Chapter 28 - Loretta’s ApologyLoretta asked Tasha to lunch.
The invitation alone felt suspicious.
“Am I in trouble?” Tasha asked Marcus.
He laughed.
“Probably.”
They met at a small soul-food restaurant.
Loretta ordered catfish.
Tasha ordered chicken.
For several minutes they discussed children.
Then Loretta placed an envelope on the table.
Tasha stared.
“If that’s money, I’m leaving.”
“It’s not.”
Inside was a copy of the old college-account closure form.
Tasha’s stomach tightened.
“I don’t want this.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because I need to say something while looking at it.”
Tasha waited.
Loretta touched the paper.
“I forged Marcus’s signature.”
“I know.”
“You let me because it solved a problem.”
“Yes.”
“I blamed you for years.”
Tasha looked up.
Loretta continued.
“I told myself you manipulated me.”
“I did ask for the money.”
“Yes.”
“But I signed his name.”
“Yes.”
“And when he got angry about that six hundred dollars last year, I used the old account to make him more suspicious of you.”
Tasha remembered.
Loretta had been the one who reminded Marcus.
“I was angry,” Loretta said.
“At me?”
“At history.”
Tasha understood.
Loretta’s eyes filled.
“I didn’t like you when you two were young.”
“I knew.”
“You made him anxious.”
“He made me anxious too.”
“I know that now.”
Tasha smiled faintly.
Loretta continued.
“I thought if I helped him see you as irresponsible, he’d protect himself.”
“By trusting you.”
“Yes.”
“And you had hidden what you did.”
Loretta looked down.
“Yes.”
Tasha sat back.
“That’s almost impressive.”
Loretta laughed through tears.
“I deserved that.”
“No.”
Tasha softened.
“We all did versions of it.”
Loretta looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Tasha nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Can you forgive me?”
Tasha considered.
“I think I already mostly did.”
Loretta exhaled.
“But I want one thing.”
“What?”
“No more talking to Jayden about me unless it’s kind.”
Loretta nodded.
“Agreed.”
“And if you have a problem with me, call me.”
Loretta smiled.
“That might be dangerous.”
“I survived Marcus.”
“You created half his attitude.”
Loretta laughed loudly enough that people looked over.
After lunch she asked, “Do you really not want him back?”
Tasha shook her head.
“No.”
“You two look good together now.”
“That’s because we stopped trying to be together.”
Loretta understood.
“Sometimes distance fixes what love couldn’t.”
“Sometimes.”
Across town Marcus met Kelvin unexpectedly at a hardware store.
They ended up in the same checkout line.
Kelvin held paint supplies.
“You painting?”
“Maya’s room.”
“She picked purple?”
“How’d you know?”
“She told Jayden.”
Kelvin smiled.
“Of course.”
Awkward silence.
Then Kelvin said, “Can I ask you something?”
Marcus sighed.
“Depends.”
“When Tasha used that money…”
Marcus’s expression tightened.
Kelvin continued quickly.
“I’m not judging.”
“Good.”
“Did it bother you more because it was the kids or because it was your money?”
Marcus thought.
“Both.”
“Which more?”
“Back then?”
“Yeah.”
“My money.”
Kelvin nodded.
“That’s what I figured.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because I used to get mad when support bought stuff I didn’t choose.”
Marcus understood.
Kelvin continued.
“Like if I paid six hundred and then saw Tasha buy groceries, I’d think I bought groceries.”
“You did.”
Kelvin frowned.
Marcus smiled.
“Partly.”
Kelvin laughed.
“Yeah.”
Marcus continued.
“But groceries are part of raising kids.”
“I know that now.”
“So do I.”
Kelvin loaded his paint onto the counter.
“I still think the six hundred was different.”
“It was.”
“Because it was specific.”
“Yes.”
“So you weren’t wrong.”
Marcus smiled.
“Everybody really wants somebody to be completely wrong.”
“Easier.”
“Much.”
They paid separately.
Outside Kelvin said, “Maya has a school performance Thursday.”
“I know.”
“You coming?”
“Jayden asked me.”
Kelvin nodded.
“Good.”
Three years earlier, that would have threatened him.
Now it sounded like relief.
At the performance Marcus sat beside Jayden.
Kelvin sat on the other side of Maya’s empty seat marker.
Tasha and Denise filled the row.
When Maya stepped onto the stage, she scanned the audience.
She found Tasha.
Then Kelvin.
Then Jayden.
Then Marcus.
Her shoulders relaxed.
Nobody in the row was counting who belonged to whom.
They were simply there.
Afterward Maya ran toward them.
“Did you see me?”
Every adult answered at once.
“Yes.”
May you like
![92 The Girl They Called Broke Was a Billionaire’s Daughter—But Her Father’s Arrival Exposed a Secret Powerful People Had Buried for Years]](https://cdn.treeiq.biz/site_590/2026/11/clone-0-0915d882-53d7-4d17-b43a-a010ca1a1068.webp)
She laughed.
That was the kind of abundance none of them had known how to buy.
