Life After A Balla

by Jackie D.

  “Hello, my name is Dr. Matthews. I’m one of the pediatric orthopedic surgeons here at Southern Regional Medical Center,” he said, extending his hand. “I’m sorry, I haven’t gotten your name yet.”

  Skye did a quick handshake. “Skye Washington. Is my baby going to be okay?”

  “Can I speak with you for a second Ms. Washington?”

  “Why…what’s wrong?” Skye questioned with a concerned expression.

  “I just need to speak to you for a second. Don’t worry,” the doctor tried to convince.

  “I’m not leaving my daughter. Can’t you see how upset she is?” Skye said.

  The doctor reached over and pressed the button for a nurse. When she walked in a few seconds later, the doctor told her to stay with Payton for a few minutes so he could speak with Skye. When the nurse was able to quiet Payton down, Skye agreed to go.

  “Mommy will be right back, baby,” Skye informed. She knew something was wrong with her daughter when she didn’t throw a temper tantrum like she did most of the time whenever Skye left her.

  Skye followed the doctor into a private area not far from the emergency room and quickly took a seat, anxious to find out what was wrong.

  “Ms. Washington, your daughter’s right leg has what is called a Growth Plate Fracture,” the doctor said, getting straight to the point.

  Skye’s eyes instantly welled up with tears. “A Growth Fracture? What’s that?”

  “The Growth Plate is the softer part of your daughter’s bones where growth occurs, and it’s generally the weakest part, which is why it’s so easy to obtain a fracture. It’s a very common injury for kids during a car collision. Most likely, your daughter’s car seat wasn’t properly secure and that caused her to be thrown around in the car, shattering her leg.”

  As the doctor continued to speak, tears continued to stream down Skye’s face. She immediately felt guilty.

  “We’re waiting for the X-Rays to come back, but I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve seen this type of injury many times before. Unfortunately, surgery has to be done to put the bone back into the correct position. If the surgery isn’t done, the injured bone can possibly become deformed. That unfortunately can cause her leg to become shorter than the other.”

  At that moment, Skye became frantic. “Oh my God. I can’t believe this is happening. My poor baby. A fracture basically means it’s broken right?”

  The doctor patted her on the shoulder. “Yes, that’s correct, but don’t worry Ms. Washington, everything will be fine. This type of fracture can be corrected. Plus, things could’ve been a lot worse.”

  “Is it painful?” Skye questioned.

  “Yes, I’m sure there’s pain involved which is to be expected. But I’ve already given her something to try and keep her calm. Once we’re able to sedate her, that’ll help even more.”

  “Where did all the blood come from on her pajamas?”

  “She has a few minor cuts on her neck and collar bone which the paramedics said came from the shattered glass, but that’s also nothing to be concerned about. Your wound, however, needs to be looked at.”

  “I’m fine,” Skye tried to assure.

  “No, I need you to go back and let one of the other physicians stitch up that cut. I’ll come over and get you once we get Payton’s X-Rays back. I’ll need you to fill out some paperwork in order to proceed with the surgery.”

  “Yes, of course. Thanks, Dr. Matthews.”

  When the doctor left, Skye sat gathering her thoughts. Completely upset, it wasn’t long before she broke down crying once again. The fact that she’d come out of the accident with only minor injuries, but her baby needed surgery weighed heavy on her heart. Skye couldn’t believe that she’d let herself get so upset over a man that it had almost cost them their lives.

  I don’t know what the fuck is going on with Cruze, but he might as well consider this relationship over, she thought.

  ****

  An hour later, Skye sat biting her nails with a huge bandage on her head while waiting for Payton to come out of surgery. After briefly talking to the doctor and confirming that his diagnosis was correct, they didn’t waste anytime getting Payton into the operating room. Ever since Skye walked along side her daughter’s gurney and watched as they wheeled her into the restricted area, she’d been on pins and needles.

  Getting impatient, Skye walked to the back of the waiting room area to use one of the complementary phones. When one of the paramedics retrieved her purse from her wrecked vehicle, her cell phone wasn’t in it, and neither were her pills. At a time like this, she really needed one to calm her nerves. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to pop out of her chest.

  She looked around at one of the families in the waiting area. Seeing some of them laid out in the chairs made her wonder how long they’d been waiting for their loved one to come out. It was such a nerve wrecking process.

  Skye decided to try calling Cruze once again. However, just like it had done all morning, the call went straight to voicemail, which had Skye seeing red.

  “Cruze where the fuck are you? Payton and I were in an accident, and she had to undergo emergency surgery. Come to Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale A.S.A.P!” she said, slamming the phone down. She stood for a few seconds thinking, before dialing Kareem’s number.

  Maybe Cruze went home and fell asleep, Skye thought, as she waited for Kareem to pick up his phone. She tried her best to give him benefit of the doubt.

  “Hello,” Kareem answered in a groggy voice obviously still asleep.

  “Is Cruze there?” she immediately asked him.

  Kareem breathed in the phone as if he was irritated. “No. He’s not here.”

  “Well, wake up, I need you to call him for me. His phone keeps going straight to voicemail.”

  Kareem immediately became irritated. “No, I’m not calling him. You need to stop sweating that nigga so hard. If it’s going straight to voicemail that means he turned it off.”

  Her blood pressure went sky high as soon as she started yelling. “Look, I’m not in the mood to deal with your bullshit right now, Kareem. Payton and I were in a car accident. I’m in the emergency room. Now, do what I told you!”

  Kareem’s tone instantly changed. “In the emergency room? Are you guys alright? What happened?”

  “I totaled the car. I’m bruised and banged up, but Payton is the one who really got hurt. She’s in surgery.”

  “Oh my God. What happened to her?”

  Skye could hear Jordan in the background upset, asking Kareem if he could speak to her.

  “Her leg is broken, and that’s all I wanna get into. Right now, I need you to keep calling Cruze for me so he can come up here. I lost my phone in the accident so I’ll have to keep calling you back. I gotta go,” Skye said, ending the call when she saw a tall woman holding a clip board walking toward her. Moments later, the Amazon woman stopped directly in front of her.

  “Excuse me, are you Ms. Washington?” she asked.

  “Yes, I’m Ms. Washington,” Skye replied. She was so glad no one had said Mrs. since she’d been there.

  “Sorry to interrupt you. Could you follow me to the registration area downstairs? I need you to fill out some paperwork for your daughter Payton. I promise the process doesn’t take very long, so you’ll be back in no time.”

  Skye cleared her throat, “Yes, sure.”

  When they reached the registration desk a few minutes later, the woman told Skye to have a seat. She then passed her a clipboard along with some several pieces of paper.

  “I need you to fill these out and attach your insurance card along with your driver’s license so I can make a copy.”

  Skye’s eyes filled with tears once again as she lowered her head. “Umm…I don’t have any insurance.”

  The woman looked at her and sat back in her chair.

  “Could you just bill me?” Skye questioned.

  The woman took a deep breath. “We could, but t
he hospital doesn’t like to take that route. What about her father? Could we possibly bill his insurance company?”

  “No,” was all Skye could mutter.

  Obviously feeling sorry for her, the woman tapped Skye on her hand. “I understand, I have a daughter, too.”

  Tears fell on the paperwork as Skye filled it out.

  “Don’t worry. Just make sure you provide us with a current address so the bill doesn’t come back undeliverable,” the woman said with a warm tone.

  Skye was not only embarrassed, but it felt like she’d failed her kids.

  I can deal with being broke, but when it comes to my children’s health and well being it’s a different story. I know what I have to do, my kids deserve better, she thought.

  ****

  After sitting in the waiting room for what seemed like forever, Skye could feel her body temperature increase when she saw Cruze walking toward her direction. He’d obviously gotten her whereabouts in the hospital from the information desk downstairs. The closer he got, the more heated she became. Skye turned her head and rolled her eyes.

  When Cruze rushed over and sat down beside her, he moved Skye’s hair back and examined the bandages on her forehead like he was the doctor. He then put his hand on her leg. She instantly pushed him away.

  “I rushed right over when I got your message. Are you okay? Is Payton still in surgery?” he inquired.

  Skye gave him a crazy look, right before going off. “You rushed right over, huh? If you would’ve rushed your ass home last night none of this shit would be happening right now.”

  “Baby, I’m so sorry. I didn’t realize how tired I was after unloading all those cars last night. The fact that we had just got back from the trip to Miami didn’t help either. I sat down on the couch in the back room at work and ended up falling asleep. I didn’t even realize the battery on my phone had died either. I would still be there if my boss hadn’t come in and woke me up,” Cruze said, yawning.

  Skye’s eyes widened. She couldn’t believe he was lying right in front of her face. “You’re such a damn liar!” she yelled. Everyone in the waiting area looked at her even though she could care less. “I went by your so-called job. You’ve never worked there!”

  Cruze looked around to see who might’ve been enjoying the shouting match. “Can you please lower your voice?” he pleaded.

  “Absolutely not! Are you cheating on me, Cruze?”

  “No baby, I would never do that to you.”

  “Well, where the fuck were you?”

  “Can we discuss this later? This isn’t the place or the time,” Cruze said. The truth was he’d definitely fallen asleep working, but it was in his car, not at a car lot. He knew, however, Skye couldn’t handle the truth right now.

  “You better tell me some…” Skye stopped talking when she saw Dr. Matthews approach them.

  “Ms. Washington, Payton’s surgery went well, but I still want to monitor her progress over the next day or so. She’s in recovery right now. You should be able to see her in about forty minutes. You’ll need to limit any activity that might put pressure on the injured area. Also, she’s going to need long-term follow up care. This is necessary to observe her recuperation and growth.”

  Skye put her hands over her mouth. She was so grateful Payton was going to be okay. “Thank you so much, Dr. Mathews. You’ve displayed such a caring attitude. I apologize for being so disruptive earlier,” Skye said, wiping a tear from her face.

  “You’re welcome, Ms. Washington, and I completely understand. I’ll come check in on her again before I finish my shift.”

  When he walked off, Cruze grabbed Skye’s hand.

  “Baby, you can relax now, the doc said she’s going to be fine.”

  Skye immediately pulled away and looked at him. “I’m still waiting for you to tell me what the fuck is going on.”

  Cruze lowered his head. He could see the disappointment in her eyes. He had to tell her something. “Look, I had to step up and make some decisions on my own that will help all of us in the long run. I lied about the job because I know that’s the type of dude you want me to be, but I’m just not the 9 to 5 type.”

  “What type of decision are you talking about, Cruze?”

  “I can’t tell you that right now but just trust me,” he replied.

  Skye’s eyes became two sizes bigger. She couldn’t believe he lied to her the entire time and now he refused to tell her the truth. They both promised they would always be honest with one another and Cruze had betrayed that trust.

  “Well, since you were out making decisions all fucking night without considering me, I’m making one without considering you!”

  Cruze looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. “What do you mean by that?”

  “I’m moving back to Miami to take care of my husband!”

  CHAPTER 9

  Cruze followed Skye as she stormed out of the hospital and into the parking lot.

  “Leave me alone, Cruze! Go back to wherever the hell you were last night!” Skye blasted. She was irritated at the fact that he even bothered to show up.

  He was in complete shock after hearing her remark about going back to Miami and wanted to discuss it further. Furious, he grabbed her by the arm and slung her around.

  “I know I didn’t just hear you say you were moving back to Miami to take care of Sandino.”

  Skye quickly snatched her arm away as flashbacks of Sandino’s abuse flooded her mind. She went ballistic. “Don’t you ever put your fucking hands on me again! Ever!”

  “So, is that what the meeting in Miami was all about? Why would you even consider going back to a nigga who tried to fucking kill you? I can’t believe you would do this shit to me,” he yelled in her face.

  Skye gave him an evil glare for a moment shaking her head. “You can’t believe I would do this to you? What about me? I don’t even know who the fuck you are right now or where you were last night. My daughter is laid up in the hospital and all you can do is think about yourself. I don’t even have health insurance for my kids. Do you know how that shit feels?”

  Skye stopped shouting when she noticed the blinking lights from a security guard’s car coming towards them. It wasn’t long before a broad-shouldered guy got out and made his way in their direction.

  “This rent a cop muthafucka,” Cruze said to himself.

  “Hello folks. I’ve received a few complaints about a couple arguing in the parking lot. Is everything okay here?” the guard asked.

  Skye looked in another direction without saying anything.

  “We straight. We just had a little disagreement, that’s all,” Cruze told him.

  The guard looked at Skye. “Is that true, ma’am?”

  “Yes, everything is fine. I was just about to head back inside to check on my daughter,” she assured him.

  “Alright,” the guard said, looking them both up and down before getting back into his car. When he pulled off, Cruze directed his attention back to Skye.

  “So, are we gonna finish this conversation?”

  “It’s funny how you want me to be open when it comes to what I’m doing, but your ass didn’t feel the need to talk to me about whatever the fuck you were doing last night. There’s nothing else to talk about, Cruze. Bottom line is, you’re not gonna be in my life playing games and I thought I made myself clear about that when we first got together. Besides, neither one of us has a damn job and I have to be able to provide for my kids. What other choice do I have?”

  “So, I guess the money I’ve been giving your ass isn’t good enough, huh?” It was clear from his facial expression that he was pissed.

  Skye gave him another evil look. “I guess not,” she said before turning around to go back inside.

  ****

  Le Le pulled up at Kareem’s apartment after receiving a call from him telling her his mother and sister had been in a car accident. After hearing how upset he was, she told him she would be right over. Grabbing her charcoal grey Birkin ba
g, she got out of the car, and walked towards the building hoping Payton was okay. She could care less about Skye. Even though they’d only met once, it only took a few seconds to get on her bad side and Skye was at the top of the shit list. Approaching the door, she knocked twice before Kareem yelled for her to come inside. As soon as she turned the tarnished brass knob and walked in, Kareem quickly came over and planted a big kiss on her lips.

  “Hey baby, damn I’ve missed you,” he said with a smile.

  Le Le stood looking at Kareem’s bare chest. His 6’2 muscular frame that exposed the recent Enzo abstract tattoo she paid for covered his entire arm. To be as young as he was, he definitely had the body of a full grown man.

  “I’ve missed you too my young stallion. Is your sister okay?” she asked, rubbing her hands through his curly hair.

  “Damn, did you forget about my mother?”

  “Oh…yeah. I’m sorry. How’s she’s doing?” she asked with an unenthused appearance.

  “Both of them are fine. My sister is out of surgery and everything went well, but she still has to stay for a day or two.”

  “Aww. Poor thing,” Le Le responded. “Where’s your brother and that guy Cruze?”

  “My brother is over at a teammate’s house and I don’t know where the hell Cruze is and don’t give a shit. In fact he’s the damn reason my mother was in the fucking accident in the first place. She was out looking for his ass,” Kareem said slightly pissed off.

  “Well, go shower and get dressed. I want to take you out to eat to cheer you up,” Le Le told him.

  “Sounds good, I’m starving,” Kareem said, jetting in the bathroom and closing the door.

  At that moment Le Le immediately started snooping around the apartment. Known to be nosey, she was curious to find out anything she could about Sandino Washington’s family. Le Le couldn’t help but wonder why Skye lived in such an average apartment complex since they were an ex NFL family. She also wondered why Skye wasn’t smart enough to stack some cash away for a rainy day. After fumbling through a stack of mail on the table, Le Le opened the coat closet in the foyer and jumped back when a bunch of football equipment fell out.