She rolls her eyes. “I’m an out of shape thirty-eight-year-old mother of two.”
This is the shit I don’t like. How can this woman look at herself in the mirror and not see how fucking beautiful she is?
“You’re perfect.” Those two words come out in an angry growl.
Her eyes narrowed, and her head slunk back as if I had nudged it. Running a hand down my face, I try to clear my frustration. I didn’t mean for that to come out so harshly.
“I’m saying, don’t talk like that about yourself. There is nothing wrong with you.”
Her face relaxes, and she goes back to leaning her head on my shoulder.
“Thank you. But this dating thing will not be easy.” She scoffs. “I’m so desperate I made a profile on one of those dating apps.”
Once again that rigid feeling runs through me.
“I’m sure you’ll get a shit ton of matches. Just wait.” The words felt like razor blades coming out.
As much as I hated this, Val was right. No matter how badly I wanted El, it would never happen. Drew and I aren’t as close as we were, but I couldn’t cross that line.
“Well, if I don’t, I can always take my mom up on her offer to set me up with Deacon Randall.”
My brows bunch. “Deacon Randall?”
“Yeah.”
“He sounds like an old man.”
She chuckles. “He’s in his late fifties, but apparently he has a good pension. And on the upside, I doubt I’d have to worry about him cheating on me.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. Just hide his dick pills and he’d never be able to get it up.”
She tosses her head back and laughs. There wasn’t a sound I loved more than Ella’s laugh. It wasn’t dainty or cutesy. It's the loudest, most authentic belly laugh you’ll ever hear. And when something is really funny, she snorts.
Right on time, the first snort comes in. A huge grin breaks across my face. That night, she and I sat on the couch talking for hours. Eventually, she fell asleep on my shoulder. I knew that I’d be uncomfortable all night sleeping sitting up, but I didn’t care. To stay by her side, I'll risk the back pain.
Saturdays
Chapter Five
Ella
Iwake to an achy neck. I’m too old to be sleeping sitting up. Leaning up from the warm chest I’m pressed against, I look up into the beautiful blue eyes of Mitch.
He grins at me, showing off those gorgeous teeth.
“Good morning.”
I chuckle. “I don’t know about good.” Rubbing my sore neck, I sat back on the couch. “You should’ve left me here and gone home to your comfortable bed. If my neck hurts, I can only imagine your back is killing you.”
He grins. “I’m all good, beautiful. Nothing a little stretching won’t fix. Besides, I didn’t want to leave you alone last night.”
My stomach does that fluttery thing that it always does around Mitch. I swear this man has no idea how the things he says affect me. From the first time I saw him in Spanish class, I had a crush on him. He was a tall ass white boy with the prettiest blue eyes, a dimpled smile, and the swagger of someone who knew how fine he was.
If I thought I had an actual chance with him, I would’ve shot my shot back in high school. But Mitchell Declan Miller was a popular football star, and every girl in school wanted him. There was no way he was going to look at the nerdy black girl that no one knew.
“So, what’s on the schedule for today?”
Saturdays are our remodeling days. We spend every Saturday tackling one of the many home projects.
