Dahlia

The Plotting Thickens

As soon as Cortez put him in the car to head back to Queens he closed his eyes and fell asleep. When they got home Dahlia gently changed his pull up, put his pajamas on and laid him in bed. As Cortez leaned against the door frame he smiled down at his son. Demi was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on. Son,” he said out loud. “I love you.” “You will never go without as long as I’m breathing.” Cortez stood in the doorway watching Demi sleep. He, Dahlia and Kal had spent the last few weeks painting and decorating Demi’s room. Dahlia was very particular about the way she wanted his room to look. “I want it to be comfortable for him.” “I don’t want him to feel sad or scared, so I think that we should keep some things that are familiar in his room at our house.” She had said. She had Cortez call Josephina and see what the theme was in his bedroom at Anita’s house and they learned that his theme was dinosaurs. Dahlia decided to paint the walls gray with white trim. She made wall decals with Demi’s name and different types of dinosaurs. During the first three supervised visits Dahlia asked Titi Enid to snap lots of candid pictures of Demi with Cortez, his parents and Buckey and the twins. She got the pictures developed and framed them, then she hung them on the walls next to a dinosaur decal. Demi’s toddler bed was in the shape of a T-Rex. It felt like Demi had always been here, even though it was his first official night sleeping at his father’s home. 

He hadn’t even had a chance to see his new room yet. It had been a really long day. Demi had been able to spend time with his grandparents, Titi Enid and Tio Juan and Tio Buckey and TiTi Kal and his Titis Lala and Nina. Demi seemed to be adjusting very well to spending time with Cortez and his family. He was certainly spoiled by his family. Titi Enid said “He’s not spoiled, he’s loved!” Demi really seemed to gravitate towards Dahlia. He was always asking for his father or Dahlia if he was hungry, needed to potty or was scared. He ran around in his grandparents back yard with his many cousins. Mrs. Flores’ sister had three grandchildren, all around the same age as Demi, two girls and a boy. He ate almost everything in sight and had an all around great time. He barely made it to the car before he was closing his eyes. Demi was not a whiny baby at all. He was super chill. He clung to Cortez’s neck while he and Dahlia headed to the car. Cortez noticed that Johnny was nowhere to be found. He felt that their friendship was coming to an end and it was a bittersweet feeling. Johnny was his first friend when he moved to New York as a kid. But he did feel like he was growing apart from Johnny and he felt it the moment he decided to get into a relationship with Dahlia. Regardless, it still hurt Cortez, but if Johnny wasn’t willing to respect his woman it had to be done. 

 Cortez felt a pair of soft arms wrap around his waist. Her touch pulled him out of his thoughts. Dahlia laid her head on his back. “Isn’t it amazing how natural it comes? She said softly. “What?” He said softly. “Loving your baby and becoming a daddy.” He nodded his head and caressed Dahlia’s hands. “Dee, I want to thank you.” “You took on this role with such grace.” “You have such patience and poise.” “There is no way I could have done what you did in the face of all the disrespect.” He turned to face Dahlia and put his hands around her waist. He looked down at her lovingly and said “What are we waiting for baby?” “What are you talking about Cortez?” Dahlia said. “Let’s get married.” “As soon as the semester is finish.” “Lets just do it.” “I don’t want to wait any longer.” “I don’t need a big wedding.” “I just need you and my son.” Dahlia stood up on her tip toes and kissed Cortez softly. “I’m for it.” With that, Cortez picked Dahlia up and she wrapped her legs around his waist and they headed back to their room for the evening. 

Anita was so restless that she didn’t know what to do with herself. It was about 9:30 PM. Demetrius had been gone since 3:00 PM. She really didn’t know what to do. She and Regina cleaned from top to bottom, washed all of their clothes, cooked dinner and paced her house. She and Regina decided to go sit on the front porch to get some air. They took a bottle of wine and two glasses and sat on the porch. The sisters were sitting on the stood sipping their wine. The smell of the Flores’ barbecue was wafting down to Anita’s house. It added to the ambiance of the Bronx on a spring evening. The sun was just setting to the west. Regina got up to stretch her legs and saw Johnny and Manuel walking toward the stoop. “Sista,” Regina said. “Johnny and Manuel are headed this way.” “I wonder if they have any tea about the cookout.” “They were there.” Anita sipped her wine and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.” “Does it look like they are gonna stop and talk to us?” “Yeah.” Regina said with a smile. 

Johnny and Manuel slowed their pace in front of Anita’s front stoop a few minutes later. Johnny looked at Regina and winked. “Can I holla at you for a second Regina?” Johnny said. “Sure!” Regina said a little too enthusiastically. She went out to the sidewalk to talk to Johnny. “Listen,” He said. “I wanted to talk to you about your sister.” “I’m listening.” Regina said. “So, do you think that she would be interested in going out with me?” Regina’s smile wavered a bit. She was taken aback by the question but mostly because she misread Johnny’s signals. “I can talk to her about it.” She said. “Gimme a second.” She turned around and headed back to Anita. “Ok sista,” Regina said. “Johnny wants to take you on a date.” “Eww, really?” Anita said quietly. “Yes, but sista don’t you know what this means?” “If you go out with Johnny, then you could probably get him to do what eva you want.” “Like, you could keep tabs on Cortez , right?” Anita thought about it. “I mean, I guess it wouldn’t be a bad idea.” “I am kind of bored and maybe I could use this to my advantage.” “But sista, I don’t want to leave you alone tonight.” “What do you think of Manuel?” “He’s cute.” Regina said. “I could work with that.” “At the very least he could show me what that mouth do.” Anita giggled a little bit. “I got you sista.” 

Anita got up off the porch and walked over to Johnny. “So, where did you have in mind handsome?” Johnny smiled. “Wherever you want to go beautiful.” Anita slinked her hands around Johnny’s neck and got very close to Johnny. “So, what do you think Manuel would say if we invited Regina to go with us.” “I think he would like that shit.” Johnny said. “Why don’t you guys come inside and chill while we get ready?” “Sure.” Johnny said. The four of them went into the house and Anita and Regina went to go get ready. They talked in hushed tones while they got ready. “So,” Anita said as she pulled on a pair of barely there cut off jean shorts She rummaged around in her dresser drawers looking for a perfect match. She chose a backless coral colored shirt with sandals to match. She let her hair down and spritzed it with some water, bringing her luscious curls to life. “She looked stunning. “I think we can use Johnny to our advantage.” “He clearly wants to f**k me.” “So, if I give him a lil somethin’, maybe we can come up with some kind of plan to get me back to Cortez.” Regina chose to wear a pair of ripped jeans and a black tube top and some black and white Nike Airmax 97’s. She tied her hair into a high messy bun with her curls hanging out lazily. “I think I might want to get with Manuel just because.” “He’s mad cute.” “This was a good idea sista!” When the ladies walked back into the living room Johnny and Manuel couldn’t do anything but stare. “Anita, you look beautiful.” Anita smiled and flipped her hair. “Thank you.” She said. Manuel’s eyes widened when he saw Regina. “Mami, you look sexy.” He said softly. “All for you boo.” Regina said to him. “So ladies” Johnny said. “Where to?” “The city?” Anita smiled and nodded. As they headed toward Johnny’s car Anita winked at Regina. “Operation Get Cortez Back” was in full effect, and they didn’t care who they had to use or hurt to achieve their goal.