Allison

Allison:

Allison heaved the last box out of the Uhaul and passed it over to Keith. He and Ann were helping her move into her new New York brownstone. Keith waited for Ann to come down the steps before he went up. Keith and Ann were some of her best friends from high school. Afterward, he had gone into the military and Ann had gone off to college, but the two had still managed to stay together and even had gotten married when Ann graduated from college. Now Keith was a drill sergeant at Fort Hamilton here in New York and Ann was a graphics designer.

It made Allison feel good knowing that she had friends here in New York and that she wasn't completely alone. She had thought about Daniel, but they hadn't spoken in years and it would be awkward for them both if she just looked him up on social media and said.

"Hey, I'm divorced and living in New York with my son Micah how about we hang out."

Plus, she didn't know what he was up to these days. Would he want to see her? Was he working in the tech field the field he always wanted to be in? Was he with anyone? Allison had to nix that thought, it wasn't her place to inquire if Daniel had someone in his life. But, if he did it would hurt her a little more than she cared to admit, even after all these years. Allison had always had a small crush on Daniel all through high school. But, his family had told her in no uncertain terms that she and Daniel could only be friends and that he was going to marry a prominent Chinese girl one day.

He was being groomed to be a CEO and that meant he had to be a part of a power couple, not with some black girl who didn't even know which end of the chopsticks she was supposed to use.

So, she stayed his friend and tried to smile when he went out on dates and tried not to claw out the eyes of any female that looked his way. It broke her heart when he moved to Los Angeles, but at least he was only two hours away. They texted every day and went to see each other on the weekends, alternating between him going to San Diego and her going to LA.

She actually got a job after school just so that she could have the money to go see Daniel in Los Angeles. She loved Daniel and was happy that she could at least see him on the weekends. Until his news all but destroyed her. The day when he told her that his family would be moving to New York, she yelled and screamed about how he was going to be an adult in a year that he didn't have to go. But, he only talked about duty and his mom and how New York wasn't that far away.

Not that far, New York was almost three thousand miles away. But Daniel promised that they would keep in touch and text every day but she knew they wouldn't. It was different when you moved two hours, but a three days drive was not something they could do on the weekends.

So, she went to college and he moved to New York they tried to stay in touch but, classes and distance got in the way. Then she met and married Jerome and had Micah, she was so busy working as an interpreter and being a wife and mom and putting her dreams on hold. That getting in touch with Daniel past the customary happy birthday or happy holidays seemed like too much to handle.

Plus, Jerome was exceedingly jealous, so if he even thought she was talking to another man no matter a high school friend he would fly into a rage. He barely tolerated Keith, and that was only because he was married to Ann. He also barely tolerated Dominic, Rasheera's husband, had they not been the husbands of her two best friends she wouldn't even be able to have them in the house.

"Allison that is the last of the totes and furniture. I will return the Uhaul for you so that you can get Micah down for his nap and then Ann and I are going to head home from the Uhaul place."

Allison smiled at Keith and thanked him, then she hugged Ann as they headed out the door. Ann stopped at the door and turned to look at Allison.

"Honey Bunny, I'm so glad that you're here." Ann paused for a moment as if trying to think of what to say next. "Even under the circumstances. Plus, I missed my sister from another mother a lot."

Allison smiled at Ann then hugged her again, "I missed you also my sister."

They laughed and then Allison shut the door behind them and went to find her four years old to put him down for a nap. Micah was lying on the couch with his thumb in his mouth and his favorite blue Thomas the tank engine blanket, looking like a curly haired black version of Linus from the old Peanuts cartoon. He was already fast asleep, so she grabbed some pillow cushions and put them on the floor next to the couch so if he happened to roll off he wouldn't get hurt. Then she covered him with one of his Spiderman blankets that she had handy and started to unpack.

It had taken her two weeks to get moved and unpacked, but she was happy to start her and Micah's new life in New York. They lived in Manhattan, she opted to move here after her divorce from Jerome so that they could get a fresh start. Plus, after she divorced Jerome she was finally able to start her company "Women First" who had just received a humanitarian grant from the United Nations for their humanitarian efforts in the fight for international women's rights.

Their fight to stop sex trafficking, and their fight to stop female circumcision and genocide. So, it was only natural that she or one of her partners moved to New York. She had opted to do it instead of letting her other two partners Dana or Raven move. Dana tried to say it was best that she move since she was already on the east coast living in North Carolina.

But, Allison had shut down that idea, saying that she had to get away from San Diego and Jerome. Her partners understood and didn't argue, they knew how crazy Jerome could be. Even more so when Allison left him and filed for divorce. When he found out she had finally followed her dreams and opened Women First with Dana and Raven, he constantly stalked and harassed her. He vandalized her car several times, stalked her wherever she went.

He tried to kidnap Micah more than once and force Allison to stop the divorce proceedings. She was glad that she had gotten primary custody of her son or Jerome's kidnapping plans could have gone into fruition. She had gone to his house with her court documents and the police more than once to get Micah from him. Moving to New York would keep him from popping up in on her and bothering her even further.

Allison even went as far as changing her primary number and getting a google voice number that she gave only to Jerome so that she could turn on the do not disturb and send all of his calls to voicemail. Then she only had to deal with him when she felt like it on her terms, not his.