Soft.

t w e n t y

Excuse any mistakes, please and thank you.

Saturday night

Seattle, Washington

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"That was sooooo much fun!" Nia exclaimed while holding on to the stuffed fish animal that Zeke bought her at the Aquarium. "Didn't you have fun, Mommy?" She looked back.

"Yes, I had so much fun." Naomi responded in the same tone. She scooped Nia up, and kissed her all over her face. Nia giggled uncontrollably and Zeke smiled at the moment they were having. He was a few steps behind them, and decided to capture it on his camera.

Once the photo was taken, he looked at it and nodded in satisfaction. "Can we get ice cream?" Nia looked between the two adults.

"Hmm," Naomi looked at her watch then back up at Nia as if she were in deep thought.

"Oh, please Mommy! I'll be good, I promise." Nia begged in her baby voice. She only used that voice when she wanted something. "Tell her ZeeZee."

Zeke looked up as he placed his camera bag on his shoulder. "Ice cream sounds good." He smiled at Nia who cheesed back. Naomi kissed her teeth causing him to chuckle. Zeke really didn't want the night to end. He didn't want to go back to empty house. Although he loved Cato, something was missing.

"Soft." Naomi mumbled. "Ice cream it is."

"Yayyy! Can I get gummy bears on mine?"

Naomi nodded her head. "You can whatever you want on there, baby."

They made it to Zeke's suburban, and he opened both of their doors. Before Naomi got in, she put Nia in her car seat and buckled her in. To the side of her, Zeke was watching her intently and she flipped her hair out of her face to look back at him. "What?" She blushed.

"Thank you." He responded.

"Hmm, for?" She lifted her eyebrow, closing the door.

"For one of the best days of my life." Zeke sighed contently. "I want more days like this with you. And Nia."

Naomi wrapped her poncho around her tighter, and briefly looked away before looking back at Zeke. Before she could say anything, a woman's voice called out Zeke's name. He reluctantly tore his eyes away from Naomi and looked in the direction of the voice. His eyes landed on Senaya, and groaned internally.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Naomi looked at the woman, squinting her eyes. She noticed that Zeke's entire demeanor changed, therefore, she wanted to know who the woman was. "Wait right here." He looked at her, and she nodded while keeping her body on the truck. She watched as he walked up the woman with a harsh tone.

The woman didn't look well in Naomi's eyes. It looked as if she was begging Zeke, and before Naomi knew it, the woman was reaching for his wallet. After a few minutes of arguing, Zeke just gave her the money she wanted. The woman's eyes then landed on Naomi and it looked like she wanted to say something, but Zeke pushed her in the other direction.

Zeke angrily walked back towards the truck, and Naomi got into the passenger seat. Looking out of the window, the woman was still staring at Naomi. She said something, and Naomi tried her best to make out the words. All she got was thank you.