We sat in silence.

I had no words for him; I twiddled my thumbs and played with a loose string on my pants.

“Where too?” The cabbie asked through the small hole in the partition. I looked at him, wanting to give my address but I wasn’t sure I wanted Joey to know where I lived… alone. Frank was great, but so much time I had spent alone I needed my own space.

“101 West End Ave.” I said leaning forward; I looked over at Joey.

“Why didn’t you come to me?” He asked softly.

“Why didn’t you wait for me?” I countered. He looked at me for the first time.

“You were at the airport…” He paused slowly. “I thought it was you.”

I didn’t bother to look at him, I had been so angry, for so long.

“Of course I was there, where else would I be? After Johnny forced me to leave-“

He cut me off then.

“Forced? He said that he saw you leave…” He stopped again slowly.

“Oh yeah, he saw me leave… saw to it that 2 big ass nigga’s, made sure I left. Got me to the airport and did all but go with me to Dallas.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“I thought you left because you didn’t want to be with me.” My mouth popped open and I gawked at him. So little faith he had in me, the time we spent together had really meant nothing to him. He got a girl pregnant not even 6 months after I had left.

“Stop here.” I said throwing a 20 through the window.

“But we’re not even close to the address.” The cabbie said pulling over.

“I’ll do better walking.” I opened the door and quickly got out slamming the door behind me. I could hear the clicks from my boots hit the pavement. A jacket wrapped around me in the next second and I threw it off.

“STOP!” I looked at him, my eyes wide with anger. “Get. Away. From. Me.” I said each word slowly.

“No… why did you not come to me?” He asked again.

“WHY DID YOU NOT WAIT FOR ME?!” I yelled throwing my hands up at him. For that he had no words. “Yeah, I didn’t think so.” I said turning to walk away. He stood in front of me.

“I’m sorry, I can’t begin to apologize… please don’t walk away from me.” He looked solemn when he said that, my heart ache for a second.

“I can’t, you had a baby. A baby. I thought we would have had baby’s… I thought you would have waited for me… like I waited for you.” I looked at his eyes this time and I could see he was stumped. “I waited… those 6 months. I tried calling. I tried sending letters, e-mail’s everything came back return to sender. I thought that if you saw me at JFK you would know that I never really left. I thought we were stronger. 6 months was nothing compared to the lifetime I had pictured with you.” I started to shake my head and couldn’t look him in the eyes now. “Then you’re there… with this bitch and you grabbing onto her like she was your lifeline. Rubbing her belly… I knew then like I know now. We were never as good as I thought we were.” I stood for a second and he said nothing, which was my cue to turn and walk away.

“I want to have babies with you.” He said loudly, a few people gawked at him as they walked past him. It was my turn to be stumped; I stopped but didn’t look back. “I’ve missed you, being with Kim, Bri’s mama, it wasn’t the same. Not like with you, I need a chance please, at least let me redeem myself. Dinner maybe lunch?” He put it out there slowly. “We’ll just try… friends if anything.” He offered again.

“I’m with Frank.” I whispered, he grabbed my hand.

“Please?” I looked at him now, his eyes were… darker than usual, I wasn’t sure what I saw in them. I shook my head and let his hand go.

“Fine, just keep it friendly.” I walked to the corner and hailed another cab.

“Your number?”

I looked at him again, a wave of anger flashed through my veins. “It never changed.” I slid into the cab closing the door behind me.