Page 63 of Stay with Me
I got no answer when I called Nicky, but received a text from her saying she was in the middle of class. Renee didn’t answer her cell, and when I called Genesis, they told me she was out sick, so I decided to be a good little sister, dug in my freezer for the homemade chicken noodle soup I tried to always keep in supply, and headed over to Renee’s house. The soup was our maternal grandmother’s recipe. Grandma Hannah was long gone, but I’d begged and pleaded with her to show me how to make that soup when I was twelve years old, so her legacy lived on, so to speak.
I had to knock and ring the doorbell for five minutes before Renee appeared looking droopy-eyed and just plain worn-out.
“Damn, Nay. What did you catch? You look like holy hell.”
“It’s contagious. You better go,” was her response.
“Okay, I just wanted to bring you some of Grandma’s soup.” I handed it to her, and she just stared down at it. When she lifted her eyes, they were full of tears.
“Thanks, Angie. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did. What is it? A stomach thing or a head thing? You don’t sound congested; you got the trots?”
She shook her head, opened her mouth to speak, and then I heard a sound that made me question my sanity—a baby crying. “You got a baby in there, Nay?”
“It’s the TV.”
“That ain’t no damn TV unless your ass has super surround sound.” I pushed past her and headed toward the sound. I didn’t have to travel far to find the baby in a car seat carrier thing on her living room floor. “Either you somehow managed to have a baby without me noticing or you called in sick to babysit?”
She shook her head. “Neither.”
“Are you even really sick?”
“N-no.”
I stared at the baby, and my stomach dropped. “Nay, whose baby is this?”
“Robert’s.”
40
“I was heading out to work when the doorbell rang. When I answered it, there was a woman on the other side with an infant car seat hanging on her arm. I’d never seen her before in my life. But she said she knew Robert, that this was his baby, and she needed him to watch him so she could go to work because her babysitter canceled. I told her he’d already left for work. She shrugged and placed the car seat at my feet and left without another word.”
“And your ass is just sitting up in here babysitting? The hell is wrong with you?!”
“I tried to call Robert, but he’s in meetings all morning. He’s trying to get a promotion, so I didn’t want to keep calling and get him in trouble.”
“A promotion? You are sitting here with a baby he produced with another woman while married to you and you’re worried about his promotion?”
“Maybe it’s not his. Maybe she’s crazy.”
“You know it’s his! It looks just like his ugly ass!”
That’s when she broke down.
“Nay, I’m sorry, but shit, this is ridiculous! You’re just going to sit here and take care of this baby until he decides to call you back or come home?”
“What else can I do?” she wailed. “I tried texting him, but he didn’t respond.”
“If it was me, I’d take this baby to his ass, right in the middle of the meeting.”
“I can’t do that to him.”
I released a frustrated groan. “Renee!”
“I can’t!”
I squeezed my eyes shut and then looked at her again. “You need to call the police, Renee. That woman left her baby with a complete stranger.”