Lexi, Baby (12 page)

“Yay! I don’t wanna be short like Mama!”

“Hey! I’m five-four! That’s average for a
woman,” I said, offended.

“You’re short Mama,” Layla said
matter-of-factly.

Trish’s total honesty bit must really be
rubbing off on her. “Alright, alright, let’s get going. I have to
work in a few hours,” I said.

We had a blast at the park. Landyn actually
brought a pink football for Layla and we all threw it around and
laughed and tackled each other. My baby girl was in heaven until it
was time for Landyn to leave.

“I don’t want you to go!” she sobbed against
Lan’s leg.

“I don’t want to leave either precious, but
your mom has to go to work. I’ll come back first thing tomorrow if
you want.”

“Why can’t you just stay with me? You’re my
Daddy, you’re supposed to stay.”

This little girl was always breaking my
heart.

“Layla, Daddy and Mommy aren’t married, so
it wouldn’t be right for him to stay with us.” I was trying to be
logical with a five year old, but all that got me was glares from
both father and daughter.

Shit!

Landyn chimed in. “Layla, can you bring me
something to write with? I want to give you my phone numbers so you
can call me anytime you want to. No matter what time it is, if you
need me or just want to talk, you call me, okay?”

“Yeah,” she responded unhappily and dragged
her feet down the hall while mumbling, “I’ll be right back.”

As soon as Layla was out of sight Lan turned
on me. “Don’t lie to her, baby. We’re together. The sooner she
knows it, the sooner she’ll adjust to me being around.”

“You’re unbelievable! And stop calling me
baby. And Lexi. Everyone calls me Lex and you know it.”

“I’m glad you think I’m unbelievable, baby,
and I will never stop calling you baby. I refuse to call you what
everyone else does because you’re not theirs, you’re mine. Now,
about your job, I don’t like you working there.”

I gasped out loud and backed away from
him.

“Excuse me?” I screeched.

“Bartending is not a safe job and you get
out too late. I can’t be there with you and I don’t like it. Why
don’t you work with me, I’m sure you’ll make a lot more money...
No, forget I said that. You and Layla just need to move in with me
and you can work if you want to, or not. That’s up to you.”

He can’t be serious
.

I opened and closed my mouth numerous times,
but no words would come out.

“Think about it and decide when you’re
ready, but I want you and Layla living with me.”

“You’ve completely lost it,” I whispered
irately as I knocked softly on my head with my fist so he would
know that I meant he was crazy.

“We’re not living with you and I love my
job. You don’t even know me anymore,” I hissed hysterically.

“Then I’ll move in here if that’s better for
you, but it’s not close to my job and in all honesty, my house is a
few times bigger than this place. Not to mention, I don’t think
Trish would like having me around all the time, but I’ll do
it.”

I closed my eyes. My life was a mess.

“You’re too much,” I whispered,
exasperated.

“I’ll give you some time baby, but not much.
I’ve missed out on too much with Layla already.” He bent down and
snuck in a quick kiss just before Layla came in the room with a
marker and construction paper.

Once Landyn left and Layla went sulking to
her room, I called home. When Dad answered I barked, “He knows and
he’s back.” Every word was clipped.

“Lex? Who’s back honey?” Dad asked,
confused. “Landyn,” I answered irritated. “Shit!” I heard Dad say
as he pulled the phone away to call for my mom. She picked up the
cordless. “Sweetheart, what’s going on?” Mom asked gently. I
sighed. I told them about running into Destiny.

“Landyn knows about Layla and he’s back.
He’s already seen her and Layla knows Lan’s her father. It’s a long
story, but Ryan was furious about the situation and spilled the
beans. He also went crazy and bruised my wrist. Now Landyn’s
ordering me to get rid of Ryan. Lan loves Layla and vice versa. He
wants Layla and me to move in with him and he wants me quit my
job.”

I paused trying to think of what I left
out.

“Oh! He also owns a bar. He said if I wanted
to work, I could work there. This all happened in the last
forty-eight hours and this is the first chance I’ve had to call
you. My life is shit!”

“Oh my, that’s a lot to take in honey,” Mom
said. “No shit, Mom!” I replied as she stated the obvious. “Alexis
Sky, watch the mouth,” she warned. I sighed for the millionth
time.

“Honey, I have to say Landyn’s right,” Dad
said. “You better stay away from Ryan. He never should have touched
you. It’s actually really hard to believe he would do something
like that. As for the rest, it’ll all work out. I know how much
Landyn hurt you, but it sounds like he hasn’t changed much, and I
mean that in a good way. He didn’t need to change. He’ll do right
by you and my grandbaby.”

“I agree honey. You know I always thought
you should have told him about Layla,” Mom said in a tender voice
trying to soften the punch.

“Are you both serious? He’s acting like
we’ve been together this whole time. It’s insane, really,” I
fumed.

“Sweetheart, just follow your heart. Last
time you decided with your head and it wasn’t on straight. I think
this time things will work out between the two of you. Make love,
not war,” Mom said.

My damn hippie parents
! I wanted to
scream. “Are you forgetting that he cheated on me and how?”

“Not at all, but it was a mistake. You have
to learn how to forgive,” Dad said.

This was not going my way at all. They were
actually pissing me off more than anything. “Alright, I love you. I
have to get ready for work.”

“Keep us posted and give Layla a hug and
kiss from us.”

I hung up the phone and took my time getting
ready for my shift.

Luckily, work ended up being a great
distraction from reality. I was thankful it was a busy night, but
what happened with Ryan still weighed heavily on my mind. How could
things be so good one minute and turn so bad the next? I truly was
sad that things ended between us, but I wasn’t cut up about it. I
guess that makes me a bad person, but it also tells me that maybe I
wasn’t as in love with him as I thought.

Maybe I did lead Ryan on all this time, but
it never felt that way. I loved him, I really did, but right now my
feelings were being greatly overshadowed by thoughts of him getting
physical with me. He turned into a monster overnight. Maybe there
were signs and I just ignored them? I just didn’t know.

Now I had Lan back in my life and it didn’t
seem like he was interested in leaving me alone any time soon. I
mean, the crazy man expects us to just pack up and move in with
him, and quit my job.

He was nuts!
Never gonna happen!

It was almost time for lunch the next day
when Landyn called. I was trying to finish dressing so I could take
Layla to the Burger Hut.

“Hello.”

“Hey, baby.” That reply brought back some
very nice memories of the way we used to talk on the phone. It was
also very maddening.

“What do you want Lan? I’m a little busy
right now.”

“What are you doing?” he prodded.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m
getting ready to take Layla to get something to eat. She’s
starving, like always.”

“Well just come downstairs and I’ll take
you.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. “You’re here?
What are you doing here?”

“I came to spend time with my family, just
come downstairs.”

“
Your family
? You mean you came to
spend time with Layla.
We’re
not a family so there’s no
reason to spend time with me,” I responded haughtily.

“Lexi, get your ass down here with my little
girl or I’ll come get you both.” Now he sounded pissed.

“What if I just let you take Layla and you
bring her back in... say... an hour?”

“I’m getting off!” he grumbled impatiently
and I heard shuffling in the background.

“No!” I yelled. “We’ll come down. But you’re
taking us to that new seafood restaurant downtown and you’re
buying.” It was expensive and if he could play the bossy game, so
could I.

“Lexi, do you really think I care?” he
sighed. “Please just hurry up baby. I want to see you both.” Click.
He hung up. I glared at the phone before throwing it in my
purse.

In the restaurant, Layla sat right next to
Landyn, as in; she might as well have been sitting in his lap. She
was also calling him Daddy now like it was the most normal thing in
the world to do.

It was turning out to be a very nice
lunch...

Until I watched a beautiful blonde sashay up
to our table.

She was tall and thin with huge (probably
fake) boobs. She was wearing a fitted suit, a
stupid
feminine buttoned-down shirt that was open almost to her bra and
pointy toe high-heels. Cleavage was everywhere. She was stunning
nonetheless.

I felt frumpy. Even though I wasn’t,
compared to her, I sure as hell felt like it. Thank goodness I
changed into my white, flower embroidered, strapless sundress and
kickass tan leather five-inch block heeled, one-inch platform
sandals before we left.

Her polished blonde hair gleamed in the
light, and she had perfectly pouty full lips and flawless skin. Her
eyes were blue and I knew this because she flashed her amazing
smile my way before speaking.

“Hey Landyn, it’s so good to see you. How
have you been?”

She even sounded sweet.

I caught Landyn’s eye as he glanced at me
and then Layla before turning back to her and answering. “I
couldn’t be better, Tiffany. How are you?”

Tiffany! Blah! Not quite as bad as Destiny,
but almost.

“I’ve been good, Lan. I finally got that job
I told you about. I’m actually here on business. Maybe we can get
together and catch up while I’m in town.”

First of all, she called him Lan
!

I technically had no right to claim it, but
that name
was mine
. I gave him that nickname and now some
other woman called him by it. He used to get pissed when anyone
else used it and he always put a stop to it. Obviously, she was
allowed to.

And second, am I invisible? Does she not see
me and the very nosey little girl sitting at the table staring
daggers at her?

I looked at Lan who shifted uncomfortably in
his seat and now I was pissed.

“Who’s that Daddy?” Layla asked. Landyn
looked at her, but didn’t answer. He didn’t speak. He didn’t
introduce us. Nothing.

He looked to the blonde and back at me
and...
wait, was that pity I saw
?
He felt sorry for
me?

“You have a daughter?” the blonde asked in a
surprised tone. Landyn still didn’t answer.

“Yeah, I’m his Precious,” Layla answered
sassily.

The blonde jerked at Layla’s words. She
looked startled and completely shocked. I almost felt bad for her.
She seemed nice enough.

I was through with this extremely
uncomfortable situation. I picked up the napkin from my lap and
threw it over my barely touched plate of food. I stood up, held out
my hand to Layla, waited for her to grab it and then spoke to the
blonde.

“Why don’t you two catch up now, while my
daughter and I go to the ladies room?” I didn’t wait for a response
before turning away from the table. I took about two steps when
Landyn spoke gently. “Lexi, baby, please sit down.”

I shook my head. “No, you two catch up.
We’ll be right back.”

Yeah right! I was calling Trish to come pick
us up. Childish, maybe, but I didn’t care.

“This is Lexi?” I heard the blonde ask; her
tone pained. “Lexi, from your tattoo. This is her?”

At that bombshell, I whipped around to face
Landyn and our eyes met. He held my now shocked gaze as he answered
the blonde. “Yes, this is her and this is our daughter Layla.”

I realized then that the pity I saw on his
face earlier wasn’t for me, it was for her.

I looked at the blonde who was now staring
at me. I watched her swallow before she gave me a shaky smile.
“It’s nice to meet you.” She turned back to Landyn and whispered,
“I’m glad you found her.”

Then she vanished.

I stood frozen.

“Baby, let’s finish our meal and we’ll talk
about this later.” Landyn said. I let go of Layla’s hand and she
quickly went back to her seat. I slowly went back to mine.

Other than Layla’s chatter, we finished
lunch in silence.

That evening, after Layla went to sleep,
Landyn explained to me that Tiffany was the only woman he dated
after me that actually turned into a relationship.

“Why did you lie to me about your tattoo?
What does it even mean?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I didn’t want to scare
you away, baby. There was a lot going on and I was just about to
have you in my arms again after so long being apart. I wasn’t going
to screw it up.”

He gave me a small, almost sad smile. “When
Tiffany asked me what the tattoo meant, I told her everything about
you. The symbols spell out ‘Lexi’ and I got it about a week after I
fucked everything up between us. Tiffany was sweet and nice and she
tried hard to make it work between us even though she hated the
fact that another woman’s name was on my body. In a way, I also
wanted it to work because I honestly didn’t think I’d ever get a
chance to have you back. I even asked her to call me Lan because I
wanted what you and I had, Lexi. It worked for about three
months.”

I was trying so hard not to cry, but I could
feel the tears building. “I don’t even know what to say,” I
whispered. Lan got up, lifted me off the couch and carried me to my
room; to my bed. He showed me just how much he missed me that night
and I made damn sure to pay extra close attention to his...