Read Online Black Girls and Bad Boys: Changing his Tune by Neneh J. Gordon - Free Book Online Page B

too.
    He ordered the coffees and a matronly woman in glasses brought them
over. “So, you didn’t have any trouble with The Cloister taking you back?”
    “No. I think they see me as a marketing gimmick now – ‘Noah Trent’s
personal assistant’.”
    “And you’re happy there?”
    She nodded. “I like the work.”
    Leaning over the table, he raised his eyebrows. “And you get to meet
interesting people.”
    She gave him the kind of smile he used to get from aunties when he
was a little boy.
    “But you can’t be earning enough to take your ex back to court.”
    Her smile vanished. She took her mug in her hands, turning it on the
table top.
    “Isn’t that enough reason to come back?”
    She said nothing, retreating further inside herself.
    “Angie?”
    She kissed her teeth at him. “I hate it when people call me that.”
    “I’m sorry.” He’d got so used to calling her Angie, he’d pretty much
forgotten why he’d started doing it. “Don’t you want to see your son? Have him
spend time with you?”
    “He’s better off without me.” She ran a finger up and down the
outside of the mug, refusing to meet his eye.
    “You don’t mean that.”
    “I do. I was being selfish. He probably doesn’t even remember me.”
    “Jesus, Angie-Angelique. You’re just scared.”
    She finally looked up at him. “So what if I am? I’ve missed out on
over two years of his life. He’ll be a different person now.”
    “So get to know him. You’re his mother.”
    She shook her head. “I can’t.”
    He reached across the table for her hand, but didn’t take it. “Can
I?”
    When she looked at him, her eyes were bright with tears that she
blinked away. She nodded and he took hold of her. Despite the heat from her
coffee, the backs of her fingers were cool. He held her hand lightly, not
wanting to push his luck.
    “You want to see him, don’t you?”
    Clamping her lips in a tight line, she nodded.
    “Then let me help you. You’ve helped me. Let me do the same.”
    “What if he hates me?”
    He ran his thumb over the back of her hand. What must it be like to
spend two years without your child? To know that he’s out there growing up without
you when he used to be a part of your flesh? “He doesn’t hate you. You’re his
mum.”
    “But Wesley must have told him all sorts of awful things about me.”
    “Where do they live?”
    “About twenty minutes from here.”
    He got his phone out and looked at the time. Twenty minutes there,
twenty minutes back. Who knew how long to talk things through. They wouldn’t be
done in time for rehearsals.
    But this was more important. He switched off his phone. John was
bound to call when he didn’t show up. “Do you know the postcode? For the
Satnav.”
    “No. But I know how to get there.”
    He got up and beckoned for her to do the same. “You can direct me
then.”
    “No. We can’t go over there.”
    “Why not? You’re dry. You’ve got a responsible job. You lead a
respectable life and you want to see your son. Let’s go and talk to your ex.
The worst that can happen is he tells us to go away.”
    Her eyes darted over his face, searching for answers he wasn’t sure
he had. “Okay.”
    He nodded. “Okay.” He’d come looking for her to change her mind
about the tour, but now he found he wasn’t so concerned about that any more.
She needed to do what was right for her. If that meant staying put at The
Cloister, then he’d just have to manage on his own.
    ***
    N oah tried to make conversation on the way over to Wesley’s, but
Angelique felt too sick to speak. Could she really be about to see her baby boy
after so long? It seemed like too much to hope for.
    And then they were there – deep in the heart of suburbia, surrounded
by privet hedges and well-oiled gates. Wesley’s house hadn’t changed since
she’d last been there. It may have had a few new layers of paint over the past
two years, but it still had the same dark blue front door and the same