"I just don't know how to deal with this, Ma." Drew said as he'd just finish having lunch with Shirley at her house. "That daughter of yours is a much of a handful as mine." He said.
"Tell me about it." Shirley rolled her eyes. "She hasn't let you go yet and I've been telling her over and over again that it's time that she let you go. You're in love and she's confused."
"I try to talk to her, but every time, she wants to flirt and do all this extra stuff. I'm not that man anymore. I'm not her man anymore and I need her to understand that. Alex and I try to be civilized with her, but she makes it so hard for us."
"I don't want to be the one to tell you what to do." She said.
"I know, and I don't expect you to. I want us to figure this all out on our own. You know? Be adults about the situation."
"Ill try to talk to her when I get a chance." She said. "She called me talking about she was gonna have Alex arrested for hitting her. I told her that she had no business stepping to that woman in her house like that." Shirley explained.
"Alex felt terrible about that." Drew said in Alex's defense. "All she was worried about was the fact that Joy witnessed it and she felt that Joy was upset with her."
"See, I like her. I love how concerned she is about Joy. I just don't get why Trice isn't like that anymore."
"Makes me wonder all the time. There was a time where she always had Joy on her hip, but ever since we split, she basically let her daughter go."
Shirley shook her head. "She's still in love with you and she didn't realize that you don't feel the same way about her."
"I just wish it was easy for her to understand."
"She understands, she just doesn't want to understand."
He glanced at his watch. "Man, time is flying." He said "I hate to leave you so soon, ma, but I need to get back to work, and I still have to take this food to Alex to her job. Did I tell you that she's working at Zach's school now?"
"Oh really?" Shirley asked as she stood up after Drew for up.
"Yea, she teaches art there. I must say, she has a real talent and a passion." He said. "Let me hurry and get out of here." He headed for the door and she followed him. He opened the door and turned to her giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Love you mama."
"Love you too baby." She said in response. He was really like the son she never had.
"Lock the door." He walked out and headed to his car.
"I know what to do, boy, hush!" She chuckled and closed the door once she saw him get inside his car.
LaTrice was driving close to her mother's house when she saw Drew's car pull out the driveway. Instead of going into the driveway, she followed Drew. She followed him close enough for her to keep up with him, but not for him to notice her behind him. He stopped by Alex's job and then went to the office. She waited about ten minutes after he got to his office before going in.
"Hey, Mary." She spoke to the receptionist at the front desk.
"Hey, Ms. Robinson." Mary responded.
LaTrice smiled at hearing herself being called Ms. Robinson. It reminded her of who she was before and who she still is.
"I came to see Drew. It's pretty urgent. It's our daughter." LaTrice tried to sound sad to get through to Mary.
"Awe, poor Joy. I hope she's alright." Mary said sympathetically. "Go on and go in. I'll let him know that you're here." She said.
"No, no. I don't want him to expect this." LaTrice said with her voice low. "Thank you,." LaTrice began to walk down the hallway to Drew's office. It had been a while since she's been there and things looked a bit different.
She knocked on the door softly and then opened it. Drew was on a phone call when she appeared in the office.
When his eyes landed on her, he nearly froze. "Yea, um, let me, let me give you a call back in a few. Something urgent just came up." He hung the phone up. "Trice." He sighed. She closed the door behind her. "What are you doing here? He asked.
"How are you handsome?" She asked, walking to his desk, sitting on the same side he was.
He rolled his chair away from her and stood up. "I hope you could see yourself out the door." He said. "If this is not an emergency that has to do with Joy or your mom, then leave, Trice."
"Leave? I can't stop by and say hello to you?" She questioned sarcastically. "i mean, we are friends? Right?"
"No, we're not friends. We're exs who share a child." He corrected her.
"Oh come on," she followed him across his office until they were both standing in the middle of his large office, "we're better than that."
"We could be, but you be trippin'." He said with honesty.
"Trippin'?" She questioned.
"Yes! What happened with you and Al at the house, I know you triggered that."
"Hol up! That girl started that!"
"And what about at our wedding? We tried to be civilized with you, Trice, and you just act a fool with everything. WHy can't we just get along, like adults should?"
"We get along just fine." She pointed her finger between the two of them.
"No, we don't." He shook his head. "The way you act towards us. Me, my wife, and our daughter, it's just not right!"
"Why did you marry her?" She asked. "Why weren't you like that with me?" She asked. "You're out here playing faithful to her, why couldn't you be that faithful to me?"
"You made your choice to be with Brent, so I made the choice to let you go. I stopped messing around on you because you didn't deserve that. At least that's what I thought," he let out a light chuckle, "I was dead wrong." He added.
"I wanted to make us right and be the family we were supposed to be, but you chose differently. And after finding out about you and Brent, there was just no way in hell I was gonna be able sleep in the same bed with you and live under the same roof as you and still be sane."
"Are you serious?" She folded her arms. "You're gonna let one man get in the way, while I let all them bitched you cheated on me with, go! I'm not rubbing that in your face. Especially, not the one you got pregnant."
"Whether I was married or not, at least she was woman enough to have the baby and let me take care of him." He tried not to yell. "While you were fucking him, letting that nigga get you pregnant, but you didn't even want to have another baby with your own husband, knowing how much I wanted another kid."
"Oh, that's why you fucked around?" Her eyebrow raised.
"I was filling in the empty spots in my life at that time." He responded. "I was very easy for me to get what I didn't get at home, somewhere else. I guess that goes for the both of us."
"You didn't even care about me."
"I did. I loved you." He said with honesty. "But you fucked up."
"We fucked up and we could have worked that out."
"Now you realize that? Damn near eight years later, you realize that we could have fixed things?"
"You don't love that girl."
"I'd be telling you another lie if I tell you that I didn't love her."
"I get it, I messed up, but that doesn't mean we can't work something out now."
"You don't get it, do you?" He asked. He sighed and slightly shook his head, looking to the floor. He walked to one of the chairs that sat across his desk and leaned on it. "I'm a happily married man, Trice. Alex means the world to me. She's a great woman, just like you once were. She's brings me nothing but happiness whenever I just think about her and she has the sweetest spirit."
"Sweetest spirit?" LaTrice frowned.
"Yes and I'm in love with all of her. That's why I married her. She needed me and I needed her."
LaTrice rolled her eyes. "That's a cute little story you just created there, but you know she's nothing like me."
"That's the best part about her." He stared her in the eyes. "She's nothing like you." He said in harsh tone.
"You don't mean that." She brushed off his comment.
"I meant every word of it." His tone was dry.
She stepped closer to him and he didn't move.
"No, you don't." She moved close enough to him to touch him. She ran her finger up his arm. "You know you miss all this good lovin' I used to put on you." She said in a seductive tone.
He gently grabbed her hand and placed it at her side.
"Trice, what are you doing?" He asked.
"Come on, just let me have my way with you." She placed her hands on his chest and unbuttoned his shirt."
He tried to move away and she gripped his shirt, staying close to him. "No." He rejected.
"Remember when I used to call you big daddy?" She asked as her hand ran down his chest and onto his manhood.
Hearing her say big daddy, did turn him on and at this point there was no way that he could hide it.
"Oh, you must like that?" She grinned as she stroked his penis. "I know you miss me." She said.
He zoned out for a slight second, moaning softly.
Still stroking him, she leaned in and kissed him. Suddenly, he jerked away and grabbed her arm.
"Oh, you wanna get rough?"
"You gotta go." He led her to the door and she turned before he could open it.
"You're putting me out? But you need me." She looked down at his erection.
"No, I don't need you." He opened to door and pushed her out. "I'll make sure security lets out out." He shut his office door and then locked it. He couldn't believe that he allowed LaTrice seduce him. He knew that in his heart, he didn't' want her anymore, but hearing her call him big daddy, was the switch that turned him on.
That evening he dragged himself into the house and the first face he saw was his wife's.
"Hi, my loving husband." She said with bubbly energy.
"Hey, sweetheart." His voice was drowsy. "Where's Joy?" He asked.
"She's in her bedroom." Alex answered.
"Can we talk?" He asked.
"Is it urgent?" She asked. "We were waiting on you for dinner, but I'll tell Joy that she can eat and you and I can talk."
"I just really gotta talk to you about something." He said.
She could hear the seriousness in his tone and see it in his face.
He took her hand and guided her outside into their backyard. Stepping further out into the grass, he looked around as if he were making sure no one else was around.
"What's going on Drew?" Alex asked with concern.
He sighed. Not really wanting to tell his wife what happened at the office earlier that day, but he felt he had to.
"Trice came by my job today." He began.
Alex sucked her teeth and then rolled her eyes.
"Baby, I promise I didn't do anything and I tried to keep cool." He said.
"But?"
"There's no but." He said.
"What happened at the office that you need to share with me out in our backyard?" She asked.
"She tried to seduce me and I was falling for it."
"What did you do?" She asked.
"She kissed me." He said.
"What did you do?"
"I didn't do anything, but she was trying really hard and I was falling for it."
"What were you falling for? Why were you falling for it?" She questioned.
"I don't want to explain it but I nearly cheated on you and I wouldn't forgive myself if I did." He explained.
Alex closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Why was she at your office anyway?" She asked.
"I don't know! She just showed up."
"So she just pops up in the middle of the day, made it pass that sassy ass secretary of yours, and you don't know why?"
"Baby, I swear..."
"What did you two talk about?" She asked. "I mean, it must have been important if she had enough time to seduce you after popping up at your office unannounced.
"She as just being Trice, you know."
"No, I don't know. Tell me."
"Baby, listen, it's not important. The important thing is that you know what she tried to do to me today and I couldn't keep it from you."
"Then tell me everything."
"Come on, Al. I'm telling you the important stuff. Everything else doesn't matter. It's pretty much irrelevant." He explained.
"Right..." She nodded her head. "You know what, I don't know why I was crazy enough to marry a man like you. Your crazy ass ex-wife who just can't get it in her mind that you two aren't together, yet you still kiss her ass every chance you get and then come home and tell me like what the hell do you want me to do? You're the one that needs to do something about it, not me. She's your mess!" SHe snapped.
"I'm communicating with my wife! That's why I'm telling you. That's why I tell you anything that I can. I've been married before and I'm not trying to go through another divorce." He grew frustrated. "I'm trying so damn hard not to make the same mistakes I've made before and communication was one. I try to be open and honest with you instead of having you walking around here looking like a fool, but if you want me to keep quiet and keep things from you, then I'll do just that." He loosened his tie.
"I'm just saying, this all aggravating." She fussed. "There's always something with her. I just wish she could get out of our lives for good, but I know that's impossible." She paused. "I'm not saying to keep secret, Drew-"
He cut her off. "No! I'm not gonna tell you anything else, because you seem to not be able to take it well without snapping." He said.
Drew was frustrated and nearly horny at the same time, but this petty argument with Alex, was pointless and he wanted to get away for the moment. "You know what, Al?" he said in a calm tone. "I'm just gonna go. I'll be back soon." He walked back into the house and she followed him.
"Where are you going?" She asked as she followed him out the house into the driveway.
"I'll be back." He said as he unlocked his car door and got in."
LaTrice opened her door after the doorbell rang. "I knew you'd come back." She grinned the moment she saw Drew on her porch, leaning on the brick wall." She welcomed him in her home...