Winnie sat down at one of the tables with her refresher and her new book. She was on break for about 30 minutes until she finished the last hours of her shift. Today there was another girl working with her so she wouldn't be so overwhelmed.
"Hello, is Winnie working today?" Demario asked the blue haired girl.
She pointed to Winnie who was playing in her curly hair that she had finally taken out of the cornrows after three weeks. Her head felt free but she still hated the fact that she had to now style it.
"Wassup coffee girl." He greeted her with a smile. She laughed at his energy it was always on ten, he had the best personality always happy and full of life.
"Heey. If you don't stop calling me that." She turned seeing him. He gave her a hug before sitting in the seat across from her. Winnie noticed his tattoos that were on full display due to the short sleeved black tee he wore.
"I came here on Friday and didn't see you, I said she must of started her weekend early or sum." He opened his water and took a sip.
"Yea, I went to my sisters house for the weekend." She replied sipping on her drink.
"How was your weekend?" She asked him.
"It was good, I spent some time with my
daughter." He told her. He watched her face for any change of expression when he mentioned his daughter, many women make a sour face or a surprised face that didn't sit right with him. When he saw that Winnie smiled it surprised him.
"Aww what did you do?" She asked closing her book.
"I had to get her ice cream first because she called herself having an attitude," he explained making Winnie laughed at the way he was telling the story.
"But when I tell you I think I have seen every episode of Doc McStuffins at least three times." He exaggerated.
"That is so cute." She commented.
"Why didn't you get anything to drink?" She noticed him without a cup and wondered why.
"Ima wait until you go back, because everybody can't make drinks like you. I wasted five dollars Friday." He complained.
"Why you wasted it?" She asked curiously.
"That shit was-" he caught his self. He didn't like to curse in front of women and children, it was just how he was raised.
"That stuff was nasty." He showed his
feelings all on his face.
"You being dramatic. But what did you order?" She asked him.
"A regular iced coffee, she didn't add any sugar or nothing. I said I would just get something when you're here." He shrugged.
"What you gon do if I stop working here?" She chuckled.
"That's the day I stop drinking coffee or anything from here." He declared.
"Ok, buddy." She sipped more of her refresher.
"What you reading?" He asked her. She showed him the book.
"Silver sparrow. It's really good." She boasted.
"I might have to check it out." He leaned forward in his chair.
"You like to read?" She asked him. She hadn't met anyone who had loved books as much as she did.
"When I have time I do a lot." He said honestly. He wished he had more free time to do things that he enjoyed but he didn't.
"That's good." She nodded. They continued to talk about everything under the sun. Winnie liked his energy and he always kept her laughing.
Demario's attraction grew for her the more he got to know her, so hearing her talk was like listening to angels sing.
Once she got back on the clock she made his drink for the day.
"I want what you was drinking." He told her as she walked from the back to clock back in.
"You don't even know what it was." She laughed.
"It looked good." He shrugged pulling his wallet out his back pocket.
"Anyways." She mumbled.
Once she finished ringing it up and telling him his total was, he paid and she went to make his drink. He watched as usual asking her what every that she put in it was.
"What happened to you staying over there?" She joked. He was like a little kid with all of his questions.
"My bad." He put his hands up in defense.
He watched her attentively admiring her beauty. She was a caramel complexion, similar to his mom and daughter, with light brown eyes, something he hadn't seen that often. She has a beauty mark right above her lip on the left side and one on the bottom on the right.
"Here you go." She handed him the cup and a straw.
"Finally." He sighed jokingly. Winnie sarcastically laughed.
"I like this." He admitted after taking a few sips.
"This the best drink you ever made." He pointed to it, then her.
She rested her hands on her hips while she poked the side of her cheek with her tongue.
"Oh really?" She commented.
"Yes, you the goat." He praised her.
"Aww, thank you." She touched her heart.
He rolled her eyes at her theatrics.
"Anyways, you work tomorrow?" He asked her. He didn't want to come if she wasn't there because no one made drinks like her and he didn't want to waste any more money on something that was nasty.
"Yes, 9 to 3." She looked up recalling her schedule for tomorrow.
"Aight, ima see you then." He winked at her.
"Boy, go on somewhere." She waved him off. He laughed before walking out of the small corner in target and near the busy aisles.
She watched a teenage girl come up to him with her phone. She saw him take a picture with her making her scrunch her eyebrows up until she remembered who he was. She has almost forgot. She quickly started to wash her hands to cover up the fact that she was watching him but failed terribly because he already knew she was, he just smiled and shook his head.
——
"Daddy!" She exclaimed as soon as she saw him. She gave him a hug which he took. He squeezed his eyes closed taking in the embrace of his twin.
"No touching!" The guard said looking ahead. Winnie rolled her eyes.
Winnie sat on the concrete bench in front of the concrete table where her fathers huge hands rested. He sat across from her.
He looked well, he had been working out and reading the Bible, trying to get right for when he got out. He had a literal glow, very different from when she last saw him, he looked depressed.
"How you been baby girl?" he asked his daughter. She clasped her hands in front of her.
"Great, i finally found an apartment." she cheered.
"that's great, have you finalized anything on it yet?" he asked her. he wanted to make sure she got it, because she had been talking about it a lot lately.
"i go sign the lease on tuesday." she clapped.
"that's great baby girl, i'm so proud of you." he expressed.
——
"How was...it?" Demario asked. He didn't know what to call the place she was admitted into. He just stood awkwardly with his hands in his pockets.
"The crazy house?" She laughed filling in the blank he was trying to come up with words for.
"And it was good. I learned a lot about myself, I'm aiming to be better for my kids." She nodded. She seemed much more calmer than before. Demario was worried about her, she always suffered from depression but it seemed to get worse.
One day his kids called saying their mom had locked her self in a room saying she was was going to a better place. They were scared out of their mind to say the least because not only were they by themselves but they didn't know what that meant.
Demario called the police because he didn't know what else to do, they admitted her into a mental hospital where she had been for the last six months. The spark of chemistry they once had had been long gone due to other things but she still was the mother of his kids and he cared about her.
"Your not crazy, you just needed some help. Everybody does at some point. And I'm glad you are doing better." He told her. She smiled. The kids said bye to their mother before they left to go back home.
Demario would let her see them for a couple hours while her dad was there.
"You wanna go see if that lego set here DJ?" Demario asked his son. The lego set he had been seeing on tv since last month was sold out everywhere. When Demario usually came to the book store he saw toys there so it wouldn't hurt to try.
"Sure." He responded.
"Daddy do you think they have a girl lego set?" She asked enthused.
"I'm sure they do, but you just got a toy yesterday with your grandma." He reminded her. She frowned.
"So I can't get another one?" She asked for clarification. She was in fact a diva and wanted everything to go her way, what little girl didn't?
"Nope." Demario told her turning into the parking lot.
"But I'm your princess." She poked her lip out and crossed her arms.
Demario tried not to look at her so he wouldn't fall under her spell, he definitely was a sucker for her and she knew it. DJ just kinda went with the flow, he never really threw fits or acted out if stuff didn't go his way, much like Demario.
"I know that, but sometimes things aren't going to go your way Diamond." He shut the car off and looked up at her frown. She called herself rolling her eyes but failed.
He got out to assist his children out of the car. He held DJ's hand since he was older and held Diamond in his arms.
"What do you do when you cross the street?" He asked his son. He paused to think for a second.
"Look both ways." He snapped when he had the answer, something he picked up from a tv show.
"Good job junior." He high fived him. Once they got to the store he put Diamond down so that she could walk.
"Daddy here it is right here." DJ spotted the set as soon as he set foot in the store. Diamond held on to her dads hand because she didn't want to get lost.
"Wow, it's even bigger in person. Look Diamond we could do it together." He held the box that was wider than him. Diamond smiled, she liked to be included in things like this.
Demario let her despite people saying she shouldn't be playing with boy toys and stupid stuff like that, he wasn't going to stop her from bonding with her brother.
"See sassy butt you didn't even have to roll your little eyes at me earlier." He picked her up and tickled her making her erupt in laughter.
"You too." He tickled DJ who tried to mask his laughter, trying to be cool.
——