"Hey Dad, can I get these sneakers?" Marcus asked Rio as they were doing some early back to school shopping a few days after his birthday.
Rio glanced at the shoes his older son held up and nodded approvingly. "Your mom said you need some new shoes for soccer too. You go look for some and me and Felix are gonna be in the kids area."
As he and Felix walked across the shoe store, Rio noticed a change in his son's mood. "What's up, pop?"
His son looked down at his feet. "I don't wanna go to school. School is stupid."
"Nah, man. It's not so bad," he said, ruffling his son's hair. "I bet you'll like it. You'll make some friends and get to play with new toys."
"I don't care," he lisped, huffing and crossing his arms over his chest. "I just want to be with Mommy or you."
He and Beth had been able to work out a system where Felix didn't have to go to daycare. She only worked three days a week and he took Felix on the days she did. It was nice being able to spend this much time with his kid, but Felix might be a little spoiled from all the one-on-one attention.
"You will. Mommy or me will always come and pick you up. Then, you'll go home and have a snack and play."
"I like Mommy's snacks the best."
Rio chuckled. Beth did have the mom game on lock. She was Detroit's own Martha Stewart. She never did anything the easy way. It always had to be homemade and ridiculously intricate. The kids got a piece of fruit or a granola bar at his house, but Beth would have freshly baked cookies or ants on a log or fruit kebobs or one of the other million ideas for snacks that floated around in that head of hers.
As they made it to the aisle with rows upon rows of tiny sneakers, a woman with a stroller was trying to pass by. Rio backed up and accidentally bumped into someone behind him.
"My bad," he said, turning his head to see who he'd ran into. His heart instantly dropped. "Uh, hey Jen," he replied awkwardly as he motioned for Felix to take a seat on the bench in the middle of the aisle.
Forcing himself to be polite, he asked, "How's it going?"
Jen was a short, thin Asian woman in her early thirties. She had black hair with large chunks of bright blue streaked throughout. Her eyebrows and lower lip were pierced and her arms were covered with tattoos which wasn't surprising considering she was a tattoo artist. She'd inked some of his tattoos back in the day. That's how'd they'd met.
"It's going," she replied frostily. Her eyes wandered to Felix who was busy taking all the free nylon socks out of their box. "I see you're out shopping with the reason we broke up. How's your baby mama by the way?"
"We just call him Felix and Elizabeth's good," Rio replied, nodding awkwardly. "Anything new with you?"
"Rio, don't even…" Jen said, shaking her head in exasperation.
"I wish we could have left things on a better note."
Jen laughed hollowly. "And I wish you wouldn't have knocked your ex up while we were living together."
"Fair point." Rio nodded.
"You're such a tool. You're not even sorry. Rot in hell," Jen spat before turning on her heel and stalking out of the store.
"I don't think that lady likes you, Daddy."
"I think you're right, Bub. Now let's find you the illest pair of shoes for your first day of school."
Twenty minutes and a few hundred dollars later, Rio left Famous Footwear with both his sons.
As Rio backed out of the parking spot, Marcus turned to him and said, "I think I saw Jen in the store."
"Yeah, we ran into her."
"Did you talk to her?"
"Not much. Just asked how things were."
Marcus shook his head. "That's so crazy seeing her again. I remember going over to your house when you guys used to live together. She had that band…"
"Uh-huh," Rio replied.
Marcus shook his head. "I was such a kid. I never put two and two together. But I get now. I get why Jen smashed the windows of your car. You were cheating on her with Mom."
"So, you excited about school?"
Marcus averted his eyes and looked out the window. Ignoring his father's attempts to change the subject, he said, "Jen was really nice. That was a real d-bag thing to do her. And it wasn't like you and Mom stayed together anyway. I th—"
"Drop it," Rio warned, his personal life never had and never would be a topic he'd discuss with his children. It certainly didn't help that he knew his son judged him for what he did. He should feel guilty for having cheated on Jen, but he didn't.
"Whatever," Marcus replied before pulling out his phone and sulking into his seat.
Rio glanced into the rearview mirror. Felix was zonked out, a dribble of drool slowly rolling down his chin.
In the silence of the car, Rio was left with his own thoughts. He reflected on the complicated mess that was his and Beth's relationship. They had ended things on Marcus's first birthday. He'd gotten his own place and tried his best to move on, but over the years they couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other. They had wound up in bed or on the couch or on the washer or that one time in the stairwell - many, many times over the years. Beth was his drug of choice and he was always needing just one more hit.
He'd wanted something more. He'd wanted a relationship but she hadn't. She had been so focused on college then her job and always, of course, Marcus, Annie, and her mom. She didn't date other guys - she just jumped him whenever she wanted some. Sometimes he was dating somebody and sometimes he wasn't. It didn't really matter. If she was down to clown so was he.
Then he'd met Jen and things had changed. Looking back, he wasn't sure if it was meeting Jen or just realizing that Beth was never going to want him as much as he wanted her. But he'd been ready to move on for real. So he and Jen had moved in together. Other than Beth, Jen was the only other woman he'd ever lived with. Marcus was right. He had been happy with her. He'd imagined himself in love with her. He'd even considered asking her to marry him.
Then Halloween happened.
"Rio? Is Marcus with you?" Beth asked on a half sob when he answered the phone.
"No. It's your night to have him, ma. Everything aiight?"
"No," she sobbed. "I don't...I don't know where he is. He wasn't here when I came home from work."
Grabbing his keys, he headed out the door. "I'm on my way over."
The next two hours were spent searching the area, calling the school, and calling all of Marcus's friends. Beth was a shaky, tear-stained mess and internally, he wasn't doing much better. If something happened to Marcus, he didn't know what he'd do. The kid was his world.
"Hi, Jamie, this is Beth Marks, Marcus's mom. I was wondering if you had seen him today?"
Rio stared as Beth nodded her head and a wide grin of relief spread across her face. "It totally slipped my mind. Yeah, of course, he can still spend the night. We just had a scare for a moment, but I'm glad he's safe and sound with you. OK. I'll pick him up around noon tomorrow. Alright, thanks. Have a good evening."
Beth hung up the phone and promptly dissolved into tears again.
Rio walked over and wrapped his arms around her.
"He's alright," she cried. "He's alright. I forgot that he was going to go trick-or-treating with his friends and sleep over at Brian's house. I was so scared. What would we do without him, Rio?"
"We don't got to worry about that, darling."
"And what kind of mom am I?" Beth continued, backing out of his embrace. "What kind of mom just forgets where her kid is?"
"A stressed out one. You got a lot on your plate with your mom and your sister and all their problems. Don't beat yourself up."
Beth shook her head. "It's no excuse. I should have done better. I should have known..."
Then, she did that thing. That wobbly thing with her bottom lip that was always his undoing. That turned him into putty. That made all rational thought go out the window.
He stepped closer and softly brushed a tendril of hair from her forehead aside. Her eyes locked with his, her chest rising and falling as her breath quickened. She took a step closer to him and pressed her mouth against his. Even though he knew better, old habits die hard. Instinct quickly took over.
The next morning he'd woken with his limbs entangled with Beth's.
His eyes darted to the alarm clock. It was eleven. He should wake her because she would need to go pick up Marcus soon, but he just wanted a few moments. A few moments to hold her. And besides she was probably worn out, he thought with a self-satisfied smirk on his face. They'd made up for three years in one night. They'd started in the kitchen. Then made their way into the living room. Then back to the kitchen for a snack and finally to her bedroom where he'd spent the rest of the night and early morning touching, tasting, and reacquainting himself with every part of her body.
He gently stroked the smooth creamy skin of her shoulder and nuzzled her neck before placing a kiss at the base of her throat. The only marks on her skin were the smattering of freckles upon her face, arms, and legs which was in sharp contrast to Jen who used her body as a canvas. Beth was quiet and reserved while Jen was bold and outspoken. Yet you couldn't confuse Beth's quietness with cowardice. She was strong and fearless.
Beth's eyes slowly opened and she softly smiled. He kissed her on the lips. "You better get up. It's after eleven."
Beth sighed and reached for her robe on the chair next to the bed.
She slid it on and stared at him.
"What?" He asked.
"You know what. Jen…"
Rio shrugged. "It is what it is."
He knew he should feel guilty but he didn't. He'd just cheated on his girlfriend of three years and all he wanted was to drag Beth back into his arms.
"Last night was a mistake. I like Jen. Well as much as I can like one of your girlfriends. She's good to my kid."
He nodded. "I know."
"We'll just...we'll just forget this ever happened."
And they had for a little while at least. Well, he hadn't forgotten. He just never brought it up. Jen had never realized that he'd hadn't come home Halloween night. She'd gone to the party without him and had gotten so hammered she'd ended up spending the night at her friend's place. Things probably would have stayed the same if it hadn't been for Beth's news a few weeks later.
It was late November. Rio had just dropped off Marcus at Beth's place. Marcus had rushed in the house to go play with Yoshi, his golden retriever, and while Beth was taking his bags out of the car she said, "I'm late."
"Late for what?" He replied distractedly, reading a text message on his phone.
"I haven't had my period this month. I think I'm pregnant."
His head quickly shot up and he stared at Beth, dumbfounded. "You peed on a stick?"
"No, but I'm pretty sure. I'm not on the pill right now and my period is like clockwork. I've got an appointment with the doctor later this week if you want to come..."
"Yeah. Yeah, I'll be there."
Visiting the OB/GYN with Beth had been a new experience for him. He'd gotten in on the tail end of her pregnancy with Marcus. It was different, in a good way, to see things from the beginning. The doctor confirmed that Beth was indeed pregnant. They did an ultrasound and he discovered that the fuzzy black dot on the screen was apparently his baby.
That afternoon as he drove home Rio found himself at each stoplight reaching for the sonogram and staring at it. He and Beth were having another kid. He shook his head disbelievingly.
He hadn't been sure how he would break the news to Jen. He knew he should break up with her. With Beth pregnant again, there wasn't a future for them.
The good thing about their break up was that it was quick. The whole of it lasted fifteen minutes tops. The bad thing about it was everything else.
He'd come home one evening to find Jen sitting on the couch staring at a picture. It was as he approached that he realized it wasn't just any picture but the sonogram.
"So I found this in your jeans as I was doing the laundry today," she said, holding it in the air for him to see.
Rio's tongue flitted to the inside of his cheek. This wasn't how he'd wanted her to find out. "I'm guessing this is a picture of Beth's uterus?"
Rio scratched his head.
"She's having another baby?"
"Yeah."
"And it's yours?" "Yeah."
Crumpling up the sonogram, she threw it at his chest. A stream of curses flew from her mouth as she stood and hurled everything within her reach at him.
"I should have known this would happen. I'm so stupid. I've seen the way you look at her."
"Look, Jen. I'm sorry you had to find out this way."
"But not sorry you did it?"
Rio didn't immediately respond and ducked just in time as the DVD remote came barreling towards his head.
"Get out!"
Holding his hands up, he said, "OK. OK. Let me get my things and I'll bounce." "
I'll give you five minutes. Then I'm calling the cops."
Rio grabbed the necessities figuring he could send one of his boys to grab anything else he needed later. As he hustled down the stairs to the parking lot, he shook his head as he saw Jen smashing the passenger side windows of his car. He wrested the baseball bat out of her hands and chucked it towards the other side of the parking lot.
"I don't ever want to see you again," she said, her voice oozing with hatred.
And that had been the last time he'd seen his ex until today.