9:48 PM
I was still settled in bed after going to go get me a few snacks from the store for my midnight cravings, and my phone started ringing on my nightstand, it was Chris as I expected.
"Hello?" I answered
"What you doin'?" He asked
"Just came back from gettin' a few snacks, about to chill and look at some more shows." I replied
"What shows? You still look at that scary ass show?" He asked
"You talking about American Horror Story? Yes, I do! I still love that show." I said
"That show used to scare the shit out of me and I never understood it." He chuckled
"You'd have to watch it from the very start to grasp what's actually going on in it." I said
"I don't even wanna know."
I smiled to myself, "What you doing up?" I asked
"It's not like it's late, Ky, but I just put the kids down for bed and I'm staring at the ceiling right now."
"The ceiling? Why?" I asked
He sighed, "Just up so I have time to think." He said
"What are you thinking about, Chris?"
"Everything, and I don't wanna go into any details but just know it's a lot on my mind. I'm trying to figure out how to better myself and not make the same mistakes I did in the past." He explained
"I understand, but you have to live and learn from your mistakes so hopefully you aren't beating yourself up about it."
"You know me well so you know I am." He said
"Don't beat yourself up, just learn from it and do better as you move forward."
"You right, Kyra."
"Aren't I always?" I asked
He started off chuckling, "Yo, you remember like about four years ago when the kids and us went to a water park and I slipped so hard I scraped my side." He said, with a mixture of laughter
I couldn't hold my laughter in, I laughed along with him,"How could I forget? It was as if it happened yesterday, though the water attendant told you to not run, you being stubborn you did it anyway and scraped your entire side up. You wouldn't leave me alone about the scratch, I had to patch it up every night." I said, following with more laughter
"And the gag is, the scratch barely hurt, I was just being a big ass punk and over exaggerating because I was embarrassed about falling in the first place." He said
"Memories."
"Yeah, we gotta make some more sometime." He said
It fell silent for a second, "Milani's birthday is next month, did she discuss with you what she wanted to do yet?" I asked
"Hell naw and I'm not gone ask her." He replied
I chuckled, "Why not?"
"You know Milani, if we allow her that type of control to choose what she wanna do for her birthday she gone have us traveling to the moon, capturing Unicorns and cows and shit."
I burst out laughing, "Well you and I can discuss some ideas the next time we meet up, which will be this weekend." I said
"That's fine." He replied
We didn't go into any deep topics, just shared laughter and memories. By almost 11 o'clock, we were signing off of the phone.
••••
By the time the weekend swung around I was exhausted. Not only because I've been having to get up early every single day, but also because of the work I put in at work is tiring itself. I called Lira on my lunch break to see if she could come pick me up, but she's tied up at work herself so I guess an Uber it is. I would've asked my mom, but she's been busy out with her guy friend.
I want to eventually get a car so I won't have to rely on Uber's or one of my family members to hopefully pick me up. I'm just scared, I don't want to make one wrong move and end up back in a coma but this time not wake up from it.
When my ride arrived I got into the backseat and buckled myself in. Anyone that sits in the front with their Uber driver is weird, I said what I said.
I thanked the driver once we pulled up in front of my mothers' home. Would you believe that my mother was home the entire time?
I went inside to hurriedly take a shower before Chris dropped the kids off. As I walked up the stairs, my mom called me back down.
"Yes?" I asked, walking into the kitchen
"Are the kids coming this weekend?" She asked
"Yes, Chris and I agreed to them spending every weekend with me."
"That's great, how are y'all doing?" She asked
"The kids and I? We're doing great, Milani's birthday is—"
"I'm talking about you and Chris." She said
"Oh, well, we're doing fine, this coparenting thing we came up with has been going pretty well to my surprise." I said
"I'm glad it is, and I'm glad someone has forgiven him because it'll take me a while to forgive him." She explained
I propped against the wall, "Exactly why do you not forgive him just yet? I mean, I know you said it was because he was deciding to pull the plug but I'm here now so there's no need to be angry about that."
"It's deeper than that. He knew how I felt about him taking you off of life support, he knew how I felt about you as a whole, he knew I'd be mad about it. Chris and I had long hour talks many nights so for him to make that decision hurt me."She sternly said
"But, mom, he was paying out of pocket to keep me there. The longer I was there the higher it'd be." I calmly said
"Nope— not trying to hear it." She cut me off
"Both you and Lira are my world, and if there's a way to keep both of you here forever, I would do just that. My love for the both of you is an unconditional and unexplainable love, and no one— not even Chris would be able to understand the pain I held in my heart every time I came to the hospital and you weren't awake, I always had faith you would wake up though," she paused
"But mom he held on for three years, I could understand why his hope went away." I replied
"And mine never did, though in reality most people don't make it past two weeks in a coma but I held onto hope for not one but three years, and not only because you're my daughter but there was something inside of me that told me to never lose hope, therefore," she paused again to check on the cake she put into the oven
"I didn't want him to take you off of life support, it hurt me to see that he would think to do that. Granted, there wasn't really any signs that pointed to you getting up but he didn't understand the hope I had, and as you can see I wasn't wrong,"
"Then, before he decided to cut you off he stopped visiting you and not once to my recollection did he bring the kids to come see you. Then when I found out about Rachel and him that topped it off even more, and she was the other person in his ear encouraging his decision. So it's just a lot of built up anger that I haven't let go of yet. I'll eventually forgive him because me harboring anger towards him won't fix anything, and you've forgiven him so I know I can." She finished
"I could understand to a degree, and no one can alter your opinion and mindset, but you also have to understand where not only him, but where I'm coming from." I said
She sighed, "I do understand but it takes some time for me to get over myself. Go ahead and shower though, I know they'll be here any minute." She said
I walked off right after she finished her sentence.
When I got out of the shower, Chris called me and said he was outside. That was fast. I put on some house clothes and went downstairs to greet them outside.
"Did you get the game?" Messiah asked as he walked up to me
I held the PS4 game he requested behind my back, "Can yo' mama get a hug and hello first?" I smiled
"I'm sorry ma, hey, did you get the game?" He asked with a smile, looking like Chris.
"Yeah, boy, don't tear that room up." I said and playfully nudged his head as he ran inside.
"Hi, mommy!" Milani smiled, I gave her a tight squeeze and allowed her to go inside to greet her grandma and what not.
"Messiah almost as tall as you." Chris said, twirling his car keys in his hand.
"Isn't he, I'm telling you he's going to be your height or taller." I said
I let out a long yawn, "What you get 1 hour of sleep?" He asked
"No, just exhausted from such a long week of work."
"Well they gone make you more exhausted, they wild." He said
"No, they're not."
"So, what are you about to do?" I asked
"Well I'm about to go work on some paperwork then go to bed early." He said
"I'm going to try to get them to bed a bit early too because I'm beat." I replied
"They got up at 6 this morning for school and had their after school program and neither of them took a nap so they'll be shutting down early." He assured me.
"Fingers crossed."
"What do you have planned for them tomorrow?" He asked
I shrugged, "I planned on taking them to the Shedd Aquarium, then somewhere to eat." I said
"What time?"
I shrugged, "Around 4, enough time for us to get up and eat breakfast and go back to sleep." I chuckled
"I'll be at home bored tomorrow, looking at reruns of shit I already seen." He sighed
I smirked, "Just say you want to come." I said
"Right," He chuckled
"I'll be here at 4." He smiled hard
"I'll see you then." I said
"Alright, nice talkin' to you, Ky. Get you some rest." He said
He looked as if he had more to say but decided to not say it. I left it alone and watched him as he walked to his car.
He's been way less of an asshole to me since the first time I saw him after my coma, maybe he realized how stupid he was for being angry at me to begin with.
Boringggg chapter.
Ria ✍🏽