While racing down to the café, I see red.

Not so much for me but for Tripp.

Hell yeah, I'm pissed that he's been with her for this long and you don't lie to someone about a child. You're messing with the child's feelings and confusing them. You're also hurting that person who took care of them for so long.

He had to have known.

After I walked out of the bedroom, Davin called after me and I ignored him. Kyra was too busy yelling at him and Cass yelled at both of them. He tried to run after me but Cass blocked him from leaving.

I didn't want to talk to him after all that mess that was just exposed. I can't help but wonder how he was able to be with her and me at the same time. She was still in Florida while Davin's in Kentucky with me. How was he able to make another child and keep it hidden from me?

All the 'conferences', 'work trips', and 'guys night out' trips. Even those times, during holidays, where he said he was going to 'visit his family'. Yeah, his secret family with Kyra.

I feel absolutely stupid and slow, not thinking about him being a terrible liar. Why he didn't take us on these trips to visit his family, why he never took off from work and put his job over his actual family, and why he had to see the guys every weekend.

Eventually, I make it to the café and find Tripp flipping through his phone vigorously. He's throwing those tears off his face and hiding it from the public.

My shoulders fall, feeling so bad for him as I walk closer to him.

"You know that it's okay for black men to cry, right? You don't have to keep throwing your tears onto the ground like you're not allowed to feel the way you do."

He looks up at me, with reddened eyes, and shook his head at me.

"No, Journee. I'm a man. I shouldn't be crying-"

"Stop, Tripp. No one has permission to tell you how to feel. You're supposed to feel this way about something like this. I'd be shocked if you didn't. It's okay to cry. Just because you're a man, doesn't mean you can't feel the way you do."

He takes in a deep breath and looks at me.

"What's got you here? I thought you were with your man," he coughs as he takes the napkin I offer to him.

Then he looks through his phone and I peek over his shoulder just to be nosey. He's so pissed off that he's deleting all the pictures of him and Kyra. Every picture he finds of him and Safari, he begins to sniffle and tears run down his cheeks again.

"Well, if it helps, I just saw the same thing you did. We both knew that he wouldn't spend any time with me. He couldn't take one minute out of his time even if he really wanted to."

"Well, he can't even do that for his own daughter. Eight fucking years, J. There's no way that this girl isn't mine. Look at her," he says as he shows me a picture of him and Safari, holding each other.

It looks like they were at her dance recital. They looked so happy together.

Then I looked real close at the picture. She has the same eyes, same smile, same everything as Davin does. You can see Davin all in her and it pisses me off.

This is such a low blow on their part. Kyra could've told him that she fucked with Davin. Maybe all of this could've been avoided.

I don't regret having Nyla but I just wish she had a different daddy. She was meant to be someone else's daughter but I was just too prideful to even realize it.

I place my hand on his hunched-over back and slowly rub it as he rests his head on the table.

"This ain't fair, J. That little girl has my name, my last dollar, and everything. Out of everything, she has my heart. I tried to give that woman my all but she wants to play with it. All this shit for television, just to please a ton of people that don't even know her! Just for a fucking check!" He slams his hand on the table and cries into his hands again.

Listening to him rant tugs at my heart and emotions. He shouldn't have to go through any of this.

"Her family even warned me about her but I didn't listen. I thought it'd be different from when we were in high school. Instead, I got the same party-throwing, spotlight hog that I dated back in high school. We're too old to be playing these games, man. All I wanted was to be there for her and Safari. I thought it was my job to love them, protect them, and care for them."

His head falls onto my shoulder as his tears fall down it and onto my chest.

"I should've known, J. I should've listened to her mom and dad, I should've seen the signs. When she had her so-called pop-up interviews, had to travel for roles in movies I've never heard about, and when she said she had to visit her family. I-"

I place my hand on his head and hold him close just to comfort him. I can feel his brokenness and disappointment.

"Am I being too dramatic, J? Am I wrong to feel the way I do?"

"Not at all, Tripp. It's okay to be pissed off and cry about this. You took care of Safari and loved her. It's not right what Kyra did to you."

He chuckles at what I just said and says "Well, now, I feel like punching a hole into a wall. I'm so mad right now. What are we going to do, J? I can't just let go of Safari like that."

We both shake our heads and end up holding each other for emotional support. Though I should be mad right now, the mutual body heat is making me feel warm inside.

"What do you think about this, J? What's going through your head?" He asks randomly.

Well, I'm pissed off and feel absolutely dumb. I knew that Davin was cheating from the jump. I just didn't want to believe it. I knew nothing about the child but he showed signs that he was a cheating.

I'm just glad it's all in the open. Nothing we can do to change what happened. At least, I can leave him and go on about my life now. There's room to breathe now.

There's no plans to date for a while. Nowadays, dating is like pulling teeth. It's hard to find someone that's perfect for you. Once you do find someone that you think is perfect, they prove you wrong.

"Divorce may be hard but I don't believe that I'll be too emotionally scarred. Once you fuck with my family and my emotions, it's over with."

Trip looks down at me with a confused look, wanting more information behind that. I refuse to say anything else and just shrug.

We sit in the booth, resting in the silence that surrounds us, and think to ourselves.

We've given way too much of ourselves away to people that had no idea how to appreciate us. Full of themselves, running the block with their heads held high. Only to say that this wasn't what it looked like.

"All to get a 'this wasn't supposed to happen'. This is what I get for all the effort I put into this marriage," Tripp says randomly in air quotes.

He really knows how to read my mind.

I look over at him as he looks at me with contentment in his eyes.

"That's what you got? I bet you didn't get the 'it was just one quick fuck, babe. It don't mean that I don't love you' bullshit."

"Oh really? What about the 'we can make this work. We can be a happy family. Please don't leave' shit?"

"I got you beat. 'We were practicing for one of the scenes she plays in'."

"Yeah, you won that one. Damn, he's a bad liar."

We laugh, thinking about all the lies we've been told. Seeing him laugh, or at least chuckle, gives me hope. It makes me happy to see him feeling a little better.

"I guess that 'one fuck' messed up both our marriages," I say, reminiscing on Davin's stupid words. Just ignorant.

"Ah, that's what he said? If it was just one fuck, I don't think I would be that mad," Tripp says as he sits back in the booth and sighs heavily.

He's a good one because I couldn't forgive someone that cheats on me and I know about it. Apparently, I can forgive someone that cheats on me and not have any idea.

"Even if that one time created Safari?"

He changes his mind about that lasts statement and we continue talking for the rest of the late evening, just as we did 10 years ago.