Southern Tide Vol. 02

She would put it off for now. On the coffee table was one of Joshua's favorite story books. She hadn't seen when he put it there, but knew that he meant to ask her to read it to him. With all the excitement of asking Brian over for dinner, he had probably forgotten about it. She picked it up and proceeded to his room, wondering if he too would lose faith in fairy tales, when he got older. She dreaded the thought, but hoped that the hardships of life would be more lenient with her son.

Kiara awoke at seven, ready to start the day. Joshua was due at school by 8:30, and she had some time to prepare breakfast. She pulled on her white cotton robe, and checked on him in the next room. He was still asleep, but she would let him sleep a while longer. He never made a big fuss about getting up, and was able to dress himself for school. She had his uniform pressed and ready, waiting on his side chair. She made a note to herself to get him two new pairs of boots later.

He had already outgrown his old pairs within a matter of months, and had complained that his toes hurt after school. With work and everything else on her mind, she had forgotten, but would make an effort to get it done today.

Pancakes, bacon and apple slices were on the menu this morning. Midway through preparing their breakfast, she called for him to wake up. He came down to wish her a good morning, while rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Baby, I left your uniform on the chair. Take a quick shower and get dressed. I'll get your breakfast ready, okay?"

"Okay." he yawned, and marched back up to his room.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang, startling her in front of the stove. She wasn't expecting company, but already knew who it was. She sighed, and rolled her eyes at the thought of having to see Derek's face this morning. She knew why he was here. He thought that he could make up for ditching Joshua, by taking him to school this morning. She knew that Joshua would be happy to see his father, but one of these days, he would learn the truth about Derek. She was tired of lying to protect the image of his neglectful father.

Derek was clad in an expensive grey suit and tie, when she opened the door. He worked at a prestigious law firm, and always dressed the part of a successful lawyer. He was even more handsome nowadays; however, she no longer felt anything for him, save contempt. He had always been the dapper type, and there had been a time when just being in his presence, would send chills down her spine. Now she couldn't stand him; but she tried her best to be civil in front of her son.

"Hey Kiki." Derek said, with his signature goateed smile.

She hated when he called her that. It reminded her of days past, when there had been love between them.

"Why are you here so early?" she asked, feigning ignorance.

"I came to take Josh to school. Is he awake?"

"Yeah, he's upstairs brushing his teeth." she said dryly.

"Can I come in?"

She wanted to say no, but vowed never to keep Joshua's father away. He barely saw Joshua now, and she wouldn't deny her son any time with his father.

"Derek...why do you feel like you can just show up anytime you want? Either keep your promises to him, or don't come here at all."

"Come on Ki. I had a case. I couldn't make it." he said defensively.

"That's always the excuse isn't it?"

"Look, he's a strong boy. He'll be fine. My dad was always busy and I turned out fine."

He had turned out fine as far as being a lawyer, and making good money. Yet, his relationship with his own son suffered greatly. She would have said all this out loud, but chose to keep it to herself. She never had any arguments in front of Joshua, and wasn't about to start.

"Right...if you say so. Come in." she said, giving him room to pass through her doorway.

"Making breakfast? Smells good! Can I get a little something to eat? I only had a cup of coffee this morning."

She rolled her eyes at him in annoyance. She would have liked to yell, "Kiss my ass. Go get your girl to make you pancakes!" But again, her son's presence kept her in check.

Without another word, she walked over to the kitchen, and he followed. Joshua must have heard his voice, because he rushed downstairs to greet his father.

"Daddy!" he cried with glee.

"Hey little man!" Derek said, as his son rushed into his arms. "You been good?"

"Yeah. I missed you."

"I missed you too Josh. I came to take you to school today. How you been doing in school?"

"I got 100 on my spelling and math test." the little boy beamed.

"That's my boy!" Derek smiled. "I know I promised to take you to the movies but I was busy. I'll take you next Friday, okay? It'll be a men's night out, with just the two of us."

"Okay!" Josh responded happily.

It seemed that all sins were immediately forgiven, much to Kiara's distaste, and she shook her head at the conversation. Derek's promises were beginning to mean less and less to her. She wondered if the same would happen with Joshua. She looked back at him, cradled in his father's arms. She pitied her son. But for the moment, there was nothing she could do. Derek was always good with his mouth, and had the amazing ability of turning her into the enemy.

She would have liked for Joshua to continue chatting with his father, but realized that he was still in pajamas. If he didn't hurry, they would be pressed for time.

"Go take a shower Joshua. When you're done, you can have breakfast with your dad. You need to hurry or you'll be late."

"Alright." Joshua replied.

He rushed back upstairs, to do as he was told. Kiara approached Derek with a plate, holding a few strips of bacon and pancakes topped with melted butter and syrup. She was instantly reminded of happier days, when they would spend their mornings together making breakfast, as well as making love.

She grew cross as the memories came flooding back. But she hid this irritation as best she could. He couldn't know that even now, she was still wounded by his betrayal. She set the plate down in front of him and walked back to the stove.

"Thanks. You always made great pancakes." he smiled.

She didn't answer.

"You know I've been meaning to talk to you, about us." he said, after a sip of coffee.

She laughed and shook her head in disbelief. Why was he doing this now?

"Last time I checked, I was single and you were with Stephanie."

She would have gone further, but her phone began to vibrate. It distracted her from saying any of the explosive statements that she might have unleashed upon him. Her heartbeat quickened, once she saw who the caller was. Brian was returning her call. She took a deep breath and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hi. Did someone call me from this number last night?" a clueless Brian replied.

"Yeah...it's Kiara."

"Oh, hi. Sorry I didn't pick up. I had an early night last night."

"It's okay. Um, can you hold on a minute?" she asked, very aware that Derek was eavesdropping on the conversation.

She turned the burners off, and walked towards the living room, where she would manage to have a bit of privacy.

"Sorry about that." she said. "I was wondering...would you like to come over for dinner on Sunday night?"

"Dinner?" he asked, the surprise evident in his voice.

"Yeah. I wanted to talk to you about a few things."

"Is...everything okay?" he responded, seemingly unsure of the situation.

"Oh yes, everything's fine. It's just that I won't be taking Josh with me, to see Cat. He wanted to see you as well. So I figured, we could all have dinner before I left."

"Sure...that'll be really nice." he replied.

He was obviously very suspicious of this invitation.

"Okay great. Um, what time would be good for you?"

"Well...I'm free on the weekends, so anytime would be fine."

"8:30 sound good?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Okay. Well I'll see you then. Joshua's going to be really happy. He can't stop talking about you and the horses."

"Oh yeah?" he replied, in a less than doubtful tone. "He's a sweet kid. Tell him I said hello, and I'll see you both soon, alright?"

"Will do! Okay talk to you later." she said, with a tiny smile.

"Sure. See you then."

Kiara exhaled and relaxed the tension in her shoulders. The conversation had gone better than she anticipated. She half expected him to question her motives and refuse. Had he done so, it would have been a bigger disappointment for Joshua, and she would have hated breaking the news to him. But Brian had been agreeable, and she felt a little more comfortable with the idea of being alone with him...and Joshua of course. She walked back to the kitchen, in a much better mood. She must have still had a smile on her face, because Derek had given her an odd look, as she emerged out of the hallway. She pretended not to notice and went back to the stove.

"So who was that?" he asked, nonchalantly.

"A friend. Why?" she replied, with her back turned to him.

"No reason. I just heard something about dinner and..."

"Yeah, I'm having dinner with him. Something wrong?"

"Can we talk Kiki?"

"About what?"

"You know that I still love you right?"

She almost laughed out loud, but she caught herself and turned to look at him with disdain. How curious it was to hear something like that from him. There were times when those words were all she wanted to hear. Those had been the tough times, when she felt alone and not even Cat could console her. She had pleaded with him to come back to her, but he responded by blocking her phone number.

It took two full years to get over him, and by then he had moved in with his new girlfriend. She was supposed to be the one moving in with him, but Derek made his decision. Later, she vowed never to take him back if he ever decided to come around.

"How's Stephanie?" she asked sternly.

"She's...we're not together."

"Oh, okay." she replied calmly, masking the anger that boiled within her.

He was alone now, and his first thought was to seduce the one he abandoned. She would never stoop so low as to take him back.

"I wanted to take you out. Just me and you. I miss you Kiki."

"And what about Joshua? Is he coming too, or are you going to leave him out of the equation? You know what? It doesn't even matter, because it won't happen. When people fuck me over, I don't go two steps back. I only tolerate you because of our son. Other than the two of us being connected as his parents, there won't be any kind of relationship between us!"

"Come on Kiki. I know you miss me. Remember how..."

"No I don't. I'm fine actually."

"What, so you've got another man now? Who is he?" he asked bitterly.

"Derek, mind your business and I'll mind mine! I don't ask what you and Stephanie get up to, and I don't intend to. What we had is done. All I ask is that you be a good father to your son." she retorted, trying to keep her anger and tone under control.

"I am a good father. I buy everything he needs, and I come to see him when I can!"

"When you can isn't enough. But you can't even see that. It's not only about buying him stuff. You've only seen him twice in one month. Today makes three times. You think that's enough?"

"Look I have work and..."

"Yeah, work." she mocked. "I guess you no longer have afternoons and days off right? I work too Derek!"

"Kiki come on..."

"Mommy, can you help me with my tie?" Joshua shouted from his room upstairs.

"Yeah baby, I'm coming." she shouted back and rushed for the stairs, silently thanking her son for this welcomed interruption.

Had the conversation gone any further, she would have given Derek a piece of her mind. Joshua's little save kept her from becoming even more flustered, and she rushed upstairs to him, leaving Derek to eat alone.

Chapter Two

It was mid-November and Brian hated this time of year. Every year, for the past three years, he had always spent the upcoming holidays alone. Sure there had been random girlfriends, but he had never been serious with any of them. As for Dale and John, both were now living their own lives with good women, and once again he had no one. He pondered on what he might do to alleviate this loneliness, and only came up with the idea of trying to salvage what he had with Kelly. It had been a year since they broke up and he was tired of being alone. It wasn't because he missed the sex. With Dale gone, and no women around him, life had gone a down a notch.

He couldn't imagine...or rather, he didn't want to go through the effort of finding a new woman. It was never hard to get one interested. The tedium of courting women, only to have things go sour, was too much for him at the moment. And he was quite sure that things would indeed go sour. It was as if a dark cloud now loomed overhead; causing an increased melancholy within him.

He craved familiarity and Kelly would be the familiar face that he needed. Unfortunately, she had already moved on and found a new guy. They never had any major problems while they were a couple. At some point, both realized that the relationship was going nowhere. In essence, all of his relationships with women ended this way. None of them could ever compare to what Dale had; past or present.

He had never really given the idea much thought, but now he realized the value of having a good woman at his side. He couldn't put the blame on women however, because he was the problem. He never possessed any of the fine qualities that came so easily to Dale. In fact, his mouth nearly cost him a relationship with his best friend. The experience also taught him a very good lesson; he needed to grow up.

Many times, he asked himself why he'd said those things about Cat. He really had nothing against her...except that she had done the one thing that he could never do. She saved Dale's life and made him happy again. A feat he never thought possible, or maybe he hadn't tried hard enough. He even contributed to Dale's drinking, and hadn't seen anything wrong with it. After all, alcohol always seemed to mend most of his bad memories until he could block them out on his own. He was never good at handling tragedies, and didn't quite know how to comfort Dale. In his mind, he was doing Dale a favor.

It took a complete stranger only a matter of weeks to repair the damage, and he hated himself for letting things happen this way. He had been rude to Cat when he first met her. He even called her names, and probably destroyed her self confidence in the process. He didn't deserve her friendship or Dale's for that matter. Yet, they overlooked his behavior and gave him a second chance.

Now Kiara was the one reaching out and inviting him to dinner. She was the last person he ever expected to get a call from, and lying in bed, he couldn't stop wondering what she wanted. Why was she being nice to him? He had become more of a thinker and less of a talker since these new women came into his life. He hadn't said so much as an unkind word about either one, after the embarrassing incident.

He had even taken a liking to both women, but was still cautious around them. He observed that they were almost polar opposites. Cat was always the soft spoken one, while Kiara had the smart mouth. Of course, she kept that side of her in check whenever Joshua was around. However, this blunt honesty made him appreciate her company; though he kept that part to himself. He liked the fact that she was always honest about her feelings, and was bold enough to defend her ideals. He even began to find her a little attractive, but never told Dale or John so. He was afraid of what that would mean.

It was true that he had never been attracted to fat women, but he definitely didn't find them repulsive; even though he alluded to the fact. Now he felt shame for being attracted to Kiara, who was almost identical to the woman he had berated. Did that make him a hypocrite? He was sure it made him an asshole. Yet, what if he was no longer that kind of man? What if he wanted to give Kiara a chance? Would she even give him a chance to redeem himself?

He wouldn't have been so forgiving if he was in her shoes. That first angry phone call was rightly deserved, and she was probably inviting him to dinner to expand on that call. But why in person? And why now? Months had gone by since the incident. Couldn't she have done this over the phone, or at a family gathering? He had been itching to call Dale for a little advice, but knew that word would get to Cat, and eventually back to Kiara. He didn't want to seem insecure or unable to handle a little meeting with her.

He had considered calling her back to cancel, but there was Joshua to think about. He didn't want to disappoint the kid. Her son had been the one to save him from Kiara's attitude, and being around a child again made him think about his own past and future. He had been quite close to Jessie, and when he died, it hit him hard. Probably not as hard as it hit Dale, but the loss was painful nonetheless. He had been there for every birthday party, the baptism and even Jessie's first haircut. He was Uncle Brian; a title he had forgotten until he met Joshua. In essence, he felt like he owed both Kiara and Joshua for that, and the least he could do was to have a nice dinner with them.

Still, he wanted to know what Kiara meant to talk to him about. It wouldn't be a good idea to bring up the awkward event in front of Joshua. He preferred that they talk in private, because he was sure that Joshua would be vying for his attention. He wanted to have fun, without having to worry about what Kiara truly thought of him.

A few hours had gone by since he last spoke to her, and it was around lunchtime. He picked up his cell and decided to call her back. He hoped to catch her on a break. Maybe he could clear things up and save them from an awkward time.

"Hello?" she answered after a few rings.

"Hey Kiara, I wanted to talk to you about something. Is this a bad time?"

"No it's dead at work and my boss is on his lunch break. Is...this about dinner?"

"Yes it is. What did you want to talk about?"

"It's something that's been bothering me for a while. I just want to put my mind at ease."

"Would it be okay to tell me now? I hate to wait, when I know you're probably going to yell at me in the end."

"Who said I'd do that?" she asked lightheartedly.

He sighed, "Look, we both know what I said about Cat was wrong. I've said that I was sorry many times and it's like I keep getting reminded of my mistake. That's what this is all about, right? "

"Brian, of course it can't be easily forgotten. I understand your frustration, but it's a fucked up world out there. People like you feel like they have the right to say anything to anyone, and that's a big problem for me. But...that was only part of the reason I wanted to talk. There are other things that I'd like to get out, and I'd prefer not to do it over the phone. The dinner idea was really for my son. He was disappointed that he wouldn't be going to see you and Cat, so I thought a little dinner date might be nice."

He smiled. "A date huh?"

"Well not a..."

"It's alright, I'm kidding. And I'm not like that anymore. You said "people like me" but I've changed. What are you doing later after work?"

"Not much...just a little grocery shopping. Why?"

"Why don't I pick you up after work and we'll talk about anything you want?"

"Are you backing out of dinner?" she asked suspiciously.

"No not at all. I'd just rather get it over with. Besides, I wouldn't want to talk about any of this stuff in front of Joshua. I thought about it, and it would be better if we spoke before dinner. That way, it wouldn't be awkward. We'd be able to focus on having a little fun with him. Knowing your temper, things might get heated if we don't." he smirked.

"I don't have a...whatever! Are you sure? You're not going to be busy?"

"I can spare some time for you. Where do I pick you up?"