The Many Dates of Indigo

Original Edition: Chapter 2

"Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, Geneva!" Indigo stood in the doorway, happily waving to the last guest as they made their way down the now vacant driveway.

"Hmm, this is good," Harrison slouched in one of the striped armchairs with his legs propped up on the coffee table. "Mama, you put your foot in this gumbo." He shoveled another spoonful of the swampy chicken, sausage delicacy that was only reserved for special occasions and was also Indigo's favorite.

Unfortunately, Indigo hadn't had any since she'd been too busy to stop and eat. Slurping the spicy juice from the crab legs was her favorite part but now she was just too tired to fight with the crustacean exoskeleton.

"Thanks, baby," Stella Clark, the matriarch of the Clark clan saccharinely said, en route for the stairs, holding an armful of vibrant yellow baby blankets. "You better get you a bowl to take home before Xavier gets back."

Saxon waited for their mama to climb the last step and round the corner before she peeled her lips apart, "Keep your paws away from that pot." She pointed her finger at him while sitting back on the couch stroking her round belly. "That's Xavier and the kids' dinner. You can go to Mickey D's to fill that bottomless pit of yours."

"Anyways, you need to stop stuffing your face." Indigo pushed the back of Harrison's head sending it forward and almost into the bowl he was cradling like a newborn. "And help us get this stuff to the nursery." She gestured to the baby paraphernalia that cluttered the usually immaculate living room. "I don't want to be doing this all day."

"What else do you have to do?" Harrison and Saxon chirped simultaneously.

She narrowed her eyes at both of them with her hands on her waist blocking the fifty-five-inch television screen that Harrison had commandeered, switching it from soundscapes to Atlanta. "Better things than stockpiling your already packed nursery. You really think I want to be at a baby shower with women cooing over teeny tiny sneakers and shirts." She stomped her barefoot on the hardwood floor. "No, this isn't how I wanted to spend one of my two off days!"

"Damn!" Harrison dug his spoon in the bowl. "Tell us how you really feel."

Saxon cradled her eight months along belly with a sneer. "What's the matter with you? This is your niece. You don't want to be here for your sister and your niece?"

She wanted to ask how many baby showers did she really have to attend. Shouldn't being in attendance for the first two fill her quota? But knowing how hormonal and expressive her big sister was, the question would only lead to waterworks and their mom hurrying downstairs ready to give a tongue lashing to whoever had made the mother-to-be upset.

"I want to be here," Indigo said in a soft tone to lift up the now downturned mouth and big eyes her sister was giving her. "I just don't want to be here all day."

Harris huffed, "Lies. So many lies your teeth should fall out."

"What?" Saxon cocked her head in his direction. "Lying about what?"

"Stop instigating, you little scoundrel." Indigo tossed a cute plush teddy bear at him but it sailed past his head by a country mile.

Saxon glanced between the two of them with suspicion painting her bister face. "Are y'all keeping secrets behind my back? What is it? We have a code remember." She pointed at both of them with her thick fingers, a symptom of pregnancy that she wanted to do without. "Spill it, now."

"There is no secret." Indigo dropped to her knees by the coffee table busying herself with a pile of onesies that needed to be folded. "Chill out, Sax."

Harrison swallowed his spoonful of gumbo. "She's pissed that she's still single and everyone around her is moving on."

"That's the last time I have a private conversation with you, Harriet." Indigo gave him the evil eye.

Harrison shrugged shoveling another helping of food in his mouth.

"Indigo...." Saxon orated in a motherly, tender tone that clawed at Indigo's insides.

"Saxon, don't start." She was smoothing her hand over the polka-dotted onesies trying to free them of the wrinkles that were set in from being bunched up. "We're not going there, remember." She peeked at her sister with a pointed look.

"See, that's your problem right there." Saxon sternly jabbed her finger at her. "You don't want anyone's help. I could set you up with a great guy, right now." She snapped her fingers as if it was going to be that simple.

"Mhmm," Harrison added with a nod of his head.

"That's how you ended up with Corey."

"Which one was Corey?" Harrison tapped his chin with the lick-cleaned spoon. "The college boyfriend that had the pregnant girl back home?"

Saxon shook her head. "That was Darius. Corey's the one she dated in high school, you know..." She snapped her fingers at Harrison as if it was going to help him remember. "The one that got her community service."

"Oh!" Harrison threw his head back. "Corey Hall."

"I'm sitting right here." Indigo frowned at them. "So, can we not...do this."

"Maybe we should." Saxon pushed her back against the soft cushion of the cream couch. "Then maybe you'll see that you need to let someone help you find love because your picker is broken."

"Is not." Indigo drummed her manicured nails on the raw wood coffee table. "There's just an abundance of lames out there." She thought about the gold-tooth father of six that asked her out while she was pumping gas last week.

"I mean maybe she's right because...you did pick Ian." Harrison scooted to the end of his chair. "Or should we say, Christian Ross or Michael Earnest. What name is he going by now?"

"His government name is Jasper Nelson," Saxon said with a sad quirk on her lips

"A girl dates one con-man and she gets branded." Indigo slapped her hand on the table feeling a little heated. "I don't keep bringing up yawls tragic little trysts."

Harrison pointed his spoon at himself. "Because we don't let our failed relationships define us but you—"

"I what, Harris!" Indigo seethed jumping to her feet. "I ejected myself out the dating field because I'm tired of getting hurt. You think it's fun to fall in love with a guy...plan a wedding to later find out that he isn't who he says he is. You think that shit's easy to rebound from?"

"Then what about Tate?" Saxon interjected. "Are we going to talk about that one or..."

"You know what..." Indigo snatched her purse off the armchair and slipped on her shoes. "I'm out!" She marched towards the door and flung it open.  A gust of humid air smacked into her face. Out of all her relationships that was the only one she couldn't handle reliving. "Let the Hamburglar help you organize your baby crap," and with that, she slammed the door behind her.

Do you think Saxon is right?