“Whenever you get my name tattooed, this is where I want it.” Her finger eased across the arch in my lining, an inch from my forehead.
I looked at her for a moment, then back at the crowded road I’d just turned onto. “See this is where shit gets serious.”
“And that means?” I felt her eyes burning a hole into the side of my face.
“If I get your name on me, all that stressing what we are or your place in my life shit is dead. I’on get nothing removed, Karim, which means be prepared to belong to me in the afterlife too.”
“Don’t be saying that then I look up and you got a bitch name already on you, Reminisce.”
I chuckled. “Ain’t no other name on me because there ain’t never been nobody I deemed mine. So get that shit up outta your head.”
She didn’t respond, which prompted me to look over at her. She had this big, goofy ass smile on her face.
That’s what I thought.
For the rest of the ride, she rubbed the side of my head while I drove to the grocery store the closest to my spot. I didn’t know what she wanted, so I decided to just take her to a full store and push the cart. Hopefully this would be a quick trip, because just this fast, I was tired of this fucking cold and ready to be under heat. Usually around this time I was already in another state, enjoying their weather and all they had to offer. I couldn’t up and hop a flight anymore though, for many reasons, the two main ones being in this car.
“You can stay in the car if you want. Getting out continuously can’t be good for you. Especially because you are only wearing a damn hoodie.”
“Yeah aight, ain’t no nigga in the fruit aisle buying mangos ’boutta spit game while I’m sitting in this car.” I found a park near the door and backed right in. I then turned around and looked at my baby. She was still bundled up, boots on and all. I was so grateful because usually she wouldn’t have hesitated to snatch all that shit off. “The fuck you think I am?”
She laughed. “Stop cursing so much around her. And ain’t nobody trying to talk to me. You’re the only person who looks at me in my natural tomboy skin and finds it sexy. Stay in, you don’t need to get sic?—”
“If I get sick, you’re going to take care of me. No problem, baby. Now zip your coat up, you can’t be getting sick.” I was out of the car before she could give any rebuttal.
I opened the door for Karim, then went to get Romance out. When I had her in my arms, she held my phone out for me to take. I accepted it, sliding it into my pocket.
“Daddy, it’s cold.” She hugged the side of my face.
“I know. We’ll be quick. Probably get you some cookies or something.”
Karim laughed, standing on the side of me. “You get mad when she bargains with you, yet you bargain with her.”
I shrugged. “It’s the way of the world. I just didn’t expect her to pick up on it so early.” I grabbed a cart about to put her in it, but Karim stopped me before we could even make it into the store. We were standing in the middle hall between both sets of sliding doors. It wasn’t as cold as it was outside, but it was still extremely cold.
“Hold up. You don’t see those wipes. Don’t put her in there. You don’t know what they had in there before her.” She fussed me out then snatched the Clorox wipes near the cart station and began sanitizing the cart before I sat Romance down.
“Yo, you sure you’re not a mama somewhere and I don’t know?”
She laughed. “Reminisce, I have five nieces and nephews between Brysheer and Aroyal. When I’m not busy, I take my tete time very seriously.”
“So, you want kids?” I asked when I finally got Romance into the cart and we were moving through the store.
“Of course I do, but I’m in no rush. I feel like when it’s time it’ll happen.”
I nodded. “Sounds good.”
“But what I will say, seeing you in daddy mode is different.” She grabbed a plastic bag and began to grab vegetables.
My brows furrowed. “How so?”
“You’re human and you do father shit. You give a fuck and it’s sexy.” When she cursed, she spoke lowly because she didn’twant Romance to hear her. “When I was a kid, I could count on one hand how many times my father was present and that wasn’t many. My mama though, she was always there. Even when she got diagnosed with cancer, to see her face was to know and feel the purest form of love. For kids, that matters.”
I nodded. “Don’t I know. I’m just trying not to fuck this up.”
“You’re trying to make sure you don’t fuck a lot up, but I swear you’re doing better than you think.” She walked up to look over the meat selection.
“With this or you?”
