Georgia
We arrived at my sister's house in record time; it felt like we had been in the car for years. I did not realize I was holding my breath until Langston stopped the car. He placed his hand on my shoulder. I smiled and looked at him.
"Thank you for doing this..." I said, and he nodded before getting out of the car; I was disappointed he did not say anything else. This whole trip has been filled with conversations between the girls and me, he would chime in whenever Jazmine or Lizzie would ask him anything, but he was cold towards me. That was the first cordial thing he had done since our fight.
I slowly got out of the car and sighed, smelling the crisp Georgia air and how the scorching sun kissed my skin. I also realized that this was the first time I had been home.
Langston had already got the girls out of the car; we both walked together with the girls to the front door. I knocked on it, but the door swung open before getting the second knock out. My beautiful sister stood there glowing as usual, and I smiled before I could even say anything; she had already engulfed me in one of the biggest hugs she had ever given me.
" Welcome Home," she whispered.
I chuckled because this had not felt like my home in years. It has never felt like home to me; the moment I had a chance to leave, I took the first thing smoking. I pulled away from our embrace and gave her a sad smile and a chuckle.
" It's good to see you too, sis," I said wholeheartedly.
She smiled, then she turned her attention to Langston, "thank you so much for bringing my Georgie down," she said, winking at him as he chuckled.
" Well, I brought your Georgie down because she has some issues that she needs to work out." He said it hurt my feelings that he would say such a thing about me like he does not have problems of his own.
My sister's smile dropped, but she still kept up with the beat; she looked down at the girls and soon to her attention to them, " well, if it isn't my beautiful niece, how are you, Lizzie, and who is this new friend of yours" she said towards Lizzie as she releases her from a hug Lizzie and Jasmine smiled. They began to let out a fit of laughter; " This is my best friend, Auntie, my best friend," Lizzie yelled, causing Summer to laugh. "Well, hello, best friend; I'm Lizzie Aunty," she said, giving her a hug. Lizzie and Jasmine began to laugh again, and they ran off to play in Lizzie's room; they have gotten really close over the past couple of months, Jasmine spends a lot of time at Shannon and Monica's house, and with them being so close in age they really hit it off.
She motioned for Langston and me to come in, and we followed her lead; she led us to the kitchen, where she had a feast for everybody.
" It's not every day that your little sister comes home, and I might have gotten a little carried away with my cooking." She said sheepishly, and I laughed because that is just like my sister; she was always the cook of the family; after our mom died, she did everything cooking, cleaning, taking me to school, and even teaching me about my period and boys.
Langston whistled while rubbing his hands together. "I'm finna tear shit up.
Summer and I laughed as he began to make him a plate
Chris
I opened the door for Alecie, and she walked in, "Thank you," she said before walking to the front desk. I watched her ass as she moved; since we had not been intimate, I made sure to sneak a peek every time. She turned around and rolled her eyes.
"Can you stop staring at my ass?" she said, pushing me and checking us in.
We sat in the lobby and waited; our silence was the only thing that filled the air between us.
We had not talked since we got off the plane; Alecie's knee bounced up and down as she became impatient.
I placed my hand on her leg, and she stopped looking at it; she grabbed my hand and intertwined it with hers.
"I love you," I said, and she nodded, turning away from me.
"Browns," the therapist yelled in the lobby; we stood up and walked over to her and into her office.
Alecie
I sat down first, and then Chris; I was always nervous coming to therapy sessions. Even though I am gone into this career, it is different when you are on the other side of therapy.
The Millie sat down and smiled, "so, how are things going?" she said, and we both looked at each other before I answered.
"Honestly....there is something that I haven't told Chris," I said and looked down.
"I saw Gabrielle, and we kinda had an altercation...." I said, and his eyes grew big.
"What kind of altercation," Dr. Millie said before Chris could answer.
"Well, I saw her in the store, and she was talking and asking for forgiveness, and I kinda... Punched her," I whispered the last part.
"Alecie! You are pregnant, and so is she; you can be fighting, are you crazy?" Chris yelled at me, and I felt like shit.
"I know! I felt like shit after I did it, but afterward... We had a talk," I said, and the room grew silent.
"What was the talk about?" Dr. Millie asked.
"You know the usual; she apologized for sleeping with him, and she said he told her he was married, and she forced herself on him. She said his father does not know that shit is pregnant and would disown her if he found out. She is just a kid; I mean, she is only nineteen. I can only imagine how scared she must be," I said, looking down at my fingers.
"Why are you crying?" Dr. Millie asked. I put my hand to my face. I did not even notice I was crying.
I do not know hormones?" I said, chuckling; she handed me a tissue before turning to Chris.
"Chris, what are your thoughts on this?" she said, and I looked up at Chris.
"I want this whole thing to be over, honestly. I wish I could take everything back." He said and shook his head.
"Well, you can't do that because what's done is done. What will it take for you all to love forward?" she asked us, and we both looked at each other.
"Well, for me... I want us to get back to normal; I mean, as normal as we could be. I want her to have my baby and for us to be like the old Chris and Alecie. You mean the world to me, and I will do whatever it takes to make this right," he said.
The room grew silent again, and they looked at me; I looked down at my ring finger. I have not worn my ring in a month.
"After seeing Gabrielle and her having a breakdown, I want us to make this work, but I don't want to live with the constant reminder that you had sex with another woman," I said, twirling my fingers.
"Ok, that is understandable, but if she is having my baby, I want to be in the baby's life. I can have him or her going to foster care because I was in foster care," he stated. I nodded my head because I understood that, but he needed to know where I am coming from.
"I don't want you not be in the child's life; that's family, but I don't know if I could love the child like I will love this one," I said, touching my stomach.
"Why is that?" Dr. Millie stated, I looked at her and shrugged.
"I don't know, maybe because of how the child was created; I mean, I'm not sure how else to put it. The child was made because my husband could not keep his dick in his pants," I said, and Chris looked down.
"I know I fucked up, but how long will you keep doing this. What is the point of us coming to therapy if you are not willing to at least try to forgive me" he said, and I looked at him.
"You think this is easy for me; it's not I'm tired. This has been the longest pregnancy of my life and I am only 3 months. I am exhausted, and I am constantly stressed about this relationship; this is supposed to be a happy time for us; we worked so hard to make this happen, and now I must share it with some random girl that you just raw dogged and got pregnant," I said.
"I know! How many times do I have to say that I am sorry; I am trying to fix my mistake, but it is like you send me mixed signals. one minute you act like you care about me and want to fix this shit and then all in the same breath you act like you don't want this to work! I need conformation that you are willing to make this work; I mean do you been wanna still be married?!" he yelled.
"I DO NOT KNOW!" I yelled back; he looked at me with so much pain that I almost broke down looking at him.
"I don't know if I want to stay in this marriage because there will always be a constant reminder that I failed," I said, and Dr. Millie interjected.
"How did you fail?" she stated, and I scoffed, pushing my glasses on my face.
I looked at Chris, "We are supposed to make it! You were the one thing in my life that made sense; now I feel like I failed, and now it's like everything that Terrence ever told me was right...." I said, looking at the ground again.
Chris got up from his seat and walked over to me, kneeling in front of me; he held my head up.
"Alecie, you are the love of my life; you fixed me when I was broken, so I will spend every day proving to you that Terrence and Kimberly were wrong about you because you deserve everything in this world than some," he said. I smile, wiping the tear that fell down his eye.
"I think it's too late for us, Chris; I don't think we can come back from this," I said, standing up; I looked at Dr. Millie.
"I think we're done here...." I said before walking out.
Langston
A real nigga is stuffed; I rubbed my stomach as I sat on the couch of Summers house.
She came from the kitchen, "well, I was gone see if you wanted some sweet potato pie, but I see you are already full," she said and started walking back into the kitchen with the pie.
"Girl, you better bring me that pie. Never too full for pie," I said, taking the pie from her.
She chuckled and shook her head.
Georgia came downstairs, "ok, the girls are settled in; the fight wore them out. They barely ate anything," she said, and Summer came from the kitchen.
"Well, nothing went to waste. My man's here can eat honey," she said, patting my shoulder.
Georgia laughed and sat on the couch, "Summer will have your fat before you leave here, trust me," she said, and summer hit her leg.
"Well, I hope she cooks me a pie before I leave. This hoe bussing," I said, and Summer let out a big laugh.
"Yeah, that recipe has been passed down for generations; granny actually taught me the recipe," she said and looked down at the ground.
"Excuse me..." she said, getting up and walking out the room; I saw a tear fall down her eye before she turned the corner.
The room became silent, I continued to eat my pie, and Georgia cleared her throat.
"Well, that was awkward," she said, chuckling a little; I did not speak to her.
"Well not as awkward as this is..." I rolled my eyes and got up from the couch; I walked to the kitchen and put my plate in the sink.
I made some dishwater and washed the dishes; Georgia walked into the kitchen; damn, can she take a hint.
"Langston... we need to talk," I continued to wash the dishes and ignored her.
She walked over to me and began to rinse and dry the dishes.
"I know that you probably hate me right now, but I still wanna thank you again for helping me," she said; I nodded and continued to wash the dishes.
"Langston! I am sorry, I did not mean to hurt you," she said, and I scoffed.
"G, you ain't hurt my feelings; you gotta have some to hurt them. Which you do not; you do not feel shit! I just wanted you to keep it real with me, which you did not; you lied and misled me. You do not know what you want, and that is cool, but I know exactly what I want; I want you and Lizzie in my life. I love Lizzie and as much as it makes me sound like a dumbass, I love you too. I don't know who hurt you in the past, but I've worked my shit out; I know that I would be a thousand times better than any man you ever fucked with and that on my bad day." I said, throwing the towel in the sink and walking away.
Georgia
*Next Day*
I woke up early, which says a lot because I barely slept last night. After Langston left me in the kitchen, I went through Summer's liquor cabinet and drank most of her Hennessy.
I held my head and rolled out of bed; I went to the bathroom and drank some bath water. I made it super-hot, and once it was complete, I got in; I sat there for a second, collecting my thoughts.
Langston's words hit me hard; I was not expecting him to say that. I did not even know he felt that way.
I heard the bedroom door open, and then I heard little footsteps; "Mommy?" Lizzie said as she walked into the room.
"I'm in here, baby," I yelled back, and she walked into the bathroom, "Mommy can we go to the park today?" she said, and I nodded my head.
"Of course, baby but first mommy has to visit Gram Gram..."
__________________
Summer on the side ❤️