Baby Momma Read online

  “Are you okay?”

  He put a thumbs up until he could speak again. “I’m good. Have I seen you in anything?”

  “Just modeling.” Monica listed off a few social media sites that displayed her photos.

  Zeke feigned interest as she continued to talk about her impending career. Monica was gorgeous, but she wasn’t real. In fact, everything about her seemed fake. He didn’t mind women that wore weaves, but Monica’s looked like a bird's nest sitting on the top of her head. He slightly wondered if it itched. His date reached up and scratched her hair, giving him the answer to his unspoken question. That wasn’t the worst part. One of her eyelashes was slowly falling, and the makeup was layered thickly on her face. He wondered what she looked like first thing in the morning. This afternoon, she seemed like an entirely different woman.

  “It’s nice here.”

  Her observations were correct. Romance was in the air. Candle-light adorned each table, and soft music was being played by a small band on the stage.

  His eyes roamed around the room, and he saw other couples absorbed in one another and declaring their love. When they first arrived, a marriage proposal happened right in front of them.

  “I agree.”

  Their meals arrived, and he didn’t waste any time cutting into his steak and savoring the piece of meat. “This is top notch.” He looked at Monica and saw a frown plastered on her face. “What’s wrong?”

  Monica looked at her plate. “I don’t like it.”

  Zeke looked at the pasta arrangement. It wasn’t his style; he was more of a meat and potatoes type of man.

  “Waiter! Come and get this.”

  The sound of her yelling made his ears ache. He did a quick sweep of the restaurant and saw the other patrons staring at them. “Monica.”

  “What?” she answered. She was oblivious to his death stare. “I don’t want to eat this.” Zeke was no longer feeling the date. What was I thinking? “I understand that you don’t like your meal, but that doesn’t mean you need to be so loud and obnoxious about it.”

  She ignored Zeke and spoke to the waiter when he came over.

  Zeke continued to eat as Monica sent back one more additional meal. He was finishing his food when her third plate arrived at the table. He’d given the waiter an expression of annoyance before he walked away from the table.

  “Is it better?” He saw that it was something simpler than her last two selections.

  Monica nodded her head. “Yes, sorry for being such a picky eater. I figured that if I was getting a free meal, I should enjoy it.”

  This trick. The only thing that would turn this night around was if he could get laid. Monica’s face and hair were a mess, but her ass was still fat. He wined and dined her, was a gentleman when she was a pain, and he got her flowers. He hoped it was all worth it.

  “Excuse me,” Monica stated before leaving the table.

  He took his phone out and texted his mother, wishing her a happy Valentine’s Day. Monica came back ten minutes later.

  “Everything ok?”

  “No, my menstrual cycle started.”

  Zeke chuckled in disbelief. He couldn’t believe the outcome of his night. He raised his hand, and the waiter approached his table.

  “Check please.”

  ≈

  Sydney dragged her exhausted body up the stairs to her apartment. She made it to her floor and slid the heels off of her aching feet. She exhaled when her feet touched the carpet. The things women do for men.

  If Davis were in front of her, she would probably throw the shoes at him. Her mind replayed her disastrous night. She was left sitting in the restaurant alone because he never showed up. Throughout the night, she received pitiful looks from the staff and other guests.

  After two years, she was at a point of exhaustion. It was no longer worth it to her. She met Davis on her twenty-first birthday, while she was out dancing with her sister. He was smart, ambitious, and easy on the eyes. After chasing her for weeks, he talked her into saying yes to a date and quickly became a fixture in her life. At one point, she thought he would be the one to change her last name.

  Things took a major turn when Davis cheated on her with his assistant. Sydney forgave him, but never forgot the incident. They were trying to make it work, but it was evident that it wasn’t going anywhere. There was too much damage.

  When she got into her apartment, she headed straight for the fridge and pulled out a bottle of wine. Grabbing a glass from the cabinet, she went to her couch and drowned her feelings in the red substance while she watched meaningless television. The sound of ringing had her going back towards the door to the location of her cell phone. Sydney wasn’t surprised to see that it was Davis. She answered it because she knew he would call her repeatedly if she muted it.

  “Hello.”

  “Baby, where are you?”

  Sydney wandered back to the couch and fell into the pillows. “I’m home,” she replied.

  “What happened to our plans tonight?”

  She grunted. “I was there, where were you?”

  Davis exhaled.

  Sydney grabbed her glass of wine. She waited for him to throw out a deal at her. Davis was a businessman and a pro at negotiations.

  “How about I make it up to you? You’re off tomorrow; we can head out tonight and spend the rest of the weekend away.”

  He was pulling out the big guns. He must’ve known he messed up. Sydney didn’t care.

  “No. I don’t want to go anywhere with you. I don’t want to see you.” She didn’t even want to be talking to him.

  “Baby, I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry should become your new name. It’s getting old, Davis.”

  “What are you trying to say?”

  Isn’t it obvious? “I’m done with us. I’m tired of coming second to your job. I’m sick of being let down repeatedly, and I've had enough of trying to make us work when it’s apparent that it’s not.”

  “So you’re just going to throw our relationship away?”

  Sydney was amazed that was his comeback. She could’ve thrown his cheating past back in his face, but she held her tongue on that particular subject.

  “We can still be friends, but I don’t see us being anything more than that. I’m sorry.”

  She heard a lot of movement in the background.

  “I’m coming over.”

  “Don’t. There’s no point. I’m not opening the door for you. It’s over, Davis. Please accept that.”

  He ended the call without another word.

  She expected tears to fall, or to feel some pain from ending the longest relationship she’d ever had, but she only felt relief. An enormous weight lifted from her heart.

  “Happy Valentine’s Day to me.”

  Chapter Two

  “It was the biggest dick I’ve ever seen!”

  Sydney choked on her tea after she heard her sister’s statement. Some of the contents spilled onto the table. She grabbed a napkin and wiped it down.

  “Sorry,” she apologized to her sister and best friend.

  Across the table at the restaurant, Alana laughed loudly. “How big, Sierra?”

  “Honey, it was so big that it started talking to me.”

  “What it say?” Alana asked, continuing to egg Sierra on.

  “Eat me.”

  Sydney tried not to laugh, but a small giggle escaped her lips. Leave it to her sister to make her forget about her grumpy mood. The lighthearted conversation was helping to ease her dismantled heart.

  Sunday was the only day she had off from work. She looked forward to not having to get up early and having brunch with her sister and Alana. In those couple of hours, they were able to catch up and gossip. Today’s topic of discussion was Valentine’s Day. Sydney wasn’t looking forward to sharing, so she pushed Alana to go next.

  “How was your night?” Sydney asked, after Sierra was done telling them about the talking dick.

  Alana blushed. “I met a guy.” Sierr
a and Sydney exchanged alarmed looks over the table as Alana continued to speak. “I think he’s the one. His name is Christopher, and he was so sweet and romantic.”

  “Blah blah blah, get to the sex,” Sierra requested.

  “She just met the guy last night. There wasn’t any sex,” Sydney interjected. She looked at Alana to agree with her and observed her best friend nibbling on her bottom lip. “Lana, please tell me you didn’t give it up to the man after just meeting him.”

  Sierra laughed. “I bet you five dollars she gave the pussy up.”

  “Alana?”

  “I did!” she finally admitted.

  Sierra reached her hand out. “Pay up.”

  Sydney ignored Sierra and focused on Alana, who seemed lost in her memories. “Lana, what were you thinking?”

  “I was lonely on the most romantic day of the year. I needed to be with someone.” Alana pointed at her. “Syd, don’t look at me with those judgmental eyes.”

  “This is the face of concern, not judgment,” Sydney replied.

  “Well, look at my face. I’m judging you,” Sierra teased.

  Sydney shot her sister a look that silently screamed shut up. The setback with Sierra’s personality is that she goofed around too much. Sydney reached across the table and grabbed Alana’s hand.

  “I just don’t want you to expect it to turn into something, Lana.”

  “It’s going to work out; I have his phone number and address.” She pulled her hand away from Sydney’s and took her cell phone out. “I’ll prove it.”

  Sydney sat back in her chair and played with the remains of her food. Alana was what most men referred to as a Latin bombshell. She could get any man’s attention, but couldn’t hold on to it long term. Sydney hoped that it worked out with this guy, but had a feeling it wouldn’t. She became worried about her friend. Her family liked to joke that Sierra was a little crazy, well Alana was mentally unstable. She was a disaster when Sydney first met her in high school, but became better after getting on medication.

  Alana put the call on speaker. “Hello,” a male with a deep voice answered. Sydney relaxed while Alana beamed with excitement.

  “Hey, it’s Alana, from last night.”

  There was a pause. It was a very lengthy pause.

  “I’m sorry ma’am, I don’t recognize the name. I’m Paul. I own a bar downtown. Did we meet last night?”

  Alana became pale in the face. “Do you know Christopher?” she asked in a panic.

  “No. You must have the wrong number.”

  “No this is the right number. I made sure that it was. Are you sure this isn’t Christopher?”

  “Positive. Have a good day.”

  “Wait!”

  Sydney took the phone and ended the call. It was obvious that whoever Alana met last night gave her the wrong number. The address she had was probably fake as well.

  “I’m sorry, Lana.”

  Alana wiped her eyes and stood abruptly from her chair. “I need to use the restroom, excuse me.”

  Sydney and Sierra watched her leave.

  “Well, that shit was awkward.”

  Sydney agreed with her sister. Alana had a history of having unhealthy attachments to men.

  “Let’s pay the check and take her home.”

  They stood to leave and gathered their belongings.

  “How was your night?” Sierra asked as they searched for their waiter in the restaurant.

  “Davis and I broke up.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Sydney sighed. “Nope. It was just time for it to end.”

  ≈

  Zeke was in the process of reviewing a new case file when his cell phone started to ring. It was Sunday, but he was in the office working.

  “Zeke Coleman.”

  “Ethan Coleman,” his little brother mocked.

  Zeke rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for you, E. I have a hundred things I need to get completed before I go home in a couple of hours.”

  “Fine, I won’t warn you.”

  Zeke went on high alert. “What’s going on?”

  “There’s a woman that is coming to see you. She’s pissed that you haven’t been returning her phone calls.”

  His mind drifted towards Monica.

  “She told me that when she sees you, she’s going to put you over her knee and spank your bare ass,” Ethan finished the statement with a chuckle.

  Zeke sobered up when he realized Ethan was talking about their mother. He leaned back in his chair. “I’ve been busy. I was just home last month.”

  “We’re all busy,” Ethan replied. “The only difference is she can pop up on us any moment. Ma walked into my place and caught me fucking.”

  “What she do?”

  “She made the woman leave,” Ethan whined. “Do you know how long it took for me to get big booty Nicki over?”

  “Didn’t you have a crush on her in high school?”

  “Exactly. I had to watch that big ass wobble out the door.”

  Zeke started to laugh. “What is Pearl up to?”

  “Ma wants to visit Texas. You know there’s an ulterior motive.”

  “She’s checking up on me now,” Zeke filled in. “When is she coming?”

  ≈

  A week later, Zeke stood outside of Sydney's store. Two things had brought him there today. First, he wanted to see Sydney, and second he needed to get a gift for his mother. Today she was coming to visit, and Zeke figured that he could come into the store and casually bump into Sydney and get her to help.

  Taking a deep breath, he walked inside to face the crowd. Looking around he didn't see Sydney anywhere, but her sister was out on the floor helping customers, so he decided to approach her. He tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention.

  "Can I help you?" she asked, turning to face him.

  Zeke cleared his throat, "I don't know if you remember me, but I was here-"

  "I remember," she interrupted him. “I’ve been watching you stand outside for the last ten minutes talking to yourself. I’m surprised that you finally got enough balls to come in. How can I help you?" she asked.

  If he were a light-skinned man, he would’ve been blushing. He cleared his throat and loosened his tie.

  "I was hoping to see Sydney. She helped me the last time."

  “Anyone can help you,” Sierra responded. "You like my sister, admit it. You don't have to keep coming here and buying flowers just to get her attention.”

  Damn she’s upfront. He decided that he wasn't going to beat around the bush, either. "I’m interested in your sister," he admitted.

  "Sorry to burst you bubble, but Syd got a man," she said placing her hands on her hips, exaggerating a bit.

  “I know. Is she here today?" he asked Sierra. He just wanted to see her smile and be in the presence of her natural beauty, even if it belonged to someone else.

  "She's in her office."

  I feel sorry for the man that becomes attached to her, Zeke thought as she walked away.

  He went behind the counter towards the back of the store to the office. He didn't know what he was doing, but went with his gut and knocked on the door that belonged to Sydney.

  “Come in.”

  Sydney was concentrating on paperwork, so she didn't realize who had walked into her office. She was busy looking for another employee to help around the store. She’d already employed a few part-time college and high school students, but she wanted another full-time adult besides her sister or brother help out.

  "Is this a bad time?"

  Sydney looked up when she heard the deep masculine voice. She didn't expect to see Zeke there.

  "Zeke?" she asked in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

  He shrugged his shoulders and came towards her desk. "I needed some flowers for a woman I love. So I came to the woman that loves flowers.”

  "Oh, that’s great!” she responded. Sydney started organizing the mess on her desk. “So I guess the date went we
ll.”

  "Hell no, it was a tragedy.”

  She stopped her movement. “I don’t understand.”

  “I need flowers for my mom."

  She felt relieved. When he’d said they were for the woman he loved, she felt a pang of jealousy. Not because she wanted Zeke for herself, but because he was another person that had gotten the love thing right.

  "So what type of flowers do you suggest this time, Ms. Sydney?" Zeke asked, drawing her attention again. He had walked closer to her desk and was now leaning over getting into her personal space.

  Sydney pushed her chair back and broke the trance Zeke had her under. "Um...what type of woman is she?"

  He grinned. "She's a prim and proper Southern Belle raised in Louisiana. She never held a full-time job, but proudly raised four boys that all went to college. We always had a home cooked meal, and she worshiped my father until the day he passed."

  Sydney immediately got the image of a proud sophisticated woman in her late fifties that was gentle and soft. From the smile on Zeke's face, she could tell that he loved his mother, and she probably spent her life loving on her boys.

  "I think you should get her a bouquet of pink lilies. They're soft and elegant, two characteristics that I believe your mother embodies."

  "You're the expert," he said in response.

  Sydney decided to make a fresh bouquet for Zeke's mom, so she led the way to her work area in another room, across from her office. Zeke sat on a stool beside her and watched her small fingers arrange the flowers into a beautiful crystal vase. He was amazed at how something so simple could change into an entirely different thing. Sydney had done that in a matter of minutes.

  While she worked, he watched her. Sydney’s figure was petite, but she still had full hips and breasts. The last time he saw her, she had her hair down, but today it was piled on top of her head with a few strands floating around her face. She was beautiful without even trying.

  Through talking, he now knew that she was twenty-three, four years younger than himself and was a Texas native. It was a funny coincidence that the college she dropped out of was the same school he came to Texas and attended. He thought it was courageous of her to leave to pursue a dream. From the looks of it, things were working out.

  "All done," Sydney exclaimed.