Love From The Barber

Twenty

Things Have Cooled Down Between What Happened Between Tristan And I. Ever Since That Night He's Somewhat Tighten Up, Amari Has Been Scared To Talk To Him And Be Around Him Since Then. I Let Tristian Know To Give Him Some Space To Trust Him Again Because That Was A Traumatic Experience For Him. I Also Told Him To Get Clean And Do Therapy, Basically Get His Shit Together Before His Child Doesn't Have A Father. Tristian Was Shocked That I Knew He Was Doing Drugs But I Didn't Care.

Today Is The Day Amari Actually Gets To See Him Since Then, I Told Tristian He Could Come By And Hang Out With Us. Amari Asked Me Why I Haven't Brought It Up To My Lawyer, Judge Or A Courthouse And I Told Him. A Judge Would Probably Take Custody Rights From Him All The Way. Everybody Deserves A Second Chance, I Told Him If Tristian Is Really Getting Clean And Become A Better Person Then There Wouldn't Be No Reason To Take It To Court.

"Jordan Give Me Some Chips!" Amari Yelled From The Living Room. I Had Jordan Move In With Us, I Felt Like It Was Time For Him To Live With Me. It Took A Lot Of Arguing With Amelia But It Got Done. I Wanted Jordan Close To Me, Amelia Was Beginning To Date Again And Seeing What Happened To Amari I Didn't Want That Shit Happening To Jordan With The Many Men Amelia Started Dating. Because Amelia Would Cover Up Shit When It Involves A Man.

"Aight Got You Fam" Jordan Said. "What Y'all Want For Dinner?" I Asked.

"Dad Your Really Trying To Cook Again?" Jordan Asked.

"Look I Know I Burned The Noodles But It Was My First Time Making Spaghetti Aight. I'm Trying To Cook So Y'all Have Actual Dinner Food Instead Of All That Fast Food All The Time" I Explained. Jordan Shook His Head As He Handed Amari A Bag Of Chips. Amari Pressed Play And They Continued The Game. I Heard A Knock At The Door And Got Up Knowing It Was Tristan. I Opened It And He Was Thinner And His Head Was Shaved.

"What's Up?" He Asked.

"Nothing Much, Come On In" I Said Stepping Aside As He Walked Past Me. I Closed The Door And Seen Amari Dapping Tristian Up.

"You Look Good" Tristian Said.

Amari Nodded His Head. I Could Tell He Was In The Awkward Phase With Tristian.

"Tristian" I Called Moving My Head In The Direction Of The Kitchen. Amari Sat Back Down Went Back To Playing The X-Box With Jordan.

"How You Doing Man?" I Asked. Tristian Looked Down "I'm Trying Man...Taking It One Day At A Time" He Said.

"No How Are You Doing" I Said.

"It's Hard...I'm Trying. My Therapist Sees That I'm Changing For The Better But"

"I Understand, You Just Have To Keep Going For Amari" I Said.

"I Know My Son Only Said Two Words To Me. That's Not Like Him" Tristan Said.

"I Know, It's Going To Take Some Time"

"I'm Sorry Man. For The Way I Acted Towards You And I Will Apologize To Amari As Well. I'm Just Grateful You Giving Me Another Chance" Tristian Said.

I Nodded "No Problem And I Accept Your Apology. You Weren't In A Good Place. Nobody Is Perfect"

"Maybe We Can Work On Getting Back To Where We Were" Tristian Said.

"We Need To Focus On Getting You Together And Amari Fully Trusting You Before We Talk About Us" I Said. Tristian Nodded His Head.

After Tristan And I Talked. We Decided To Join The Boys Back In The Living Room, Talking And Playing A Little Bit. I Tried Cooking Fried Chicken With Rice. The Fried Chicken Was A Little Salty And The Rice Still Wasn't Cooked. So Tristian Ordered Some Pizza.
****
Tristian Has Come Full Circle, Amari And His Relationship Is Getting Stronger. Tristian Has Been Off Of Drugs For About Three Months Now. I Was Proud Of Him, My Business Was Booming. We Had Customers Left And Right Which Was Causing Us To Get Real Busy. Mama Tina And I Have Talked Out Our "Issues". I Just Think She Realized That Amari Wasn't Going Nowhere. So We Agreed On Amari Going Down To Houston Every Summer.

I Missed Beyoncé So Much, I Always Wonder Where We Would Be In Our Relationship. How Our Future Would Look If God Didn't Plan To Take Her From Me. I Missed My Baby...At Times I Would Talk To Her In My Room As If She Was Listening, I Was Hoping She Was. I Missed Just Having Her Around, She Was Fun, Kind, And Beautiful. I Know Amari Missed Her And We Talk About Her From Time To Time. I Hope She Was Proud Of The Things I've Accomplished With Amari And What I'm Going To Accomplish In The Future. I Was Just Grateful I Was Able To Take Care Of My Two Boys That's All I Cared About. Maybe Down The Line I Will Find Someone That I Could Spend The Rest Of My Life With But Right Now I'm Living For My Boys.