I had been assisting Adrianna with completing a puzzle for about the last past hour, I glanced at my watch and it was just getting later and later. "Mija, I don't think he's coming home tonight." Their mom said and she came and walked into the kitchen. "Ana, can you excuse us for a few?" she asked her sweetly. "Si mami." she said as she skipped off to her room. I just tried to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable at this point. She came over and sat down and took a sip of her of her coffee. "So, how have you been?" she asked me as she normally would. "I'm well, just been creating more. How about yourself?" I asked her. "I've been well too honey. Tony showed me some of the pictures of the rappers that you have designed for. You're doing a fantastic job with them. They look immaculate." "Thank you! I try. I always thought it would be a lil easier than it is, but I'm still doing it though." "I wouldn't even be able to tell that it was ever a struggle. You're great at it." "Yeah...I try to embody as much of the person as I can when I create for them so it's a little task but it's so worth it in the end." I told her. "I see it." she said and I looked over at her. "Passion...the passion that you have for your craft is good. You'll need that to push you through." she told me, I noticed her looking into my eyes a little more than usual so I knew it was coming. "But you don't see that same passion when it comes to your son." I said to her and she put her cup down and stared into my soul. "Toya, I try my hardest not to get in you guys' business, because I was your age before so I get it. But since you brought it up, you're right. I don't see the same passion when it comes to Antonio. But that really isn't my problem, you two have to figure that out for yourselves." she said and I kinda just felt like an asshole for real. "I love him, I really do. I just...I mean...did you ever feel like maybe you wanted to see what else was out there though? I mean y'all have been together for a long time and you never thought of any other man?" I asked her trying to get her to relate. "You're human and you're still young. You're not wrong for wanting to explore other options. No one can ever fault you for that. But to answer your question, no. I never wanted to explore other options because I was shown that you work on your relationship, not get up when things get a lil tough. My parents were only ever with each other their whole lives. I idolized that and when I asked my dad how they could withstand everything, he told me 'When you truly love someone, you can get over anything together. A little communication goes a long way'. I remember thinking: that's it? That's the grand answer? But truthfully, it has been. I learned to speak up about every thing no matter how minute. But I've also learned patience. Patience because Rome wasn't built in a day, so how could someone unlearn toxic habits overnight? And some things are easier to get into and harder to get out of. But I'm sure this is a preaching to the choir moment." she said passively and honestly it wasn't that. She said a lot in saying not much. "I get it though." I said to her and she nodded at me. "I know you do. The reason I've always taken a liking to you because you're very intelligent and that intellect takes you places. Intellect takes you further than empathy ever will. You have to live for you honey. If that means it's a life where you and Tony just co-parent then so be it. But you have to be true to you." "I can't really say that I've imagined a life without him though. But...it's like he sometimes leaves room for things to be desired. I just don't know how to deal with that." "Did you tell him?" she asked me. It's crazy how this question was asked again. "Honestly no. But I feel like as long as he's known me, he could see that I'm not happy." "Let me let you in on a secret babygirl: Guys are dumb. You can't expect them to understand what you do not tell them. We as women are already emotional beings and they just see us as such. So they don't try to just read into our emotions, they don't even understand them if you don't speak up. You can't expect you from them." She said. More and more I started to feel guilty about how I handled things with Tony. Don't get me wrong, I love the time I spent with Dox, but I'm not sure if it was worth the rift in our situation. Before I could even respond to that, the back door opened and Tony walked in. It was just the most awkward moment seeing him come in and he looked like I was the last person he wanted to see. He came in and set AJ down on the table in his car seat. I saw how his lil face lit up when he seen his grandma and she played with him. "Did I miss something? Like were we supposed to be meeting or something?" he asked. "No, I had just stopped over. I was just trying to see what you and AJ were up to and everything. I ended up doing this puzzle with Ana, but yeah...no planned visit or nothing." I assured him. "Oh...you probably should've called first." he said dryly. I guess I deserved that. "I'm gonna take him in the other room, maybe y'all should talk." His mom said as she started to get up from the nook. "You're good ma. She said she wanted to see what we were up to, she sees. Right?" he asked me for clarification. They both looked over at me. "I should've called first, you're right. But I thought maybe we could talk." I said. "Maybe tomorrow Toy. To be honest, I think I'm all talked out for the day and me and AJ are headed to bed. So..." "Mijo!" she said raising her voice and he just looked at her blankly. He was different.
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
