Page 13 of Mafia Kings & Wedding Rings

With a brief glance in her direction, I went back to tying my apron around my slim waist. “Just Rashida being Rashida.”

“So what’s wrong with you? You want to talk about it?”

I’d known Lola since elementary school. We weren’t the best of friends, but we’d always been cordial.

She was another one of those kids from the wrong side of the tracks.

My father was very strict about us entertaining people he felt had no future.

When I got back to Oak Bluffs, she was one of the first people I ran into who was nice to me, and we’d been kicking it since.

It was funny getting reacquainted because we both had similar experiences in high school, just not with each other.

Now she was the best friend I could ask for.

She was a big help when it came to dealing with Sapphire too.

Although he was fifteen years old, that boy knew how to get into some trouble, and I couldn’t always keep an eye on him.

He thought Lola was bad, though, and had a little crush, so she would pop in on him when I was working or out on a hustle, trying to find another income.

Even with him being old enough to clock a couple of hours somewhere for pay, I didn’t want anything taking him away from his studies and playing basketball.

“Where do I even start? I feel like I need a cigarette, and I don’t even smoke.”

“Shit, let me smoke one for you.” She went into her apron pocket and removed a pack of Newports.

I slammed my locker shut and secured the lock on it before facing her as she sat on the bench planted in the middle of the aisle.

“So, you know money is tight, and I’m living in a one bedroom with Sapphire right now, which is fine since it’s just the two of us, but I want him to have his own space.

He stood on business about letting me have the bedroom so he could sleep on the couch in the living room, but he deserves his own. You know what I mean?”

“Of course.” Lola brought the filter to her lips and sparked it.

“Anyway, between that and trying to get reliable transportation so I’m not catching the bus everywhere and get a lawyer so I can petition for a hearing to at least get joint custody of Jury…

it’s a lot. This place isn’t cutting it.

Rashida came through a couple of weeks ago, telling me about this surrogacy shit.

Not only that, but you get more money if you are also an egg donor.

So I signed up for that at this agency. I met the fertility requirements and passed the screening process with flying colors.

Now it’s time to match me with a couple, right? ”

“Bitch… let me absorb the you being a surrogate part first.” Lola took a breath, shook her head, and waved at me to continue before she took another puff of her cigarette. “Ok, carry on.”

“I get there to interview with this couple, and guess who it is?”

“Who?”

“Ivo Marek and his wife, Jordan.”

“Wait, Jordan Henderson, right?” Lola checked with me. “Oh shit. So if they need an egg donor, that means ol’ girl is the problem.”

“It’s what I’m concluding. That’s not the point though. Jordan and I used to be friends. We lost touch over the years, that’s for sure, and then there’s Ivo?—”

“Wait a minute… what happened with you and Ivo?” A playful grin lifted the corners of her mouth, and she crossed one leg over the other as if to say she was ready for the tea. “That nigga been fine since forever by the way.”

“Tell me about it,” I mumbled.

“So, I remember y’all being tight in high school and shit. I always heard… mainly from Jordan and the little circle she had, that you two were just friends.”

“I mean… technically, yes. We never had sex; it was always just… intense. Deep. Ivo didn’t care about my family or their money or none of that, and he’s a fucking Marek.

He listened to me. We had fun together and learned how to be in the moment without distractions.

We would go on picnics by the creek with poetry books and read for hours.

He’d bring food, and it was so serene and… ”

“Intimate?” Lola surmised, grinning and lifting her brows teasingly.

“Yeah. I mean, we couldn’t be in public together because my daddy would throw a fit like New New’s daddy in ATL if he knew.

Ivo was just the only dude I ever felt a genuine connection with.

I have fallen asleep with my head in that man’s lap, reading a book while he’s reading one too, and it was just… perfect. Then I went off to college.”

“And now you’re back, potentially about to carry his child for him?” Lola voiced, taking another drag from her cigarette and quickly exhaling. “Chile, this that shit them old talk shows used to be made of. What are you going to do?”

“Jordan insisted that I was the perfect candidate since they both knew me. Ivo agreed.”

“So you’re going to do it?”

“We have to meet again in a few days for the medical screening and legal agreement stuff. I get a percentage of the money after implantation when the embryo takes.”

“Damn, I mean… I guess you gotta do what you gotta do, but… aren’t you worried about the emotional risk?”

“What do you mean?” A confused frown flitted across my face.

Lola angled her head and twisted her lips together.

“I mean, it’s one thing to carry his baby with her, but this is your egg you’re using and his sperm. So this is your baby, Em.”

“I can’t afford to think of it like that,” I resisted, shaking my head.

“I mean, how you gon’ avoid it with a baby growing inside you for nine months?

” she asked, lifting herself off the bench and dropping her cigarette butt on the floor to stomp out.

“I’m about to get back out there before Craig comes looking for me.

Hurry up so we can bust these tables and get the hell out of here.

You hold down the register. I’ll make that bitch Ginny hold down a section with me. ”

Before I could answer her, my phone buzzed in my pocket.

Fishing for it in my apron pocket, I squinted at the screen.

The number wasn’t saved, but Apple suggested it was Ivo.

Immediately, my pulse quickened while reading his name.

It was a simple we need to talk text that left me completely unnerved.

How did he get my number? I hope he didn’t ask Jordan for it.

I didn’t want her being suspicious or calling this off.

The more I thought about it, the more I needed this to happen.

“I’ll be out there in a minute,” I muttered, turning my back on her and dropping onto the bench.

Instead of responding to his message, I decided to call Ivo instead. There was no punk bitch in my blood, and he knew that. I might have fallen off in some respects, but I was always gon’ be me.

“What’s good, stranger?” His raspy voice across my line left me with palpitations.

How was that even possible after all this time? I’d been with other men, and he was married, yet talking to him and being in his presence instantly took me back in time.

“Got your message, but I’m at work. I can’t really talk right now.”

“What time you get off?”

“Three thirty,” I answered.

The conversation flowed so naturally that it was hard to tell that we hadn’t been around each other in over a decade.

“Bet. I got some shit to handle with my brothers anyway. Shoot me your address so I can pull up on you when you get off.”

“And why would I do that?”

“We ain’t sixteen no more, Em. Do what I said. I’ll see you around four p.m.”

“Fine,” I huffed, not knowing why I was giving in and letting him order me around like he was.

As soon as I hung up, I shot him my address, then got up and strolled to the floor so I could get to work.

On the way to the counter, I also text Sapphire to let him know he needed to make sure all his shit was put up when he got home and our living room was presentable because I had company coming by.

Tucking the phone into my pocket, I put on my fakest smile and got ready to greet people at the door and ring them up.

I appreciated Lola for this. Waiting tables was cool, but I had too much on my mind, and I didn’t want that type of interaction today.

It picked up around eleven for lunch, which kept me busy through my last break.

I was so anxious about seeing Ivo later that I found myself stuffing my face with pie at the counter.

I’d placed an order for me and Sapphire for dinner tonight because I didn’t plan on cooking either.

Our apartment wasn’t far from work, so I clocked the next bus arrival.

“Hey, you okay? You seem distracted.” Lola stopped at the counter to put her tickets in and count her tips.

“Ivo called me,” I confessed.

“Did he now? What did he want?”

“He wants to come by my place and talk to me when I get off,” I told her, shaking my head. “I don’t know what to do with that.”

“Hmm, well, might as well get that over with now. I can’t believe you’re actually going through with this though. I mean, it’s selfless and beautiful, don’t get me wrong… but… it’s a lot mentally, physically, and emotionally. You’ve been pregnant before, so you know that.”

She was right about that. My daughter, Jury, was my heart.

I loved and missed that little girl so much.

Even our video chats had to be on a schedule, and I hated it!

She was four years old, and I felt like I was missing out on so much.

Her father decided to move her across the country in order to put some distance between her and me.

Juke turned into somebody I didn’t even know.

Suddenly, I was a threat to my own daughter because I was grieving.