Veer

The playoffs were around the corner and Maya was trying to keep her stress levels down. When that didn't work she buried it deep down because she didn't want Jeff to be distracted or become stressed as well. However, this task was easier said than done.

Jessa was bouncing around the kitchen, haphazardly eating a yogurt .

“Jessa sit down!” Maya scolded as the girl slumped into the chair next to her mother.

Maya gave an intense look at her daughter who stared up with big, innocent eyes, “have your eyes always been green?”

Jeff looked up to see a flash of recognition followed by a sadness as she looked at her daughter.

“No they just started to look like this, I used to have eyes just like you!” Jessa exclaimed.

“Oh. Why don’t you go get dressed and we’ll do something once I’m done with these bills,” Jessa beamed at her mother and scampered up the stairs. Maya deepened her focus on the envelopes in front of her.

"Are you going to answer that?" Jeff asked, pointing to Maya's phone vibrating on the table beside her.

"No." Maya replied going back to paying the bills.

"It's your sister-in-law," Jeff said peering over to read the caller ID.

Lila groaned before grabbing the phone, "Hey Carissa, what's up?... Sorry I've just been busy and people I don't want to talk to have been calling... Don't worry about I can take care of it... Oh my God are you serious?... I'm so happy for you guys... Really? It's been six years I don't know how much help I will be... You'll be fine just take care of yourself... Well if you specific questions I can tell you how it was for me but otherwise don't stress... Okay tell him I love him and call if you need to, bye."

"So?"

"My brother and Carissa are pregnant. She wanted to ask me about my pregnancy."

"Wow, congrats you're going to be an aunt,"

"You're going to be an uncle and bubs is finally gonna have a cousin."

"She's going to lose her shit when you tell her."

"Then she's going to ask about when you're going to get me pregnant."

"I do not want to have that conversation,"

"You just tell her when the time is right it will happen. That's what I told her whenever she asked me if I was going to fall in love with a boy and that worked out." Jeff laughed.

"So who has been calling you so much that you didn't want to answer your phone?" Jeff asked.

"Eavesdropper. Don't worry about just annoying calls."

"Are you sure? You've been on edge and if there's anything you want to talk about, I'm here."

Maya opened her mouth to reply when she heard the front door open and shut. Quickly following the noise was Mike and Arnold.

"Hey Mike," Maya smiled brightly.

"Hello, how are you two this afternoon?"

"Fine, just doing some work," Maya shrugged.

"Daddy, can you help me reach something?" Jessa called from upstairs causing Jeff to jump up and run up the stairs.

"That's so weird," Mike shook his head, "never would have thought in Philly this is how Jeff's life would be and that he would be happy like this on top of it."

"Well life has a funny way of working out, but don't worry, this whole daddy/daughter thing that have is still weird to me too." Maya chuckled.

Seconds later Jeff and Jessa bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"What are you doing here Mikey?" Jessa asked dive bombing onto Arnold.

"Yeah Mike, I don't remember inviting you over on the one day I don't have to see you," Jeff said with a grin.

"Well I was going to be a good friend, but I can see my company is not wanted here."

"Just ignore him Mike, two thirds of the clan likes you."

"I was going to see if you guys wanted the afternoon off and I would take Jessa for a walk on the beach with me and Arnie. Maybe some ice cream later."

"Oh mommy, daddy, please can I go," Jessa hopped up whipping out her puppy eyes.

"Are you going to use my daughter to pick up chicks?" Maya asked only to see Mike give a guilty smile.

"You can't take her," Jeff answered at the same time Maya said, "go ahead."

"My brother used to do it all the time and with the dog you'll be unstoppable."

"Just because he and Anya didn't work out doesn't mean you need to feel guilty," Jeff replied.

"I don't. I just Mikey to get laid. Besides we could use a break." Maya replied before turning to Jessa, "now you remember the rules right?"

"Yup. No girls older than mommy, who are orange, or call me a gross nickname. And smile extra bright for nice, pretty ladies who I want to be my Auntie."

"God, your uncle trained you well. Good luck Mike, you got the best wing woman in the game, she found my brother his wife."

"Thank you so much, I will make sure we have some fun too," Mike smile before grabbing Jessa's hand and leaving the house.

"Pimping out our kid?"

"She came out of my vagina I get to decide where she goes, besides I think we both need to relax, just us." Maya sat on Jeff's lap.

"So no kid equals sexy time?" Jeff gave a crooked grin.

Maya nodded and Jeff began to pick her up before her phone rang. Maya groaned and answered.

"Hello?... Hi mom, I'm a little busy right now," Maya tilted her head back as Jeff kissed her neck.

"What do you mean he's there?" Maya quickly pushed Jeff away before standing up nervously biting her lip.

"He's literally there?... What? It's been six years and we had a deal... He gave me his word... He gave up all rights when he- he- he knows what he did!" Maya shouted the last part, tears pricking his eyes.

"No I don't want to talk to him, he can't just waltz into your house and expect me to have an answer right away... Just tell him I will think about and I will talk to her and he can wait for an answer... Uh huh... Okay I'll talk to you later."

Maya hung up the phone and ran a hand through her hair. She felt the hot streams of tears trailing down her face and she turned away from Jeff even though she was aware that he knew something was wrong.

"Is this what you were trying to avoid?" Jeff stood up and walked around Maya hugging her, she nodded into his chest

“Have you ever been curious about Jessa’s father?” she looked up at him with glassy blue eyes.

“Yes, is that what this is about?”

“He wants to see her. I don’t want to take away her chance of getting to know her dad, I just- I- never thought he’d want to see her so soon.”

“Well it’s up to you, if you want a few years. I mean he left you two, how much could Jess really want to get to know him?”

“I know, he just- I loved him you know and he gave me Jessa, but Jesus he’s just so stupid. I don’t know if I want all that around her.”

“What exactly did he do? I know he went to jail but I don’t know the whole story.”

Maya sighed and went to sit back down, she put her head in her hands before letting out a loud sigh.

“I should probably start from the beginning shouldn’t I?” Jeff nodded.

“So I was at University of Toronto, playing soccer taking business classes and sophomore year I met this guy Kyle, beautiful green eyes are what I first noticed. He was in like all of my classes that year and we became study partners and friends. He was so smart, he just understood how the world worked, I was always impressed by that. But we ran in different crowds, I was a jock and he smoked pot and hung out with drug addicts. I always thought he was wasting his potential but it made him happy and I was only a friend so it didn’t matter.” Maya had a light smile playing on her lips as she reminisced.

“Anyway, junior year all of sudden there was this heat between us, like someone turned on a switch and everything I liked about him as a friend was now something I wanted in a boyfriend. He seemed to feel it too and we started to date. He came to soccer games, I went to parties. Everyone loved us together, we were so different but we were like yin and yang it worked out. My soccer team won it all and he won this big award for entrepreneurship, we were on top of the world.”

“So what changed, you sounded good for each other?” Jeff asked getting nervous about their relationship.

“Senior year, the soccer team won it all again and then I kind of lost it. I still was good at school but I kind of attached myself to his life. Drifted from my friends a bit, I started smoking because I didn’t have a sport to be a part of. I took on his lifestyle and it was good for a while, I went crazy at parties, more than ever before, I did stupid college things I hadn’t had the chance to do. And then we were going to move in with each other after graduation, I was staying for grad school and he got a job at an ad agency. Then I found out I was pregnant a month after we got our diplomas.”

“This is where it gets bad,” Maya sighed, “he seemed so good, he was so excited about the baby. But living with me proved he wasn’t exactly who I thought he was. I learned he wasn’t just smoking pot he was selling it and some other more lethal drugs. I let it slide because I was stupid and he told me it was for us. Then he came home after a bender and he wasn’t just selling them, he was doing them. I broke up with him and moved in with a classmate. I told him if he stopped dealing and using I would let him be in our kid's life and he kind of disappeared.”

“So he just didn’t want to stop, not even for his own kid?” Rage roared to life in Jeff’s veins.

“He did stop, went to rehab for the time I was pregnant, came back clean to be a good father for the last trimester. Jessa was born, he held my hand the whole time and he looked so perfect holding my little angel. He helped babysit while I was at school. Three weeks after Jess was born he got arrested for possession of cocaine, he wasn’t under the influence but he was trying to keep his dealing under the table for Jess’s sake but he was in jail for four years and you don’t just come back from that kind of shit.”

“And you haven’t seen or spoken to him since?”

“I visited him when he was in jail and told him that this was so disrespectful to my wishes and attempts to keep him in his daughter's life that he couldn’t expect to come waltzing back in unless she wanted that he said he understood, since then his mom has just been saying he follows his parole, he’s got a good job in Oshawa, he sends his checks to me.”

“So what is all the drama about now?”

“He called recently and left a message that he wanted to see Jessa and he would come down here if he had to. I didn’t call back it made me sick. Thinking he might let me down, her down again. But now he’s at my mom’s threatening to file for custody and I just don’t want to put her through that.” Maya sighed again looking more tired than she did minutes ago.

“He can’t do that shit, he went to jail. If he takes it to court he’ll lose, it’s waste for him and he knows it.” Jeff stood up angry that someone would be trying to break up the little family he finally had.

“He’s just trying to get me to talk to him. He doesn’t take rash action. He sees the world and knows how to run it, he knows if he puts the ball in my court I will at least acknowledge him and think about it. He knows me.”

“So what are we going to do?”

“You’re going to put this in the back of your mind and focus on playoffs, before you say anything else, I will talk to him then talk to Jessa. We’ll play it by ear. Just remember whatever happens he is just a bunch of genes to her, you’re her dad.”