After coming back inside, her face had a spark. I’m sure it’s because her car was finally charging.
“Thank you! It’s charging now. The last thing I wanted to do was call a service.”
“Yeah, you can get comfortable. You know where the den is. I’m going to put the food up and get the kids situated. By then, you should have enough to get you home.”
With that, I went to the kitchen and got it cleaned. After that, I headed to the kids and got them ready for bed.
“Here.” I handed her a blanket once I noticed she was shivering when I got back downstairs.
“Thank you. Did I tell you how beautiful your house is? Strange to see a man have such a clean and neat space.”
“Ms. Cole, my mama did a good job with me. I also have a little touch of OCD.”
“You don’t have to call me Ms. Cole.” She laughed.
“I thought we were keeping thingsprofessional?”
“It’s Tatiyonna,” she sassed. “And yes, we are keeping it professional, but hearing you call me Ms. Cole is getting old. I’ve been in your home almost all day.”
“Just going off what you said,” I shrugged. “Can I ask you a question?” I looked over at her.
“It depends. Is it professional or personal?” She made eye contact with me.
“What happened to make you take that big ass rock off your finger?”
She looked down at her finger and then off into space. There was a long pause before she looked back at me.
“That’s personal.” She rubbed the empty spot.
I could tell she was hurting from whatever it was. As I reached for the remote, she stopped me.
“I’m not sure if you’ve ever given someone all of you and been betrayed. It’s a lot of things a woman can take. Then there are non-negotiables. I’m sure every woman’s is different. Cheating once, I can probably get over. I did say probably. But having something that was never given to me is hard to come back from,” she laughed a little before looking at me with tears in hereyes. “What do you know? You’ve probably never experienced a love like that or a marriage.”
“I’ve never been in love like that before. And nope, I’ve never been married before. What I do know is that whenever I do find the love of my life, I’ll never do anything to hurt them. If I put a ring on my woman, I’ll never do anything that would force her to take that shit off. Whatever the nigga did, you didn’t deserve it. I hope one day, you can look back and know it wasn’t your fault. Shit, everyone isn’t raised with love, so it’s hard for them to give it. Then there are a few that know how to love because they never had it. Sounds like you got a man that didn’t know how to love.”
“He knows how to love. Just not me,” she leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling. “Crazy thing is, I still love him. I battle every day with being alone. It’s been me and him since college. We built everything we have. Now it’s me, while he lives his life with his little family he made.”
The tear fell down the side of her face. I don’t know why I opened the door for her to have to snatch the Band-Aid off her wound again. I felt bad as fuck. Sliding over, I grabbed her and let her rest her head on my shoulder. We didn’t speak another word. I grabbed the remote and turned on a random movie. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep; I eased her down on the sofa and went to sit on the other end to give her some space. I’m sure by the time she woke up and realized she had been vulnerable, she’ll never talk to my ass again.
SIX
TATIYONNA
My eyes popped open and my heart started racing. Where the hell was I at? I can’t lie; the sleep I got was probably some of the best since I caught my husband cheating. I lifted my head to see Jah asleep sitting up on the other end of the sectional. Easing up, I grabbed my phone and purse. It was close to midnight when my phone lit up. Before I could make it across the den to his marble floors to get my shoes, his voice startled me.
“You just going to slob on my sofa and sneak the fuck out?”
I didn’t bother to turn around. This man had practically broken me down and had me venting to him. I’m sure he was now looking at me like I was an unstable woman with all the crying and shit.
“It’s late, and I didn’t want to wake you up.”
“You can’t face me?”
I could hear him getting up, and within moments, his six-foot-four frame was standing behind me.
“It’s rude not to walk you to your car, and it’s late. Come on,” he said as we walked to slip our shoes back on.
When we made it to his garage, he unhooked the charger from my car and opened the door for me. His smile was still as contagious as the first day I met him.
