Remember the Time

Chapter 60

May 18th, 1998

“Alright baby, almost done.” Michael said, trying to soothe his little one. Noelle had been kicking and screaming seemingly everyday since her teeth started coming in, and Michael finally got a prescription for a pain reliever for her gums. He rubbed the gel on her gums with his right hand and made sure she didn’t bite down on his hand with his left.

Noelle looked at him with those ‘daddy please let me bite something’ eyes.

“Oh sweetheart, I’m so sorry. I’m done now.” He wiped his hands before picking her up and giving her a squeeze-hug.

He looked up and met the eyes of his impatient mother, shaking her head.

“What?”

“This didn’t have to take you fifteen minutes.” Katherine said.

Michael gave a shy smile. “I had to make sure she wouldn’t bite me.”

“Even if she did, she barely got teeth. How would it hurt you?” Katherine asked, sardonically.

Michael giggled. “Her teeth are pretty sharp, Mother.”

“Okay Michael…”

Michael put Noelle in her swing.

“Do you think you’d be able to watch the girls for a few days?” Michael asked, interrupting the brief silence.

“A few days?”

“Yeah, maybe a week. I wanna go surprise Mariah.” Michael continued.

Katherine looked up at him under her glasses. “I don’t know. They’re teething and I’m an old woman-”

“I’ll have Vicki stay to help you.”

Katherine sighed, but nodded her head.

Michael lit up. He gave his mother one of his signature head-hugs and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“So why are you really going to surprise her?”

Michael’s eyes downcast as he squat down to fidget with Noelle’s hair bow.

“I just want to see her.”

Katherine frowned at him. “Michael don’t lie to me, boy.”

“What? I do want to see her.”

Katherine placed her hand on her hip. “Michael…”

“Okay...I- I think she’s not just working.” He said.

“What do you mean?”

“Like, she’s there, you know, but with someone else.” He elaborated.

“You think she’s cheating?”

Michael stood up. He lowered his voice into a whisper. “I don’t know.”

Exasperated, Katherine’s eyebrow shot up.

“Well she’s probably not.”

Why are you suddenly taking her side? You don’t even like her.

“Mother, she’s been gone for almost two weeks. She doesn’t call, she’s been going in and out of her feelings for me since she had the girls, she’s constantly in New York-”

“But that doesn’t mean she’s cheating.” Katherine interrupted.

“She won’t even have sex with me. She literally said to me, ‘Michael, I don’t want to fuck you.’ Excuse my language, but that’s what she said.”