38
Terrell sat in his Camry and watched as the rain fell on the windshield. As much as he loved the rain, he hated driving in it. He flipped the switch to turn on his wipers. For a moment, they swished back and forth to the same beat that Biggie was rapping to. He turned up the volume and nodded his head to the notorious one asking why she had to stick him for his paper. It was just the song he needed to put him in the right frame of mind for what he was about to do. He had told himself that no matter what, he would remain calm.
He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed the numbers as he pulled in front of the apartment building. She answered on the first ring.
“Yo, come out here for a minute. I need to talk to you.” He knew he sounded cold, but he wanted to get this over with.
“Why can’t you come in? It’s raining.”
“And what, you gon’ melt? Come out here. And hurry up ’cause I gotta go to work.” He hung up the phone and leaned back on the headrest. A few moments later, she came outside and walked to the car.
“Hey, baby.” She smiled and tried to lean over to kiss him. He put his hand up to let her know that it wasn’t happening. He noticed the look of disappointment on her face but disregarded it.
“Look, we gotta take care of this situation before it gets any further. You know what I’m saying?”
“I don’t wanna handle it, Terry. I love you and I wanna have our baby.”
“Darla, don’t be crazy. There is no way that I can have a kid with you. I don’t want a kid with you. It ain’t happening.”
“So, what do you want me to do, kill it? Kill our baby?”
“Be realistic. You already got two kids that you’re barely taking care of now. You don’t even have a steady job. Does it even make sense for you to have another kid? Come on. You and I aren’t even all that tight.” He looked over at the heavy woman with fair skin. Her long hair fell around her chubby face. “I mean, we cool and everything, but Darla, I don’t love you.”
“So, you do want me to kill our baby,” she sighed.
He could tell that she was hurt, but Terrell didn’t respond. They sat in silence with only the sound of the rubber blades whisking the raindrops off the heavy glass he was staring out of. He watched as the city bus stopped and an older woman with two small boys got off. They all held hands as they ran into the building next door. For some reason, it made him think of his own brother, Toby, and how their mom worked hard as a single parent.
“I’m telling you to be smart.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the card that he picked up earlier. “I made you an appointment for nine in the morning.”
“Huh?” She looked up at him, confused.
“I’ll pick you up at eight fifteen. I’m sorry that this all happened the way it did. You’re a sweet girl, and—” The sound of his cell phone interrupted him. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Nicole. He sent the call to his voice mail.
“I’ll be ready.” Darla wiped the tears from her eyes as she opened the door and got out.
Terrell breathed a sigh of relief as he watched her slowly walk back to the building. It had gone better than he had expected. From the way Darla had been acting over the phone, he anticipated a teary-eyed, scream-filled temper tantrum.
He listened to the message Nicole left, telling him that she loved him and asking him to call her later. He reached into the back seat and grabbed his CD case. Finding the disc he was looking for, he pumped the volume as Jodeci sang “Forever My Lady.” Things may work out after all, he thought.