"So how are we getting around today?"
"I'll schedule a ride to take us to my place so I can get dressed then we can take one of my other cars." I grabbed Avi's hand, pried her fingers from my beard, and passed her off to Makari."Take baby girl and let me throw something on so we can head out."
She took Avi from me and I scheduled an iDrive Black to come get us. Twenty minutes later a Yukon pulled up to take us to my place. I detached my baby's car seat from my truck, got her situated, and we were on our way. At my place I hit up Vanessa and let her know my plans for the day, skipping the part about Makari and my daughter so she could make some calls to handle the privacy issues based on the two stops I requested.
She assumed I was trying to impress a woman who had a kid. I was, but just not some random ass woman. One who mattered to me now andmykid. We were going to have that conversation soon, but I wasn't touching that today.
I changed into jeans and a hoodie, needing to match their fly, but mine was charcoal grey and I decided on 1s before we hit the garage to load up in my BMW to head out. This shit felt so natural that it was hard for me to process that it had only been a little over a month since we settled into this.
When we made it to the Cinema Plex, Makari didn't even flinch when we pulled to the back and I worked on getting Avi out. She grabbed her bag and didn't say a damn word.
"You're not going to say anything about where we are?"
"Nope, you already admitted you weren't going to play with your life anymore by getting on my bad side, so I know you have us covered with all your privilege, making sure we're not seen together by anyone who would abuse that access."
I appreciated that she trusted me to keep my word and protect them from the chaos of my life, but I also didn't like that she was so damn comfortable about not being associated with me.
It rubbed me the wrong way because I was starting to get used to the idea of them being in my life and less interested in keeping them a secret. Instead of ruining our day, I kept mythoughts about that to myself but would be bringing that shit up very soon. Damn, was I really trying to be labeled as a family man…
Yes the fuck you are…
We traveled down a private hallway to an independent theatre they used for screenings and found one of the attendants waiting outside the door for us. She smiled and greeted us with the promotional items forNever Forget, some movie about a baby elephant that got separated from her herd and had to navigate back to her mother. She met a giraffe and lion cub along the way and they became friends determined to help Ellie find her family. I had no fucking clue about kid shit but got a crash course when Van was tossing out ideas about what movie to see. I rolled with it and seeing the cheesy ass grin on Makari's face now made me glad I did.
"Never Forget?" The way she slowly raised her brows over eyes that looked overly fucking happy put a smile on my face. "What do you know about Ellie?"
"Not a damn thing. This isn't for me. Today is all about you and Avi."
Makari didn't seem convinced as she accepted the two canvas totes of extra shit I was sure Van made sure they had. The screening wasn't until later, but she managed to get us in early for a private one. Money made shit happen and I didn't even want to think about how much of my money was making this happen. Regardless, based on the way Makari was grinning, the price didn't matter.
"Avi's too young for all this," she said as soon as we were seated in the center of the theatre with Avi next to me. I intentionally didn't put her between us because I wanted to be next to her mother.
"She likes colors and shit, she'll be straight, but I have a feeling I'm going to get my money's worth." I looked down atMakari pulling all the stuff out of the tote. They had stuffed animals for the elephant, lion, and giraffe, a coloring book, stickers and shit, and cookies with icing decorated to make them look like the animated characters.
After a minute she realized I was staring and shrugged. "It's cute. I'm not going to pretend I don't like it." She hugged the elephant and I chuckled.
"Do your thing, big dawg. This day is for both of you." I winked and we got situated, waiting for the lights to go down and the movie to start. After a while I checked on Avi who was staring at the screen like she was trying to figure everything out. My baby was entranced as hell.
"Look, she fucks with it."
Makari placed her hand on my thigh to balance herself when she leaned over me to get a look at Avi. "She's watching the colors and movements. She has no idea what's happening."
Halfway through the movie, Avi got fussy so I ended up feeding her while Makari leaned into my side, supposedly to make sure Avi was straight but me feeding our daughter didn't require her damn near sharing my seat. Once again I couldn't get out of my head about how every second with them felt right.
After the movie, we headed to Redmond Park out in Chandler Heights. The house I purchased out here gave me access, but I hadn't been there since I officially signed the paperwork and left the Range I purchased in the driveway for Rion. I closed a week after he died. No matter how many times I thought about it, I couldn't make myself step foot in there knowing it was supposed to be for me and my brother.
"Considering that you live downtown, I really want to ask why you have an access card to get through the gates to this very exclusive and beautiful neighborhood, but I'm going to mind my business."
I lifted Avi into my arms from her car seat. "It's not some big ass secret. Why you acting suspicious about that shit?"
"I'm not, I'm just minding the business that pays me because anything else is above my Omiri Hayes pay grade."
"Bruh… you act like I have a secret life or some shit like that. It's not that deep."
I laughed, cutting my eyes at her while she searched the playground we were walking toward. The sun was bright as hell, and for April, the temps really weren't that bad, but she still had a hat pulled down on Avi's head.
"It might be. You're the one always telling me I don't know anything about you."
"Because you don't, but there isn’t anything to know when it comes to this. I'm not hiding a damn thing, especially not out here. I bought a house after I won my first ring."
