Page 30 of Senior

“Can we go to the toy store?”

I sighed. “Whatever you want, baby girl.”

She squealed. “Thank you, Papa! Daddy, Papa’s taking me to the toy store tomorrow!”

She dropped the phone in excitement. Stephanie shook her head.

“This is why they act like they do. You don’t stand on business, Stanley. Business stands on you.”

I grinned. “She wasn’t that bad, love.”

“Sucker.”

Deuce picked up the phone and came into view.

“Now how you evict my kids for being bad, then turn around and take them to the toy store?” he inquired.

“Mind your damn business. I’m your daddy.”

“Ol’ sucka ass nigga. Wait a minute, wasn’t she talking to Ma? Where you come from?”

Stephanie poked her head into view. “He rolled up on me in the spot like he had the right,” she said. “Asking me who’s making me grin.”

Deuce frowned. “Where’s the rest of your dress, Stephanie?”

“Stanley, please don’t start your shit. I’m fully covered.”

“Nah. You think you’re a hot girl when you’re a grandma. Where you at in that skimpy dress? You think you grown. Then you got this nigga with you? Aye, Pops. Don’t be looking at my mama. And keep your hands to yourself.”

“Nigga, if I kept my hands to myself, you wouldn’t be here, now would you?”

“That’s neither here nor there. You heard what I said.”

“Hear this.”

I ended the call, causing Stephanie to laugh.

“I can’t stand your son,” she said, placing the phone down. She tucked a curl behind her ear as she peered over at me. “What are you doing here?”

“Blake is looking for Jeanie.”

“Still not giving up, I see.”

“Nope. I’m sure this will be like any other time he’s tracked her down. He needs to go on and sign those papers ‘cause I don’t think she’s coming back.”

Stephanie rolled her eyes. “I don’t blame her. Blake has been fucking around on her for as long as I can remember. It’s about time she got fed up and move on. He needs to do the same. He should be ashamed of the way he’s holding her hostage in this divorce.”

“You know as well as I do that he’s not gonna do that.”

She rolled her eyes. “I guess it runs in the family.”

I placed my hand over my heart. “That’s cold. You cut me deep.”

“Oh, please, Stanley.” Picking up her drink, she took a sip. “People would say the same about you. The random flowers every week. Showing up at my house to check on me. You sit up and watch Lifetime movies with me and you hate that type of shit.”

“Are you people?” I asked.

“I know you better than you know yourself, so no, I don’t think that. Now I will admit at first, I thought you were just being nice because I lost my husband, but I sat with myself on it. You’ve always gone out of your way to make sure I was good. Circumstances didn’t change that. It’s one of the qualities I’ve always loved about you… one of the things that always brought me back to you. You’ve always had a good heart.”