I had just laid Anthony down to take a nap and I started to straighten up the room for the moment. Not that it was much to clean up but more so just gathering the clothes up to take them to wash in the laundry room. I tried to be as quiet as possible so not to disturb him. I grabbed the clothes and took them downstairs when I ran into Toya. "Hey, AJ is sleeping in there." I told her and she ended up following me back down the hall and down the stairs. "How long he been down?" she asked me. "I just put him down for his nap like 5 mins ago." I said as I started to load the washer. "Ooouuu okay then! Like clockwork for you I see. He likes to give me a hard time with taking a nap at least." she said. I started the washer. "Maybe you just don't have the magic touch." I said with a smile and she smiled back. "Okay Mr. Mom...anyways...how's your day been going?" she asked me as we went and settled into the nook. "My day been cool, just been chillin with lil man. Waiting the return of his mother." I said as I kissed her hand and she smiled at me. "Flattery gets you everywhere Mr. Rodriguez." she said with an accent. "Oh I know Mrs. Rodriguez." I said as I let her hand go and she looked over at me. "Soon to be." she corrected. "Same thing LaToya." I said as I looked down at the papers that were sprawled out across the table. I was doing the last bit of figures for the money I wanted to put up in the bank and then what I was putting in the safe at our new house. "Tony..." she said in a awkward tone. I looked up at her. "...let me ask you something. Do you really feel like you're ready to walk down the aisle?" she asked me. "I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't feel like I was ready. You good mama?" I asked her. "I'm good, I was just thinking about it for a while and was thinking like I don't want you to feel like you jumped into marriage without being able to experience things first." That caught me completely off guard, I had to put my papers to the side. "What you mean?" I asked her trying to understand her train of thought. "Like for the past few years, you've been with me. I don't want you to feel like you're trapped. Like there might be other things you want to experience or other people you might want to see. Like how are you so confident that I'm just the end-all?" she asked me. "I think I'm less concerned about what else is out there. I don't even think about that because I'm happy with what we got. I didn't build a family with anyone else but you. I don't even know if I would be where I am in life without you. So...why would I think like that?" "Because you're human Anthony. We all think about it at some point or another. We may not act on it due to commitments, but it's a natural human reaction though." she said. "I mean you did almost decide to walk away from me when Autumn was around." she said to me. "Wait...so you're still bothered by that? It wasn't about Aut..." she put her hand up. "I know what your reason was, but you also second guessed it more when she came into play. I'm not stupid. I know you still harbor some type of feelings for her and that's okay. But I want you to get that all out of your system before you walk down the aisle with me." "Toy...there's nothing that I need to get out of my system. I'm good, now unless you need to go sow your wild oats or something, I'd say we're good." I told her. She just stared in my eyes for a minute and we both sat there silently for what felt like a long time and in actuality it was just some seconds before she finally looked away. "So...you feel like that?" I asked her. She looked over at me and I already knew what that meant for real. I'm not even mad but I'd be lying if I didn't say that shit hit me all types of crazy. But at the end of the day, I respect a person who can be real about their shit in the end. "Well...I don't wanna hold you back from whatever it is that you want to experience or whomever it is you want to see or whatever...I don't know. I'll give you that." I told her and I went ahead and got up from the table. "Where you going?" she asked me. "To check on our son." I said as I got up and went back upstairs and peeked in on AJ who had now turned to his side but was still sound asleep. I went ahead and softly closed the door back. I went to head back down the steps and Toya caught me in the hall. "You mad at me?" she asked me softly. "Naw, I respect. I mean you could've lied to me or just cheated so I can respect it in the end." "But how do you feel though?" she asked me and I really didn't know how to answer. "What difference does it make?" I asked her and she just looked at me. "It makes a difference. But I mean I really had to suck it up when the roles were reversed." "Whatever helps you sleep at night Toy." I said with a laugh and headed back downstairs. "What's that supposed to mean Tony?" I gathered up my papers and put them into my manilla envelope and tried to ignore her. "So you don't hear me?" she asked. "I heard you loud and clear. You keep using the excuse of what happened before and I guess you forgot that you pushed me away and I gave you that space. Then I wasn't asking for permission to do my 1-2. I asked you to bear with me while I sorted my stuff out. You're saying to me let you do your 1-2 and come back. It's different, so I respect and it and I'll give you that. That's cool and whatnot, but what I won't do is act like I'm thrilled about it. But do you, respectfully. Just let me know when you're done." I said calmly as I went ahead and put my papers in the safe as she walked out the back door.
YOU ARE READING
The Unusual Suspects Book 2
General FictionThe story of 6 inner city young adults, all from different walks of life, from different areas, and conquering different hardships. Watch how school, family, drugs, lies, the streets, and love bring them together and rip them apart
