So You Call Yourself A Man. Carl Weber

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ What responsibility? That baby ain’t mine. I rode past you and his daddy pushing a stroller down the street a few months ago. You looked like one big, happy family. Why you trying to put this on me now? I work for UPS. I don’t own it. I ain’t got no money. Damn.”

      “You think I want this? I don’t want this. But I wouldn’t even be talking to you if Trent hadn’t failed a paternity test. The baby’s not his, James. DNA tests don’t lie.”

      There was silence on my end. I wasn’t sure what to say. I wanted to ask, “Well, whose baby is it?” but common sense told me that wasn’t a good idea, especially since she had my cell number, my home number, and my address. If she wanted to, she could make my life a living hell.

      As if she was reading my mind she said, “You’re the only other one I was sleeping with, James, so don’t come out your face with any stupidness.”

      God, I wish I had never met her.

      “What do you want from me, Michelle?”

      “We need to talk face-to-face. All I want you to do is take care of your son. I don’t want anything else. But I can’t do this by myself.”

      “Aw’ight, but I can’t do it tomorrow. It’ll have to be Monday.”

      “Okay, I can wait ’til Monday. But don’t let me come looking for you, James, ’cause I ain’t calling your cell phone looking for you anymore. I’m calling your house.” Why I called that girl from my home number when we were sleeping together I’ll never know. I felt like kicking myself for being so damn stupid.

      “Don’t worry. I’ll call you.” I clicked off the phone then walked up the stairs as if I was in a trance. How the hell was I gonna tell Cathy if I did really have another son?

      2

      Sonny

      I stepped off the escalator and changed the time on my watch before heading toward the United Airlines baggage claim carousel. It was 9:00 a.m. back in Seattle, where my wife Jessica was probably just finishing up breakfast for the kids. I was about to pull out my cell and give her a call, but before I could get it out of my jacket, I was knocked to the ground by two middle-aged white guys in suits. They didn’t even look back to see if I was all right. All I heard from one of them was, “Sorry,” as he raced past me. Well, there was no question I wasn’t in Seattle anymore, that was for sure. I was back in my hometown of New York City, where rudeness rules, everything is more expensive, and life just seems to move at a quicker pace. God, do I love this city.

      I brushed myself off and continued toward the baggage claim. I thought about calling Jessica again but decided against it when I saw that she’d left three text messages on my phone. I’d only been in New York a few minutes, and it was probably better if I let her and the kids have a chance to miss me for a while. Besides, she’d call back. That I was sure of. Jessica couldn’t go more than a few hours without talking to me.

      A half-hour later, I was standing on the sidewalk outside the baggage claim area, smoking a cigarette. As I predicted, Jessica had called back not once but twice, and now that we’d hung up, I was doing some window-shopping. New York might be fast, but it had some of the best window-shopping in the world. “Window-shopping” was a term I came up with after Jessica and I got married and she would catch me looking at another woman’s ass. Let’s get something straight, though. I never cheated on my wife. Hell, I was too damn busy trying to keep her happy so she wouldn’t cheat on me. You see, I’m an ass man. I can’t help looking when a nice booty walks by me, but I don’t touch. When Jessica caught me checking out someone’s rear, I told her, “Don’t worry, baby. I’m just window-shopping. A brother’s got no intentions to buy generic when he’s got brand-name at home.” Then I’d slap her playfully on what quite honestly might be the most beautiful butt I’d ever seen. She never gave me any argument about that, probably because she knew how much I loved her and how committed I was to her and our family. I was about as devoted a family man as you can get. That was the main reason I was back in New York looking for a job. I needed to take care of my family properly.

      “Sonnyyyyyyyyyy!”

      I looked up and saw the resident pretty boy, one of my best friends, Brent Williams, headed my way through the crowd. After all these years, he was still probably the most handsome brother I’d ever met, and it had been that way since we were in grade school. When Brent was around, it was the women who did the window-shopping, and that’s what most of them standing outside the baggage claim area were doing as he walked by. I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched all the turned heads and not-so-subtle double takes. That Brent drove women crazy.

      A good six feet three inches tall, Brent had chiseled bronze features with a low military cut and a body that women lusted after. Even under his suit jacket, it was obvious to anyone within eyesight that he was ripped. The thing I liked about Brent was that unlike most pretty boys, he didn’t let his good looks go to his head. Oh, he’d had his share of women over the years—lots of women—but he never made a big deal about his looks or the attention women gave him. To be honest, he seemed to resent it at times. I guess that’s why he had so much trouble keeping a steady relationship. He wanted someone who was attracted to the man inside, someone who shared his interests and wasn’t just looking for an arm ornament she could show off to her girlfriends. I know it almost sounds like what a woman looks for in a man, but you’d be surprised how hard a good woman is to find, and Brent had been searching for his Mrs. Right for quite a while. That’s why James and I were so happy when he met Alison. She’s a little big for my taste, but she’s the perfect woman for Brent, especially with her being a Sunday school teacher and him recently being saved and wanting to go into the clergy.

      “Sonny! Man, it’s good to see you.” Brent wrapped his arms around me and gave me a brotherly hug. “I missed you, man. Dag-gone, I wish you’d move back to New York.”

      I smiled as I hugged him back. “I missed you too, bro. And believe it or not, I might be moving back to New York sooner than you think if James can get me a job as a driver working at UPS.”

      Brent straightened his back, cynicism written across his face. I was too embarrassed to tell him I’d been out of work the past three months and that James was my only hope for employment. “And Jessica is cool with that? She’s actually going to let you be a driver?”

      I let out an aggravated sigh. Brent and James didn’t like my wife because they thought she was too high-maintenance and controlling. They were under the impression that Jessica had me henpecked. They believed she moved me to Seattle three years ago so that I would be away from their influence.

      I looked him straight in the eyes. “It was her idea. She knows how much I miss you guys and New York. Contrary to popular belief, she wants me to be happy, Brent.”

      “I hear you, man. God does say, let those without sin cast the first stone.” Brent released me and picked up one of my bags. “Maybe I misjudged her, Sonny.”

      “There ain’t no maybe to it, bro. You and James been misjudging my wife since day one. She’s a good woman, Brent, the best, and I don’t know what I’d do without her. I’ve only been away from her half a day and I already feel lost. I just wish you guys could understand that.”

      “I hear you, man, and I’m glad you’re happy.” His voice was less enthusiastic than his words.

      “Excuse me.” I glanced toward the voice to see this fine, brown-skinned flight attendant staring directly into Brent’s face like he was a rock star or something, but it wasn’t СКАЧАТЬ