Excuse the mistakes.
School had ended late for Nathaniel due to his exam, he had remembered to call Ms. Lee to check on Tamia but forgotten to get her number. His looked at the several missed calls from an unknown number while opening the car door.
"Ms. Lee, it's my Daddy." Nathaniel smiled hearing Katrina's voice from afar. "Daddy, Ms. Lee is in the kitchen making some pasta. It smells really good."
"Oh, yeah. Well, maybe she will let you take some home because daddy needs to go home to do some homework." He started the car connecting the bluetooth device.
"Okay." She dragged sadly.
I would have let her stay the night but Ms. Lee needs a break. Those kids probably wore her out with all the extra sugar they had earlier. He thought.
Shuffling was heard in the background until sizzling picked up in the line. "Hello?"
"It's Tamia's dad." He reminded her just in case.
"Oh, Hi Mr. Casey. I forgot to give you my address it's 4231 Hill crest drive." She informed as Tamia attempted to steal a bread roll.
"That's in the same area as the church house near the barbershop, right?" Turning down the street, he asked.
"Yes that's the place though, I should warn you to be careful coming pulling into the driveway, the garage door tends to malfunction."
"Coo, I should be there in less than twenty minutes." They ended the call mutually.
Katrina lowered the stove top temperature, covering it with a lid. She went by the sink to wash her hands as Tamia used a pair of tungs to get the bread basket.
"Tamia, you don't have to seek the bread, baby. Here, let me give you one." Katrina said drying her hands.
"Well, I don't get to eat anything when mommy is cooking because she said I need to wait. I don't get a snack or anything." That comment didn't sit well with Katrina yet she wasn't going to show it.
"Don't worry about that, okay? You can eat as many rolls as you want just save some room pasta." The front door opened with Candice and Cory carrying in grocery bags.
"Hi, Ms. Candice and Mr. Cory." Candice smiled at Tamia with arms wrapped around the basket.
Cory and Candice above.
"Hello, Tamia." She hugged her and mouthed to Katrina "Again?"all while raising a brow.
"Babe, I'll take these in the kitchen for you, Tamia you wanna help me?" Cory said giving Tamia a fist pound.
"Yeah! We can rap the names of the fruit and vegetables, too." He nodded following behind her.
Stepping into the living room while Tamia and Cory put away the food, Candice paced. She folded her arms.
"Before you freak out her father is on the way here, he's totally different from Tamia's mom. He's really involved in her life. I mean you see him." Katrina said as a matter of fact.
"Yeah, I do, but what the fuck took him so long to step up to the plate? He had to know that Tamia was being left at the school all hours of the night, going home to an empty refrigerator-you have been rescuing someone else's daughter for the past year and a half, Katrina. Your job title stretches beyond being a teacher." Candice as lowly.
She was right. In her eyes, Tamia was more than just her student. She grew to care for her more than others because of Monica's lack of parenting.
Katrina sighed. "Maybe, he had no clue that was happening, okay? He has everything handled, Tamia doesn't look like she being mistreated whenever they are together." She said.
What Candice was saying wasn't a lie, Katrina had been looking after Tamia since she entered her class. There were times that Monica would drop Tamia off to school and wouldn't return for the next two days. She would leave her daughter home alone, starving which would turn into Tamia using the home phone to call up her favorite teacher, Ms. Lee to come save her. There was countless incidents where Tamia would end up sleeping over after she'd ran away from home because of an physical altercation at her mother's house.
"She doesn't need two raggedy parents." Candice said looking over her shoulder at Tamia and Cory putting away groceries.
"We're living testaments of having terrible parents, all she can do is grow up to not be like either one of them." Candice nodded in agreement.
"That's true. Is the food done, yet?" Her stomach growled loudly making Katrina chuckle.
"Let go check on the food and see." The doorbell rang as they walked out of the living room.
"Mr. Cory, it's my daddy, can I open the door please?" Tamia smiled excited to see her father.
Cory nodded quietly closing the refrigerator door and going to greet her father. He had been around Tamia enough to know each person involved in her life all except Nathaniel. The history of Nathaniel's past Cory had knowledge about from his line of work as a police officer, he just kept his mouth shut. All he wanted to see was peace for Little Tamia.
"DADDY!" She jumped in his arms and hugged him tightly. "I missed you."
"I missed you, too." He kissed her cheek repeatedly making her giggle.
"How was school, baby?" He asked her.
"It was fun, Ms. Lee gave us a free day but, we still had homework to do." Tamia played with his ungroomed beard.
"We'll do it once we get home, got get your stuff."
Entering the cozy home, Nathaniel gave Cory the nod as he closed the door behind him. He placed Tamia down on her feet.
"Daddy this is Mr. Cory, he's Ms. Candice's boyfriend." She force them to shake hands.
"Nice to meet you, man." Nathaniel chuckled at his daughter's actions.
"Same to you. I see you cut hair." Cory shook his head then pointed at the school logo on his shirt.
"Yeah, I'm brushing up on my skills and working at Nino's shop not too far from here." Cory rose his brows.
"That's coo, man. It's good to see a brotha, like myself out here trying to get a education, we need that nowadays." Nathaniel nodded.
"Hi, Mr. Casey, It's nice to see you again. Are you staying for dinner?" Cory asked.
"Nah, I thought Tamia told Ms. Lee we couldn't stay." Looking down at his little girl, she smiled widely.
"I forgot, Daddy but can we stay please." She begged.
"How can you say no to this face, man? Just pull up a chair and have dinner with us." Cory laughed.
Nathaniel sighed following behind Candice and Cory with Tamia in between them. He shook his head at how animated she was. Katrina came out with a clear dish filled with pasta and landed eyes on Nathaniel.
"Hi, it's nice to see you made it in time for dinner, Tamia could you show you dad where the restroom for me?" Katrina smiled.
"Yes ma'am. Come on, daddy." Tamia pulled him in the direction of the restroom making everyone laugh.
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Casual conversation and laughs were all that was coming from dinner tonight, right along with Tamia's occasional smacking. Everyone was having a great time and as far as Cory could tell. He picked up on the chemistry between Nathaniel and Katrina during conversation.
"I can't believe you are the one who does Tamia's there is no way." In complete disbelief, Katrina ran her hand over Tamia's neat braids.
"What are you trying to say? A man can't-what's that y'all use now?" Nathaniel asked Candice.
"Slay." Candice said before sipping her wine.
"Right, Are you saying that a man can't help his daughter slay the whole school with a daddy-do, Ms. Lee?" Nathaniel smirk putting the cup of juice to his lips.
The two decided to keep it on a professional basis despite what energy they were feeling between one another.
"That's not what I'm saying at all you're twisting my word around, Mr. Casey. Allow me to clarify exactly what I meant." He motioned for her to continue. "I first don't knock any man nor woman who knows how to do their child's hair. And for two, I was shocked at your talents. I mean it's not everyday you come across a father who knows how to slay his daughter's hair."
"Yeah, leave it to Cory and the poor child would be with a side ponytail." Candice joked.
"Look, that was one time. Plus, I made up for it with ice cream right, Tamia?" Cory high-fived her.
"Damn, y'all had my baby out here with the side pony-Nah." Nathaniel dragged out while laughing.
Though, they were all laughing Nathaniel was pissed that Monica wasn't taking care of his daughter. She had to depend on others that were blood to making things happen and do things a mother should be doing.
"Ah, shoot. Um, I missed a very important call." Katrina looked at the time. "Excuse."
"Yeah, we need to get out of here, I have work early in the morning and getting this little lady up is a pain." Nathaniel tickled Tamia's side.
"Let me walk you two out." Katrina insisted getting up from the table.
Before fully walking from the table Cory gave her the fatherly glare making Katrina mush his head. Tamia's things were neatly packed up on the side of the couch where Nathaniel helped her with her shoes.
"I'm sleepy, daddy." She rubbed her eyes.
"I know baby, but you can sleep in the car, okay?" He picked her up and her things then headed to the front door where Katrina waited by his car. Unlocking the car door, Nathaniel made his way around the car to put his favorite girl in and then her bag.
"Can I get my blanket please daddy?" Nathaniel buckled her up and laid the blanket over her.
"You need anything else?" She shook her head. "Okay, I'm gonna talk to Ms. Lee for a minute then we can go." He kissed her forehead and adjusted the air vents to blow in her direction.
Nathaniel closed the door and met Katrina on the driver seat of his car. "Thank you for dinner and making sure my baby girl was safe."
"It was really no problem. She's a sweetheart and all of her homework was finished already so, you don't have to worry about that." He nodded quietly. The two stood there in an awkward silence before Nathaniel decided to speak up.
"I know this may seem a little weird being that your Tamia's teacher and all but, would you like to go out with me tomorrow night?" He scratched the back of his head.
"Mr. Casey."
"Call me Nathan." The tone in his voice deepened.
"Nathan, I can't go out with you tomorrow I have something I need to handle but, how about next Friday at eight?" She played with her fingers and held her head down.
Raising her head up with his hand, Nathaniel looked at her in the eyes. "As long as I get to see you then I'll be coo." Nathan was enjoying the view of Katrina's smooth brown skin and even the scent of her perfume. The two were lost in each others eyes and hadn't heard the front door open.
"That's enough." Cory said playfully pulling Katrina back in towards the house.
"Goodnight." She laughed then mouthed "call me".
"Night." With that, Nathaniel climbed into the car and headed home. He drove the whole time with Katrina on his mind.
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Cory thinks he's Katrina's Dad. SMH