Page 62 of Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming

“See to it that you do. I didn’t sign up for this bullshit. I signed up to be with you and develop a relationship with your daughter. I don’t do baby momma drama. I’m too old for that shit.”

“Nor should you. Don’t worry, Aimee. I will take care of this. I promise you.”

“Thank you. I have to go. The girls and I are having dinner. It was supposed to be a celebration of my book event, but now it’s basically to cheer me up.” Aimee sounds despondent.

That stings.Aimee should be celebrating this accomplishment, not worrying about my ex.

“I’m going to fix this. I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Okay. I love you, Patrick.”

As much as his heart is soaring hearing Aimee utter those words, he wishes the circumstances were better.

“I love you too, baby.”

Patrick calls Hector, the real estate agent. The truth is, Patrick found a plot of land that would be perfect for Sheila and Courtney’s house months ago. So, he bought it and had the house constructed, painted, furnished and ready to move into for a while. He wanted to wait until Courtney was done with school to get them moved in, but moving day is coming a lot sooner for Sheila.

“Hello, Patrick,” Hector says.

“Hey, Hector. My ex is going to be moving in tonight. In about thirty minutes, as a matter of fact. Could you please have someone take care of the alarm system before she arrives?”

“No problem. Someone on my team will make sure it’s online by the time she gets there.”

“Thank you. Appreciate you.”

Patrick ends the call and calls Ranson.

“Hey, bruh. What’s up?” Ranson asks.

“I’m getting Sheila out of my house.”

“It’s about fucking time! When is she moving?”

“Tonight.”

“You bought a house already?”

“I had it built over the past few months, and it’s ready to be moved into. It’s actually been ready for a few weeks. I just wanted to wait until Courtney was out of school.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you would have tried to intervene and convince me to get her out sooner.”

“And I would have been right.”

“This is true.” Patrick scratches the back of his head. “Did Lyric tell you what happened?”

“She came home before heading to Aimee’s for dinner and she told me that she had to bribe some employees. And when I asked her what happened, all she said was, and I quote, ‘Patrick’s baby momma almost got jumped today.’I can discern that Sheila was up to some shit.”

“Yep. Up to her fucking eyeballs in it showing up at Aimee’s book signing and acting out. I appreciate the ladies for showing restraint, even though she was asking for it. I don’t know what the fuck she was thinking.”

“She was thinking that she’s running out of time,” Ranson says.

“What are you talking about?”

“Pat, Courtney will be eighteen in the blink of an eye.”

“Don’t remind me.”