Chapter 2: Kadeer

My eyes shot open as I was awakened by the constant ringing of my phone. Usually, I was a light sleeper, but I had been dog tired lately with everything going on at work. Being a foreman at a construction site, I made decent money. Unfortunately, I was putting in long hours. So for the past few weeks, I was really operating off of four or five hours of sleep. I wasn’t complaining about it, though. Everything I did was for my five, beautiful daughters and also to work toward my goal of owning a construction company.

Without even looking at my phone, which was lying on the nightstand, I already knew it was my ex-wife, Skylar, who was calling me non-stop. Skylar was selfish and inconsiderate of me. She would call me constantly, knowing I needed some rest before I went to work. I could have placed my phone on silent, but that wasn’t an option because my girls were in her care. If anything happened to them because I wasn’t available, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

“Kadeer, I need you to pick the girls up now,” Skylar demanded through the phone before I could even say hello.

“Skylar, what do you mean you need me to get them now? I have to be at work in two hours and you know this,” I advised her groggily as I sat up in my king-sized bed.

“I don’t know anything about that. I only know what you tell me. You’re a construction worker. What kind of work do you have to do at midnight, Kadeer? Why don’t you just be honest, and say that you’re seeing someone else,” Skylar snapped.

Blowing out air, I rubbed my hands across my beard in an attempt to calm down. Every weekend, it was the same routine from her. She would call at the last minute with some random emergency and tell me I needed to get my girls. She knew they were my pride and joy, so she would always use that to her advantage to try to play me. To say it was becoming irritating was an understatement.

“Sky, I’m not about to go back and forth with you. You know my hours can change up depending on what project we are working on. And remember, this is the same work that provides for our girls,” I advised her.

“That’s fine and all. I see you didn’t deny not having a woman, though,” Skylar spat.

The last thing on my mind was another woman. And at the end of the day, I didn’t have to explain that to Skylar. We were no longer married, so the only discussions that were relevant were the ones about our kids.

“Skylar, I told you I’m not going back and forth with you,” I warned.

“Whatever, but like I said, I need you to come and get them. I have somewhere I need to be. But if you don’t want to take care of the children that we made together, then that’s fine. I’ll take them over to Taya’s house,” she retorted.

Hearing her mention taking my baby girls to her sister’s house infuriated me. It was bad enough Skylar wasn’t the best mother, but Taya was even worse. With different people constantly running in and out of her house and letting her children be unsupervised, I definitely wasn’t about to have my most prized possessions over there. Skylar knew what she was doing, and as usual, she won.

“I’m on my way,” I muttered as I stepped out of bed and grabbed my keys.

“Good. And hurry up. I told you I got to be somewhere,” she spat.

The phone was silent as she waited on my reply. Skylar wasn’t fooling me. She wanted me to question her about where she was going. None of that was my concern because she was a grown woman and our marriage ended a year ago when she decided to be unfaithful to me. My only concern was my five daughters Layla, Kala, Ariah, Danai, and Sadia.

“Is that all?” I quizzed bluntly.

“Whatever,” Skylar snapped.

Not wanting to entertain her foolishness, I hung up the phone and headed out the door. I didn’t even bother to take a leak or even wipe the crust out my eyes I knew had formed from my nap. Hopping in my Expedition, I drove to Sky’s house. As I blew out air, I called my friend, Zion’s, number. Glancing at the time, I felt bad because I knew he and his wife, Nisa had to work in the morning. At the end of the day, I didn’t have any other options. My mother, Pauline, was suffering from dementia, so I didn’t want to put the responsibility of helping me out with my daughters on her. Sadly, my father, Richard, died from a heart attack a few years ago. Being that I was an only child, Zion was the closest thing to me as a brother.

“What’s going on, man,” Zion answered the phone.

“You already know,” I stated, sighing.

“Sky? What did she do now?” Zion questioned, calling her by her nickname.

“She called me with the same nonsense as usual.  She needs me to pick up the girls because she says she has to go somewhere. She knows I have to be at work,” I informed him.

“She always plays games. To be honest, I don’t even know why you even let the girls stay with her anyway. Most of the time they are with you. She’s a sorry excuse for a mother,” Zion grumbled.

“Yup,” I uttered.

Most men probably would’ve been upset that their friend was talking about their children’s mother the way Zion was. But he was speaking nothing but the truth.  Skylar would work odd jobs every now and then, but she did very little for our kids. Whether it came down to getting their hair done or showing up for open house at school, I was there for them. They were at my house whenever I wasn’t at work which I didn’t mind at all. I loved my girls and I believed in being a hands-on father. I refused to let some young boys whisper false promises to them and ruin their lives. So if sacrifices needed to be made, then that’s what it was.

“So just bring the girls over. You know Nisa will make sure they are good,” Zion offered before I could even ask.

“Man, thanks for this. You’re always looking out. I appreciate that for real,” I expressed.

“No problem. See you when you get here,” Zion stated as he hung up.

As I drove to Skylar’s house, I attempted to do some breathing exercises that I saw Nisa do. I definitely needed it when dealing with Skylar. She was really trying my patience. When I pulled up in her driveway, her front door immediately opened with her standing there with a fake scowl on her honey-colored face. Her facial expression showed one thing, but the lust in her eyes showed something completely different. Her hazel eyes roamed over my tall, solid, dark-chocolate body. The entire performance she had put on tonight was to get my attention. Skylar probably wasn’t going anywhere but to Taya’s house. She just needed to try to make me jealous. Unfortunately for her, her performance didn’t work.

“The girls will be ready in a few minutes. You can come inside,” Skylar said lustfully as I approached her.

Even though I had zero feelings for her whatsoever, I had to admit my ex-wife was very sexy. With her smooth, honey complexion, hazel eyes, and a shapely body that looked liked it was built perfectly, Sky was beautiful. At the end of the day, though, beauty didn’t move me. If it wasn’t about my girls and my money, it wasn’t important to me.

“Nope. I’ll wait right here until they’re ready,” I stated bluntly, causing her to roll her eyes.

“Why do you have to act like this? You act like I’m some stranger or something,” Skylar commented with sad eyes.

“Skylar, could you please help the girls get their things together?” I requested, avoiding her statement.

“Fine,” Skylar huffed as she stomped off.

The game Skylar was playing was getting extremely old. I wondered when she was going to stop and realize she was the cause of our broken home. I was not a perfect man, but I did the best I could to be there for Skylar financially, emotionally, and physically. At the end of the day, it wasn’t enough. Knowing her for ten years didn’t mean a thing at all. It didn’t stop her from cheating with some friend of Taya’s. She wanted to piece our family back together. There wasn’t any coming back from that. If it wasn’t about our kids, I refused to entertain it.

“Daddy!” my three-year-old daughter, Ariah, squealed as she ran to me.

Picking her up in my arms, she wiped her tired eyes. It incensed me knowing my daughters had to be dragged out of their beds behind Skylar’s foolishness. Something had to be done about this situation and fast.

“Hi, baby girl,” I said as I kissed her on her forehead.

“Daddy, can we just stay with you for the weekend?” my seven-year-old middle child, Layla, pleaded as she exited the house with her small bag.

“Of course, baby,” I assured her as she hugged me.

Glancing up at Skylar, I could see the attitude all over her face. Sometimes it seemed like she hated the close relationship I had with our kids. Most women would be happy to have me as the father of their children, but not Skylar. She only used them as pawns to lure me back into a relationship with her. The only advantage she had was that she was turning my twelve-year-old daughter, Kala, against me. She constantly fed her lies that I was the reason the family wasn’t together. Sure, I could have easily explained to her that her mother was a cheater, but that was their mother. I didn’t want to talk badly about her to my girls. Eventually, I knew as they got older they would see things for themselves.

“You know Dad is going to be at work, so we’re probably going to just be at Uncle Zion and Aunt Nisa’s house,” Kala grumbled as she jumped in my truck.

“That’s going to be fun,” my nine-year-old, Danai, countered as she followed behind her.

Danai and Kala were closest in age, but they clashed constantly over Kala’s attitude. Danai may have been younger than her, but it appeared she was mature and didn’t believe the things Skylar told them about me.

“Yeah, Kala. It’s going to be fun,” my five-year-old, Sadia, cosigned.

Sadia looked up to Danai as if she were the oldest, which annoyed Kala and Skylar.

“When are you going to bring my children back to me?” Skylar questioned with an attitude.

As I shook my head, I was speechless. Skylar was the one who rushed me to get the girls because she claimed she had somewhere to go, but then she acted like I was going to keep them from her. It was beyond belief.

“Skylar, I will call you. You have a good night. I need to get to work,” I stated as I climbed in my truck.

One thing I promised I would never do was argue with her in front of her girls. I never saw my mother and father do it, so I wanted to keep up with the same example. As I reversed out of the driveway, I saw in the rearview mirror that my three youngest, Layla, Ariah, and Sadia had fallen fast asleep. Danai was busy playing some game on her iPad while Kala was just staring out the window. I wanted to have a conversation with her, but I decided I would wait until I returned home from work.

Thankfully, it didn’t take me long to reach Zion’s house. Looking at the time, I knew I had to hurry up and get the girls in the house so that I could make it to the site on time. Danai helped me wake up the girls while I rang the doorbell.

“Zion, man, thanks again for this,” I said as he opened the door.

“You know it’s no problem. Let’s get my nieces in here, so you can get to work,” Zion advised.

            “Come on, girls,” Nisa said lovingly as she appeared at the front door.

            “Thanks, Nisa. I appreciate it,” I stated as I handed her one of the girls’ bags.

            “Kadeer, you know it’s no problem at all. Zion and I will help you anytime with these precious girls,” Nisa assured me.

            I kissed all of my daughters on their foreheads and said goodnight before Nisa ushered them upstairs to the guest rooms.

            “Kadeer, this is crazy you have to go through this,” Zion stated, shaking his head.

            “It’s cool. Things happen,” I said, shrugging.

            “Yeah, but you and the girls deserve better than this,” Zion added.

            “Yeah, I’ll hit you up in the morning.” I changed the subject as I headed back to my truck.

            “Oh, this weekend we need to go shoot pool or something,” Zion suggested.

            “Cool. I’ll let you know, though,” I informed him.

            “Nah, you’re going, man. You need to get out and meet a new woman,” Zion joked.

            “Yeah, we’ll see,” I reiterated as I pulled out the driveway.

            The last thing on my mind was meeting anyone new. After Skylar stepped out on our marriage, I refused to allow another woman into my life. My life had too much going on with me dealing with Skylar’s games, making sure my girls were OK, and trying to start my business. A woman would alter my focus, and I wasn’t about to allow that distraction anytime in the near future.