She stared at it, then looked up at me with that look that always get me, that look that say she love me but she tired too.
“You ain’t have to do all that,” she said, but she was already holdin’ it like it mattered.
“I know I ain’t gotta,” I told her. “I wanted to.”
She set the box down on the edge of the tub, then held her arms out to me, and I leaned in without hesitation.
Her hands slid around my neck, and I kissed her. I kissed her like I was tryna remind her who I was when I wasn’t crashin’ out, and she kissed me back like she missed me.
When I pulled away, she was lookin’ at me with wet eyes she was tryna hide.
“What you doin’?” she asked, her voice shaky. “You gon’ make me cry in this tub and I’m already high.”
I chuckled low and brushed my thumb under her eye. “Cry if you need to. It ain’t gon’ kill you.”
She rolled her eyes but her lips was tremblin’, so I knew she was close.
I tapped the side of the tub. “I wrote you somethin’ too.”
Her brows lifted. “You wrote me a letter?”
“Yeah,” I said, noddin’. “‘Cause when I start talkin’ and I get emotional, I be soundin’ like I wanna fight and I don’t wanna fight you. I wanna love you.”
Toni looked at me like she ain’t know whether to tease me or hug me, so she just stared.
“You can read it whenever you want,” I told her. “Ain’t no pressure on it.”
She nodded slow, then wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand like she wasn’t cryin’ even though she was.
Then I reached back in the bag and pulled out the bigger box, and soon as Toni saw that, her whole body tensed like her spirit knew before her brain did.
“What is that?” she asked, her voice low.
I ain’t play with it. I set it in her hands.
“Open it,” I said.
She opened it, and the second she saw what it was, she froze.
It wasn’t more jewelry. It wasn’t perfume or flowers. It wasn’t no romantic extra shit.
It was my medication…
Toni stared at it like it might disappear if she blinked.
Then she looked up at me, and her eyes filled so fast with tears it made my chest ache.
“How you…” she started, then her voice cracked. “How you get this?”
I rubbed her cheek again, slower this time. “I had more supply at the pharmacy. I ain’t even know, but it was still on file. I went up there and asked what was up, and they had it.”
Toni swallowed hard, her eyes locked on me like she was scared to hope too much.
“You did that… for me?” she whispered.
I shook my head. “I did it for us. I did it ‘cause I’m tired of lookin’ at you like you gotta carry me. I’m your husband. You shouldn’t have to drag me to be right.”
Her lips started shakin’, and she tried to look away but I wouldn’t let her.
