The story of a single father with a dark past learning that money doesn't make him a man and a black girl who's struggling to rebuild herself less on a man and more on herself.
❝No matter how good of a woman you are, you'll never be good enough for...
"I advise you to not hide your feelings. Don't pretend to be ok when you're not. Don't pretend to be happy when you're sad. It will only lead you to misery." Kill Me, Jahseh Onfroy.
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Sighing, I typed up another email, reminding people about the mandatory meeting tomorrow. I kept misspelling words and my hands were cramping up from typing so hard.
"Slow down. You're gonna hurt yourself or something," Dante warned, suddenly appearing in the doorway of my office.
"I gotta finish this email," I replied, not even looking at him as I continued to type.
He stood there for a second longer but said nothing.
"Can I help you with something or do you like the clicking sound of my keyboard," I snapped sassily. In all honesty, I was tired and had barely accomplished anything all day.
Dante rolled his eyes. "Careful with the attitude, princess. I want to go home just like you do," he chuckled. "But we can't always get what we want."
Closing my eyes and quickly counting to ten, I stood abruptly. "It's nine. I'm tired, I have a headache and then here you come with your--"
A small hand tugged at Dante's pants leg. "Daddy," a voice whined. "Do the thing."
Dante made space for Safiya in the doorway and she tried to hand him a cup of water. Grumbling, he shook his head. "I told you to stay in the office. You deaf now?"
Safiya stared up at him, her bottom lip poked out and her eyebrows bunched up. One hand on her hip, she held the water out to him again. "Do the thing now," she hissed. "You're never going to have friends if you aren't nice, Daddy. Then you won't have anyone to play with and you'll be sad. Do the thing."
Dante glared down at her, he snatched the cup from her. "Move, little girl." He gently pushed her out the way, being sure to not hurt her, and walked over to me. "I thought you might be thirsty. So here's so water or whatever," he droned. "It was Safi's idea. I don't really care if you're--"
The little girl shot her father a sharp look and he went silent.
Slightly shocked, I took the water from him. "Thanks..." I mumbled and turned my attention to Safi. "Why can't your daddy be more like you?"
"We're working on it," she admitted, grinning. "He's hardheaded."
We both started laughing and Dante sighed heavily.
"Saf, go get your coloring book," Dante said softly. "Didn't you want to show Eden your drawing of her?"
Safiya's face lit up. "Oh yeah! I even colored it this time," she squealed and ran out of the room to go get the picture.
Now it was just two adults in the room.
The air got thicker and Dante cleared his throat, suddenly fixing his tie.
