayed in the Portland studio apartment but Brad didn't feel safe with a child in that shit hole. It didn't help he'd been fucking with his neighbor, Kiyana, claiming he was separated from his wife and was single. He didn't think Kiyana would cause problems but he knew Madison would.

It was Monday night, Kiyana had come by for a quickie that resulted in a long session and her lying beside him in nothing but a pair of bright green thong panties, his hand resting on her plump ass as they chilled in bed.

Kiyana was mellow, laid back, and easy to talk to. She was cool with the no-strings-attached thing, way less stress than Madison. But then again, he'd found Madison to be fun after broke.

Regardless, Brad did enjoy her company and knew he would miss her when he had to move back with his wife.

When he rolled onto his back, she snuggled up to him, resting her pretty head on his chest, draping a long leg across his body.

"You had better be careful, you're going to make me catch feelings," he teased, playing with one of her curls.

Kiyana looked up at him with her almond-shaped eyes and lush lashes. Natural lashes, Brad loved them. Not the ridiculous fake ones Madi wore.

"Would that be so bad? We would make a pretty cute couple," she told him.

A smile played upon Brad's lips, "It wouldn't be bad, I just think things are better now they are."

"Uh huh," Kiyana replied, "And why is that?"

"I'm honestly a shitty person to be in a relationship with and I like you too much to subject you to that," he told her as though he were kidding around but it was the truth.

"I see how is," she said with a big grin, "I appreciate your self-awareness."

Brad kissed her lightly, pulling her on top of him. He had to agree that he did have some level of self-awareness about whether was he planning on changing his behavior.

Nah.