The Ugly Girlfriend(13)

Well after the last room had been cleaned, the doorbell rang. Just on time, she thought, at least the little bugger didn’t interrupt me before I finished cleaning. With the click of the remote, she got up from the couch and made her way to the front door. As she approached, she could see a woman’s shape behind the stain glass window and a child beside her peering inside with his hands firmly placed on the glass. Ugh, I just cleaned those, she thought.



LaToya turned the knob slowly, dreading for some reason meeting Mitch’s ex-wife. As the door opened and the hinges creaked, the woman on the other side stood smiling and ushered her son inside. With his luggage in tow, she stopped in the foyer, refusing to go any further into her old home.



You must be LaToya,” the woman said, extending her hand. “Hi. I’m Elaine.”



LaToya was lost for words. His ex-wife. His baby’s mother. His heart breaker was a black woman. Her hair was pulled back in a soft, short amber ponytail. Her features were fair lending to the possibility that she was multiracial with her slim nose and thin lips, but more than anything, Elaine was black. LaToya tried to repress her smirk.



“Hi, Elaine. I’m LaToya...the cleaning lady. Mitch asked me to stay for a while and watch your son until he arrives.”



Elaine shifted her Gucci purse on her shoulder and looked back for her son, who had quietly made his way up the stairs to his room.



She stumbled over her words and spoke softly. “Mitch said that you were a friend. He didn’t say that you were his cleaning lady.” She smirked. “For a moment, I have to admit, I was jealous.” Elaine actually seemed relieved.



LaToya chuckled. “Well, I’m a friend, too...I guess.” She frowned.



Elaine nodded. “Regardless, thank you for doing this for him. Felix and I are going on a small road trip and if Mitch hadn’t had someone to watch Zach then he would have had to go with us.”



“Oh. I understand. No, it’s no problem.” LaToya stood in her place, confused but enlightened.



“If you need anything, I’ve written my numbers here.” She proudly passed Dr. Felix Hampstead’s card to LaToya with her numbers written on the back in red ink.



“Thank you.” LaToya took the card and smiled again. “I’m sure that we’ll be fine.”



“Okay then.” Elaine laughed nervously. “Well, it was nice meeting you, but I best be off. I’m way behind schedule.” She made her way to the entrance.



With a small nod, LaToya closed the door behind Elaine and then turned to look past the foyer at the stairs. Should she go up there and see if the little guy was hungry? Should she ignore him?



A thought crossed her mind. It probably wasn’t smart to ignore a nine year old. If he got into trouble of some sort, she would be responsible, because stupidly, she’d gotten herself involved.



Hiking up the stairs, she went to the room at the end of the hall and knocked on the door. The television was already blasting.



“It’s open,” the boy said dryly.





LaToya opened the door and found Zach in front of his television playing his Wii.





“Hey,” LaToya said, leaning against his desk.





“Hey is for horses,” he said, without looking up.



“Well some hey is for trying to be nice to little kids who don’t introduce themselves when they meet an adult.” She raised her brow at him.



Zach looked up. His eyes were the same color as his father’s, a deep, tranquil green. His skin was only slightly kissed by the sun giving him a permanent and beautiful tan and his cheeks were rosy red. He was tall for his age and bordering on pudgy. Curly masses of black hair topped his head, and he wore plaid like his father and a pair of dark khakis. He looked just like the many pictures of him on the walls throughout the house. Only before knowing who his mother was, LaToya just attributed Zach’s color to something other than melanin.



“Hello, I’m Zachary,” he said, turning from his toy. “What’s your name?”



“LaToya Jenkins. I’m a friend of your dad’s.”



“I’ve heard that before.” He turned and started to play the game again. “Are you and my dad getting married? Are you going to have a baby or something like mom and Felix?” He kept his eyes on the television.



LaToya shook her head. “No, I clean his house. Good grief.” She tried not to sound surprised considering what she knew the boy had gone through.



Zach didn’t respond.



“Are you hungry or something? If you are, I can fix you something to eat. Otherwise, I’ll leave you to your hypnotics, because you sort of freak me out.”