“Yeah, you’ll be all right,” I told her.

I was being an asshole again to be alone and able to tackle whatever I had to tackle.

She looked at me with sadness in her eyes. “Okay, well, have a good night.” Then she walked away and rejoined her friend.

Damn! That took a lot more out of me than I expected. I walked back in the direction of the dance floor where TaShay, Paula, Kim, and the other models and photographers were grouped.

TaShay was dancing up a storm and being the life of the party again. Everyone was loving her.

That girl’s gonna have a heck of a future if she doesn’t ruin it for herself, I pondered.

She spotted me and gave me all of her attention. Kim turned and eyed me herself. I motioned for her to walk over and chat.

Kim headed toward me and asked, “What’s up?” She was still moving to the music, one of the many R. Kelly dance numbers.

I said, “I just want to talk to you.”

Kim followed me back over to the table. “What’s on your mind?” she asked me.

“Everything,” I told her. “But first I just want to apologize…”

She held up her hand and shook her head to stop me. “I don’t want you to do that. I need to apologize to you. I mean, it was real foul of me to impose on your life like that. You don’t have kids for a reason, and I need to respect that.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t respond the right way,” I told her.

“How were you supposed to respond? I’m the one who didn’t think things through.”

Looks like they were all letting me off the hook that night.

“So you don’t feel, like, upset with me about it?”

“How could I be? It’s your life, and your seed. You were right about that. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

I didn’t know what else to say at that point. The discussion was over, so I changed the subject. “What do you think about TaShay as a model?”

“She definitely has what it takes to make it, I just don’t know how long she can keep her head in it. She seems really distracted and young.”

I looked over at TaShay again, enjoying herself on the dance floor, and her aunt was right there with her.

“You think Paula can reel her in and keep her focused?”

Kim grinned and answered decisively, “No. TaShay will be the only one who can stop or continue her career. She has already shown me that she’s ready to make her own decisions, at least on a personal level. But she does seem to listen to her aunt and mother on the professional level. She knows what she needs to do.”

I nodded. “Well…I’m thinking about getting out of here early tonight.”

I still saw no reason to stick around too long. I had my pictures taken, said hi to two dozen people, put in my time, and I was now ready to go.