From thick to thin

#15

Naomi's POV
My parents stared at me. It seemed one on them had said something that needed a reply but I had been lost in thoughts. ma? I answered confused.

"What would you like to get?" My mom replied leaning on the counter.

All through the drive from home to the restaurant I had been so carried away.

"Naomi o." My mom called me back to reality. The lady taking orders was already losing her patience. My dad placed his hand on my shoulder.

"What's the problem teddy bear, is anything wrong? you've been quiet."

"No dad, I'm fine." A mere touch from his hand made me disgusted, it's funny how love for some one can change so quickly, but i needed to play it cool atleast for my mom's sake, it would break her heart.

I quickly glanced at the pictures of delicacies displayed over the counter

"Give me Chinese rice and salad."
And with that we moved to the table section to get a good spot to sit.

Alot of people came over to the new restaurant today. Well,  not to buy food per say, but to "window shop" and take pictures. This was a usual practice at malls, restaurants and parks around the island which was still cool but the annoying thing was when they took all the seats at a food joint, leaving customers who are actually buying food to stand, and they can stay sit there for two hours or more.  Luckily for us we found a good place to sit, we quickly got over there before someone else took the spot.

Dad sat besides mom while I sat across them.
Few minutes later the waiter brought over our order, and I must say it looked tasty. If not for the fact that my mind was somewhere else I would have taken pictures for the gram but not today.

"So teddy, how is school?"

"Fine sir."

He grinned at me...

"you don't want to gist me ni."

"Ah no, daddy there's no gist o "

I looked at his face for the first time tonight since the incident. He seemed so happy sitting down with my mom.  They looked so good together; which made me wonder why he would want to give this up.

My mother was a beautiful woman in her early 30s and had been faithful to their marriage. Alot of times I see how men make passes to my mom but she always shrugs them off. She was a devoted Christian and even when my dad away, she never made me feel his absence so much.  I know deep down she misses him a lot too. So I wonder why he would cheat on her, it was just not fair.

"Naomi is everything okay" my mom reached up to me, my eyes were giving me away.

"I'm fine mummy" I wiped the tears off my eyes, I couldn't let my mom find out.

"I think it's the pepper " I added. I was already drawing too much concern, I needed a distraction and fast.

"Daddy, so how where did you visit ?"

"Oh alot of places dear"

Good, that clear the tension in the air a little...

"I visited Chicago, people there are very friendly and they speak so fast"

I gave a fake grin, making it look like I was interested in his conversation.
I thought to myself. Chicago, could that be where he met this strange woman, I didn't even look at her dp, also was she the only one or were there still more?

The thought of my dad visiting brothels disgusted me. I quickly pushed it out of my mind. I needed more information, I need that phone again.

"Daddy, I need you phone." I cut him short in his story

"Huh" he seems lost.

"For pictures." i lied.

"yours is clearer than mine" I quickly added, which was another lie. Everyone knows iPhone 11's camera was better than Samsung S10, well everyone excpet my dad, because he fell for it.

"Alright, but let's take a family picture instead"

Darn it...

He grabbed my mom by the shoulder. She smiled a bit at his touch. Poor woman if only she knew.

I got up and sat on my dad's lap, like I do in most of our family pictures.

"Say cheese" my mom spoke beside me

"Mummy o, who does that?" I rolled my eyes.

They both laughed.

Few minutes later we were on our way back home, and there was no hope of me getting that phone, or was there?

Jimmy's pov
"Good morning ma, my name is Jimmy, I'm Ella's boy friend..."