“You know me baby. I ain’t lying for nobody.”
“Tell me again then.”
“I’ll tell the fuckin’ world. I don’t care who hears me.”
He stood up.
“Aye, can I get y’all attention for a minute?”
The crowd followed his voice, closing in on us.
I covered my face. My cheeks burned.
“Courtland, stop.” I giggled.
He lifted me up bridal style.
“I love this mothafuckin’ woman right here and I just wanna let y’all know.”
I blushed.
My family and friends clapped and cheered.
“Hell yeah,” Suki yelled.
He glanced down at me with a smile.
“I love you, baby.”
“I love you too with your crazy ass.”
He sat down still holding me.
“We’re building towards that. I’m not asking for your hand at marriage. Yet. I just wanna take care of you and the kids. You can’t stop that shit, so you might as well continue the ride.”
I hadn’t thought about marriage in such a long time. I never saw myself getting married because the men were shitty. Not saying I’d jump at the chance, but I do sometimes think about me walking down the aisle to Rayzor and that scared me.
Words always seem to fail me, but my heart didn’t. Things between us had been going at lightspeed. Sometimes I lay in bed at night letting my thoughts settle, but they never do. It isn’t until I tell myself to let go that they slow down.
“I don’t want to get the kids hurt. You can continue loving them, but please don’t take them through the ringer because this ain’t the fight you’ll win with me.”
“That’s a heavyweight I’m willing to lose. Just let us coast and like I told you before, everything’s good.”
We got up from our rest and joined everyone else.
I felt light like the luckiest woman in the world.
“Rhea ain’t here yet?” Suki asked.
“Nope.” I shrugged.
“I talked to her earlier and she said she’s coming.”
“Me too, but even I had reservations about it. Didn’t like her tone. I thought we were good because we’ve talked.”
“She’s just late, that’s all. Don’t count our girl out.”
“How can you be late to a cookout? Either she’s coming or not.”
