Something about you (Norminah)

Chapter Twenty Six

"Morning Mom, you're up really early."

"Morning Baby," she answered without looking up from her phone. "I should be saying that to you."

"I'm going to talk to Tia."

She quirked an eyebrow. "Does this mean—"

"–I don't want to talk to Eli, not right now, maybe not ever. I have to go, I'll see you later."

"Have fun? Can I say that?"

"Yes you can Mom. Enjoy your day."

Jackson was already downstairs waiting for me. He grinned as he opened my door to let me in before walking round to the driver's seat. "Good morning Miss Normani."

"Morning Jax, you're in a good mood."

"It's better now that you're here Miss Normani."

I rolled my eyes. "Did you miss me Jax?"

"Dreadfully," he put a hand on his forehead and sighed dramatically. "I enjoy Miss Dinah's company very much but I was very worried about you. You seem fine though."

"I am, I have a great job and an even better girlfriend, I'm honestly living the dream."

"So you're going to Tia's. Last time you were there didn't end so well."

I sighed, "Yeah but I need to talk to her."

I took a deep breath to calm myself before knocking on the door to Tia's house. Instead of Tia, Zoe opened the door; my heart broke when she didn't jump into my arms like she always did. "Hi Normani." This was going to be hard.

"Hey Zoe," I said as I crouched down. "Is your Mom here?"

"She is, I thought you were the pizza man. Mommy's letting us have pizza for breakfast."

"Sorry to disappoint kid." I sighed.

Her eyes flicked to my neck. "You're not wearing it." Zoe's voice radiated disappointment, and for a moment I wished the ground could swallow me whole.

"It's right here," I said, pulling it out of my pocket. "I'm really sorry about the other night."

"We didn't get to cut the cake, or finish our game."

"I'm know, I'm really sorry about leaving like that."

Zoe shrugged. "It's okay."

"Maybe we can cut cake another time?"

"I guess," she shrugged again.

"Can I come inside?"

"Okay," she walked away from the door and left it open for me to follow. If I hadn't been living this situation, I'd laugh. But as it was, I wanted her to scream at me and be angry. Anger wouldn't be tearing at my heart the way that her disappointment did.

Still, I didn't give up, or give in to the urge to run again. Zoe sat in the living room playing with her toys. I noticed that Tia was standing in the middle of the living room, at a loss for words.

"Hey T, can I talk to Zoe for a moment?"

"Sure," she answered before going back to the kitchen.

I sat down beside Zoe and prayed for strength. "Hey Zoe, are you mad at me for leaving on Sunday?"

"Uncle Sam said seeing him made you really sad. That's why you left."

"Are you sad that I left?"

She continued staring down at her toys. "It was a stupid party."

I shut my eyes and for the first time, I realized that although I needed to be alone, and there wasn't anything inherently wrong with that, I'd hurt Zoe in the process. "It wasn't stupid party, I was looking forward to it all weekend. Do you ever feel really sad?"