Bloom

07 | gratitude

Giselle "G" Rowe
Sunday, October 2 | 8:56 a.m.
The Rowe Residence

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The heavy pounding on the front door abruptly grabs my attention and I rise from my chair and head down the hallway. My parents have already answered the door by the time I reach it and standing on the other side of it is Farad holding a grumpy Jamari in his arms.

Both father and son are sporting annoyed expressions but Jamari's looks the worst. His eyes are red and he's hiccuping violently. It doesn't take long for him to reach for my mom and she happily grabs him, planting kisses all over his chubby cheeks.

"Nana." Jamari speaks into the crook of her neck and his hoarse voice is a clear indication that he's been crying nonstop.

"Well, you're three days early aren't you?" My dad comments, grabbing Jamari's bag from Farad and taking a few steps back for him to come inside.

"He wouldn't stop fussing about everything. I couldn't take it no more. Y'all done made my boy soft." Farad complains, shaking his head.

"Well then you should've just brought him back sooner. We would have understood." My mother replies, rubbing Jamari's back.

"Then folks woulda complained that I didn't want to keep him at all. Eleven days out of the intended fourteen ain't too bad."

I walk behind my mother to see Jamari's face again and give him a smile. "Hey, pooh."

"Te-te." He smiles back and my heart leaps.

"Yeah," my mother agrees. "It ain't too bad, but I still wish that you'd told us sooner. No reason for my grand baby to be this stressed."

Farad nods once to acknowledge her words before turning his attention to me. "How you doing today, Giselle?"

I don't reply, instead choosing to continue to coo at my nephew and Farad blows air through his nose, visibly bothered.

My dad narrows his eyes, darting them between the two of us before ushering Farad out of the front door sternly. "Well, goodbye then."

He nods again before heading outside, not even bothering to say goodbye to Jamari. The music blasting in his car can be heard from the living room as soon as he cranks up and it only takes a second before he drives away down the street.

"Ugh where is my phone?" My mother sighs exasperatedly before handing me Jamari. "I need to call Gabriella 'cause I just don't know about him keeping Jamari for long periods of time. I mean, he bring him back smelling like weed and smoke and his voice 'bout gone!"

She goes on and on while she waits for Gab to pick up and as soon as she does, my mother repeats everything that she just stated.

I can't hear much of what Gabriella is replying, but I know her enough to know that she's annoyed — Farad can do no wrong in her eyes, whether he's in trouble with the law, beating her ass, or going months without seeing their child, there's always a good reason for his behavior let her tell it. They aren't even together anymore, but he still has a large emotional hold on her.

"You need to care more about your son's well being and less about that grown ass man's feelings. I don't wanna hear it, Gabriella. You are twenty-seven years old so act like it!"