90 Days to Love (Completed)

25: Stubborn

Kendrick Sanders
I sat at the dining table with a pile of bills before me, I had two piles; the ones that were paid and the ones that were past due. I ran my fingers through my hair as I tried to prioritize which was most important. Normally Nadine would do this for me, but due to the circumstances, it was best that I tried to do this on my own. Yes, we were dwelling in the same house for now but aint no telling when she would pack up and leave, with that being said; with or without her I still had a family to feed and a roof to maintain.

I punched some numbers into the calculator and sighed as the total came up on the screen, of course, the total of everything was 500 dollars over my pay cheque. This factory work, wasn't cutting it nowadays, they refused our raise request last month and as the wages stayed stagnant, living expenses just increased. Making things, much harder than they should've been.

I had to worry about groceries, water bill, light bill, rent, car insurance, gas, Gio's car insurance, pocket money for the both of them as well as my little change on the side, on top of that for this month I had to cover Desiree's hospital bill. All in all, I was running drier and drier as time went on. I didn't want my kids working, I needed them to focus on their education and that's one thing I would never be ashamed of. I wanted them to be greater than I ever was and the generations before me. Gio was already breaking the family curse by making it to college and Desiree's grades alone were one that I could only imagine ever getting. My kids made me prouder than ever, but without a doubt... they were expensive.

To make matters worse, Nadine's mother was in town and I had been supplying her needs as well, if only I knew Nadine was a damn fraud I would've kept that extra money... in fact, I needed it as we speak, but the heart I had just wouldn't allow me to ask for it back. I counted it as a loss, and just figured God would provide... and hopefully, sooner than later.

I let out a slight yawn, looking the bills over once more. Just seeing them caused my head to hurt.

I got up and walked over to the fridge, opening it up and grabbing myself a water. Thankfully, I had today off, I wanted to go to Gio's game at least once and since it wasn't too busy at work, today was the perfect day.

I popped open the bottle and took myself a huge gulp, when I heard the door of my bedroom where Nadine and her mother had been sleeping; open. I turned in that direction and of course, it had to be her.

Nadine caught a glimpse of me and wrapped her robed around her body as she shut the door behind her. I returned my attention back to where I had been sitting before and plopped back down in my seat. I grabbed my cheque book from where it sat and picked up my pen as well.

"Need some help with that?" she asked as she approached me.

"Nah. I'm good." I licked my thumb and flipped through the book, counting to make sure I had enough.

"Kendrick... this is something we always do together."

"Yeah well I gotta practice doing this on my own. I'm surprised you aren't already gone yet. Your boyfriend doesn't have space for you?"

"... My family is here."

"You never used to see your family before so I don't see the difference."

"Okay Kendrick." She sighed and pulled up the chair next to me, taking a seat. "I know the other day I was a little harsh, I never got the chance to apol-."

"You didn't want to apologize."

"Of course, I did, I'm so sorry about this..."

"You're sorry you got caught the way you did. If it wasn't for Gio, you'd still be out there doing us dirty." I smirked, "I should've known."