Page 33 of Quiet as Kept

I didn’t have beef with Jayla. I understood when she walked away. I mean, it hurt. Most relationships left hurt in their wake when they ended, but I wasn’t devastated, except for my girls. Except for the fact that they would grow up like me . . . very much motherless. But I wasn’t devastated to see her go, and I wasn’t necessarily happy to see her back.

“There weren’t any planes into the city tonight. I had to fly into Atlanta and drive. I’ve been driving for five hours. I’m tired, hungry, and I have to pee.”

“What are you doing here?”

Her eyes ballooned. “What do you mean what am I doing here? Dakota’s fourth birthday is tomorrow. I want to celebrate it with her.”

“You didn’t celebrate her third birthday with her.” I wasn’t trying to be an asshole. I was genuinely confused. The fact that Vivienne showed up unexpectedly with Gannon had me over my surprise visitor quota for the weekend.

“I was out of the country on her third birthday, Kept. We’ve been stateside since last month. I made Ahmed promise that I could see my daughters on this trip.”

“You’ve been stateside for a month, and I’m just finding out?”

I saw the exact second that she registered her fuck up. “I mean, we’ve been crisscrossing the country, Kept. Ahmed does a lot of business on the West Coast and in Miami. It’s not like I’ve been in South Carolina.”

“I’m not about to debate the finer points of parenthood with you, Jayla. If you’ve been in America for a month and taking the time to visit your girls wasn’t a priority . . .” I let my words trail off.

She rolled her . . . blue eyes? They weren’t blue when we were together. Her hair wasn’t blonde either, but that wasn’t my business.

“I’m here, and I want to spend Dakota’s birthday with her. Are you gonna make that difficult for me, or what? Because I can have Ahmed get me an attorney.”

I took a deep breath to regain some patience. “First of all, I don’t appreciate the threat. You gave up your parental rights to traipse across the globe behind old boy from Abu Dhabi. Don’t come here acting like the court would ever rule in your favor. Dakota and Destin’s mental and emotional health is the only thing I care about. I’m the one who has to put them back together when people disappoint them.”

She stared at me, eyeing me like I was pissing her off. She was pissing me off.

“They’re already down for the night. You can come in for a minute, and I’ll write down the information for the party tomorrow. It’ll be a small thing. Just a few friends, some family members, a cake, and presents at the Butterfly Garden.”

Her smile was wistful, and there wasn’t any doubt in my mind that she probably had at least a few regrets about walking away from her children.

“She’s still my sensitive girl.”

“She is.”

“I was concentrating so hard on getting a flight into town to make it for Dakota’s birthday that I didn’t book a hotel room for the night. Please tell me you have space for me to stay, just for tonight. Ahmed’s coming into town tomorrow, and we’re getting a suite at The Excelsior Grand.”

“That’s messed up. To be honest with you, there’s no room at the inn. I got family members in every extra bedroom.”

“Please, Kept. I’ll sleep on the sofa. I?—”

I eyed her suspiciously. Jayla had been bougie since the day I met her. Now, she was tied to an international millionaire, yet she was offering to sleep on sofas? That didn’t sound right.

“Since when?”

Her hands flew to her hips, her head fell to the side, and she rolled her eyes long and strong.

I wanted to laugh. I bet the Middle Eastern dude never got this kind of attitude from her.

“Since desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“The best I can offer you is an air mattress in the loft.”

I only had one air mattress, which I’d just offered to Jayla. That meant I was on a pallet on the family room floor. Of course, I had several sofas in my house, but I’d grown up with my great grandmother in a one-bedroom apartment in a low-income complex. I’d grown up with a sofa for a bed. Though I hadn’t realized it at the time, that apparently traumatized me. I couldn’t stomach the thought of anybody sleeping on a sofa, particularly myself.

“I’ll take it!” she practically cheered, bouncing on the high heeled sandals.

“Get your bag and come on.”

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