I woke up early and made Robyn and I some breakfast. I was trying to be positive this morning because who knows what's gonna happen once I open this folder.
"You're up early."
"Just trying to get an early start," I said.
"You were out late last night. I even made it back before you," I said turning to her.
"It was just a date."
"What kind of date? Was it the kind where you get railed all night long and wake up the next morning looking for your clothes that got scattered all up and down the hallway, and by the front door where y'all clawed to get each other's clothes off," I said all in one breath.
"Maybe," she blushed.
"Was it good?"
"It was. And I'm a bit sore."
"Ms. Robyn, are you in love?" I leaned forward on my elbows and eyed her across the table.
"It's too early for all of that."
"But aren't you a hopeless romantic? You don't just sleep with just anybody. Kinda like how I was, but you're much more secretive about it. You must be falling for him if you let him put his penis inside you."
"You make me sound like a prude."
"There's nothing wrong with that."
"What about you? Are you not a hopeless romantic?"
"I never was, but I also never used to sleep around to begin with. I still don't. But not because I'm trying to guard my pussy or because I'm a hopeless romantic and trying to wait for the right person, but because I don't want to get caught up again."
"Caught up?"
"Some good dick will have you doing crazy shit," I raised my brows at her.
"Girl, you trynna give me advice like you got more experience than me."
"I'm just saying," I shrugged before leaning back against my chair.
"Fine, I'll just wait until you're ready to admit that you are in LOVE. Until then, I'll just live vicariously through you. One of us gotta get some dick."
"Asha, your mouth is filthy this morning."
"I know. That's what happens when I hang around Penny for too long. Last night, she reminded me that I needed to live a little bit, and that includes engaging in a little sex therapy."
Robyn burst out laughing and so did I.
"I mean she's not wrong," Robyn agreed.
"I know," I pouted.
"Anyway, I'm going to go visit Briana then pick up Royce."
"I can go get her so you can take your time."
"You don't have to," I said.
"I know, but I want to."
"Okay, thanks." I went around the table and gave her a hug. She continued eating and I left.
.....
"Okay, hear me out," I spoke before Briana had the chance to chew me out.
"You just kicked me to the curb."
"Noooo. You know you're my bestie. I couldn't get rid of you if I tried."
"Whatever," she rolled her eyes. "Where is my god-daughter?"
"She's not with me." Briana smacked her teeth and faked like she was about to slam the door in my face.
"Don't be mad," I threw myself at her and attacked her with kisses to her cheek. She flicked my forehead and I winced, letting her go. She then kicked the door closed and locked the bottom lock before turning to me with a frown on her face.
"Best friend it's been a minute. And don't act like just because we don't see each other often that we don't talk like every day. I talk to you more than anybody else," I said rubbing my forehead.
"Is that why you don't care enough to tell me when you come in town?"
"I did this time." She rolled her eyes.
"You want some water or something," she mumbled.
"No, but I do have some shit to tell you." Her expression completely changed to one of interest.
"Okay, I'm listening," she pulled me to a chair. We sat down and talked for a bit. I didn't tell her exactly what I really wanted to talk to her about. I wanted to save that until after we got some food, because I was starving and I knew that our conversation would last forever. I did tell her to stop ignoring Penny. I wasn't completely up to date on what was going on between them, I only knew what Penny had told me. All I did was encourage Briana to communicate.
We went out for lunch. Briana recently just started working on her residency for pediatric nursing, so it's good that I could finally catch her this time around. And, I'll be here for longer so we can actually spend some time together. She will also be available for Royce's party this weekend, so I was happy about that as well.
"Okay, so what I actually wanted to tell you," I slowly pulled the folder out of my purse. It was wrinkled but I did my best to smooth it out.
"You won't like the first half of the story, but when I finish, it'll all make sense."
Briana cocked her head to the side confused as I took a deep breath. I told her everything that I told Penny and more—the day at the park, the weird phone calls, Imani running off, the encounter with my sister, the day at the grocery store, meeting Meech at the club last night, everything up to the folder. She let me talk the whole time and didn't interrupt until I finished.
"That's some deep shit," she said.
"I know, and you'll be the first to open this up with me." I slid the folder across the table and into her hands. She opened it and started reading when our waitress came back to the table with the bill.
"Thank you," I said.
"Let me know if y'all need anything else."
"We're actually gonna sit here for a while if that's okay."
"It's no problem. When y'all are done, you can actually pay at the front desk."
"Okay cool. Thank you." She walked off and Briana continued.
"Raymond Anderson," she looked up and I waved her on. "Fifty-two years old, 5'11, brown eyes, 225lbs, and born on October 3rd."
"Okay."
"There's a lot of information on here. This looks like more than just a simple background check, but I could be wrong."
"Just keep going," I said.
"Ummm, it says he has three known kids, two girls and one boy. He was married, still is.
"Does it give the names of his kids?"
"Yes, as well as addresses, numbers, pictures, and even license plates," she said flipping through the pages."
"But their names are Remi and Uriah Anderson. Also you, Asha Anderson. Your dad has quite a rap sheet starting from when he was 13, and his latest one was for 2nd degree murder," her eyes skimmed the page hella fast, making me nervous.
"He was sentenced to 22 years in prison, but he just got released on parole for good behavior."
"What," I reached forward and grabbed the folder from her hands.
"Towards the bottom," she said. I looked over the words, and sure enough he just got released five months ago, serving a total of 18 years. I then looked through all of the pictures. They all looked very recent and like they were taken on the same day, and illegally at that. But how did Meech get all of this information and these pictures so fast.
"This is her," I said pointing to the girl from the park and the grocery store. I then stared at the picture of my dad. I wanted to bang my head against the table.
"You look just like him."
"Fuck me," I whispered. He's been in jail all this time. AND, he has two other kids—I got two half siblings.
"She, Remi, his daughter said that he was trying to get in contact with me. Maybe he was the one calling me that day at the park." I reached for my phone and looked through my call log. I scrolled all the way down to the day at the park since I remembered the date. I was hoping that it was still there, and it was. I unblocked the number. I looked back in the folder and it had like five numbers in it, one of them was exactly the same as the number that called me. It was a 904 number.
"I think this is his number," I said.
"The 904?"
"Yeah. What is that? Florida or something."
"I think so."
I held my finger over the call button. I had every intention of calling the number, but I froze. Just because he was in prison all this time doesn't mean that I will just up and forgive him. He still wasn't there for me when I needed him. Maybe he's only trying to reach out to me to make himself feel better. But maybe he actually wants to get to know me and establish a bond. I clicked on the number but quickly hung up before it even rang.
"Fuck me," I buried my head in my hands.
"There's nothing wrong with wanting to seek closure," Briana spoke up calmly.
I squeezed my head. "Asha," Briana said. Suddenly, my phone rang. Shit, I guess the call did go through. I made no move to answer it.
"If you don't talk to him, you're going to worry yourself to death. Just get it over with." I picked up the phone and held it to my ear. Briana picked up the bill and went to the front to pay. Not being able to sit still, I grabbed the folder and all of my stuff and quickly walked out of the restaurant.
"Hello?" A voice spoke into my ear. I said nothing.
"Asha?" My name sounded foreign as he said it.
"Hello," I said clearing my throat. He let go of a big breath. The back of my throat stung as I tried to control my emotions. I sat on the curb of the side walk, away from the entrance of the building. It was quiet for a long time until he spoke again.
"I've been trying to get ahold of you. How you been?" He asked and I scoffed. The nervousness quickly went away and was replaced with resentment.
"Do you even care," I mumbled.
"There hasn't been a day where I've stopped thinking about you."
"Same to you," I said bitterly.
"Asha—"
"How did you get my number?"
"I know people."
"Mmhmm, I bet. I heard you just got outta jail. Eighteen years, how was that? How is the life of a newly-released felon?"
"Asha—"
"I'm just asking, you know. Just trying to understand you pops. Oh and I met your daughter, Remi, I think is her name. She came all the way to Georgia to come see me, except I thought she was some creep trying to steal my kid so I might've ran her away."
"Remi just recently found out about you, so she just up and left one day without telling anyone. She came back the other night but didn't say what happened, but I see she did find you. We don't have the best relationship right now so she barely speaks to me."
"At least we have something in common." I felt bad for Remi, but maybe if she had approached me the right way, we could've sat down and had a decent conversation. Now she probably hates me, but that's not my problem.
"Asha, can we stop this?"
"Stop what? I thought we were having a conversation."
"Look, I know I made one too many bad decisions that left my kids without a father for eighteen years, but now I'm trying to make things right.
"Trying? I didn't know a few phone calls counted as trying?"
"Over the years, I did try to connect with you. I wrote you often, but you never responded."
"What?" I was confused.
"I sent you letters. Remember the letters? I sent them all the way up until your eighteenth birthday."
"I never got any letters. I never got anything from you."
"I sent letters once a month, sometimes twice. They were handwritten letters and almost all of them had money. It was the best that I could do, but I tried."
I practically stopped breathing as I my brain went into overdrive trying to think if I ever received any letters from him.
"W-We moved. You probably had the wrong address," I said hanging my head as my tears fell to the pavement one by one.
"No, I made sure I had the right address—the old and the new one."
"Please don't lie to me." To prove that he wasn't lying, he proceeded to recall the exact address of where I used to live, he even spelled it out and everything. Overwhelmed, I pulled the phone away from my ear.
"Asha?" I looked behind me and Briana was standing there.
"Can you drop me off. I need my car," I told her. I placed the phone back to my ear.
"Hello, hello?"
"I'm here. Ummm...I have a pretty good idea what happened to them. I'll let you know when I find them."
"Wait, Asha—" I hung up before he could finish his sentence. I stood up grabbing my stuff.
"Are you okay?"
"No, but I will be once I get to the bottom of what's going on."
.....
The next chapter is a heavy one.