Free Men After God's Own Heart by Dijorn Moss

one!”
    â€œWhy do you ask?” Chauncey questioned.
    â€œTatiyana and Kaiya are my daughters.” He pointed to the two girls. “My name is Chris.” Chris gave Chauncey an awkward handshake that contorted his fingers in all sorts of ways.
    â€œHow many kids does she have?” Chauncey asked.
    â€œShe got five kids. She got a set of twins who live with their grandparents in North Carolina,” Chris replied.
    Five kids without a ring. Chauncey could not fathom what would possess her to have so much unprotected sex. How could any woman in this day and age expect to be successful with five kids and no husband?
    â€œI had to do some investigating on some Law & Order type of stuff to get to the truth,” Chris offered.
    â€œWhy did you stay with her?”
    â€œBecause she is fine, and she was getting those county checks and child support checks from the other baby daddy. I had it made while I was out of work, but not too long after Kaiya was born, I bounced. Gabbie was too much drama for me.”
    Chauncey no longer saw the man in front of him as a man, but as a statistic. “How often do you visit your kids?”
    â€œOften. At first I didn’t, but then I became a changed man.”
    â€œWhat happened? Did you find the Lord?”
    â€œNaw, child support. They tried to take a brotha’s driver’s license and everything. There’s only so many times you can quit a job to avoid paying child support before your family stops loaning you money.” The guy patted Chauncey on the back. “Take my advice. If you don’t want to pay, put a helmet on your soldier.”
    It took Chauncey a minute to realize what helmet and what soldier Chris was speaking of. He did not know that such a brute was capable of a figurative analogy.
    Gabrielle walked up with drinks in her hands. “Don’t be trying to scare him off, Chris.” Gabrielle sat a drink down in front of Chauncey.
    Chauncey stood up and handed Troy over to Chris, then made his way toward Gabrielle. “I need to talk to you.”
    â€œYou want to play me in air hockey? It’s impossible to score on me,” Gabrielle said.
    With five kids, evidently not. With his hand on her back, Chauncey led Gabrielle outside the pizza-making room and into the video game area.
    â€œListen, I’m sorry, but this isn’t going to work,” Chauncey said.
    â€œChris is such a hater. I swear!” Gabrielle rolled her eyes.
    â€œYou have a lot of kids, who you did not tell me about.” Chauncey struggled to get his words out in fear of offending the young single mother.
    â€œChauncey, you seem like a nice dude, but if you can’t handle that I got three kids—”
    â€œFive!” Chauncey put his hands on top of his head in disbelief.
    â€œWhat a hater, dude.” Gabrielle turned around and mouthed something to Chris, who only smiled and waved back at her.
    Chauncey used this time to flee, taking off in a brisk walk toward the exit.
    â€œChauncey! Chauncey!” Gabrielle shouted, but Chauncey did not break his stride.
    He was through with online dating, and he was through with his search for a wife. At least for now.

Chapter Ten
    Quincy
    Two Days until the Retreat . . .
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    â€œI can’t take this, Lord,” Quincy said, as if the Lord were sitting in the chair across from his desk. He lifted up his desk calendar, which was covered with scribbled-in meetings and deadlines. He removed a copper key from underneath his desk. He then proceeded to unlock the bottom drawer, and a bottle of 150-proof vodka rolled. It was more of a gut check. Could Quincy face down his temptation another day and not give in?
    â€œTwo hundred eleven days,” Quincy said to himself. He had no patience to work twelve steps; he had just made up his mind to rid himself of anything toxic. Quincy did not classify himself as an alcoholic. He had moments of weakness and moments when the