“Honestly, at first, he was a lot more into me than I was him.”
“No, he wasn’t. You, my dear, were in denial and afraid to let your guard down.”
“How do you know me so well?”
“I gave birth to you, so there’s nothing I don’t know about my baby girl.”
“Well, you’ll be happy to know that I’ve decided to let my guard down and lean into this.”
“My instincts tell me he’s one of the good ones, and you deciding to let your guard down is a telltale sign. I didn’t have the same feeling when I met Daniel, or any other man you had short-lived relationships with.”
“Ma, you make it sound like I’ve been around the block.”
“You’re an adult, so who cares how many times you’ve circled the block, but you’ve introduced us to a few men over the years. They weren’t horrible humans, but they weren’t for you, so I was glad those relationships didn’t work.”
“Dang! You were over there praying for my downfall.”
“No, Sweet Pea. I was praying for your discernment. Kilo is different from every one of those men, and I can tell by the tone of your voice when you talk about him, that you’ve fallen for him.”
I sighed because she was right. I fell more and more, with each passing day, with every moment we spent together, and every conversation we had.
“You might be right, Ma.”
“I am. I’ll talk to you later. I need to get to the grocery store before it gets crowded. I love you.”
“I love you too, Ma.”
Kilo’s timing was perfect because he rang my doorbell just as the call with my mother ended. I grabbed my work bag and purse to head out.
“I’m sorry I took longer than expected. I got caught up in a conversation with my pops, and the time got away from me,” he explained as I stepped out and locked the door.
“It’s fine. I was actually talking to my mother about Sunday dinner. She told me to tell you she expects to see you there.”
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else, but do you think y’all can make room for my parents and brother? My parents had to move their trip up because my father was asked to speak at an event the league is having later this month.”
“The more the merrier. I guarantee you my parents won’t mind, but I’ll let them know.”
He helped me into his car, and once he was behind the wheel, I began grilling him about the plans he’d made for tonight.
“That’s none of your business right now, baby.”
I smacked my lips. “You don’t know this about me, but I’m a Taurus, and I’m not a big fan of surprises.”
“A Taurus? I guess that means I missed your birthday.”
“You did. It’s May third. When is yours?”
“March fifth.”
“A Pisces? I feel like birthdays are something we should already know about each other, but I guess this is something else to add to our ass backwardness.”
We laughed because that list got longer by the day. Each of us had poked fun at how quickly our relationship had progressed at least a handful of times.
“We might be doing shit wrong in society’s eyes, but everything about this feels right,” he said, glancing over at me for a moment before focusing on the road again.
We were already holding hands, and he lifted mine to his mouth and left a soft kiss on the back of it.
“It feels amazing, but back to our plans for the night. Where did you say we were going?”
