"Nah." He said, reaching over to squeeze my thigh before turning onto the main road. "I just like hearing it."
I looked out the window as houses disappeared when we reached the traffic, silently praying whatever errands he had in mind really wouldn't take long.
Rome turned the music up a little and started nodding along with the beat. "We just making one stop," he said. "Need to grab a couple things from the corner store."
I finally looked over at him. "That's it?"
"That's it."
"Good."
He laughed. "Damn, you trying to get rid of me already?"
I smiled to myself. "If all we're doing is going to the store, let's just get it over with."
He shot me a quick side-eye before pulling into the corner store. "Come on," he said, throwing the truck in park. "Come in with me."
The corner store turned into the gas station; the gas station turned into the cleaners and before I knew it, we'd been riding around almost an hour, and I found myself laughing more than I wanted to admit. Rome kept making jokes, talking about people we grew up with, reminding me of stupid stuff we used to do back when dating him actually felt easy. For a second and literally just a second it almost felt like old times and that was also another dangerous part about Rome because he knew exactly how to become the man I'd fallen in love with whenever he felt me slipping away. He would be the sweet most attentive version. He actually opened doors, held my hand, and made me laugh until my stomach hurt. Years ago, I would've believed every bit of it but not anymore because I knew better now.
I'd already met the version that did everything he could to break me and then beat me when he couldn’t have his way. Just when I thought we were done, he hit me with, "I forgot one more stop," Rome said, cutting the wheel toward the entrance of the mall.
I looked over at him. "I thought you said we was done."
"We almost are." He smiled. "I wanna buy my wife something."
I couldn't help but laugh. "What?"
"You heard me."
"What’s the occasion?"
He shrugged like it wasn't no big deal. "Do I need a reason?"
I looked out the windshield as he pulled into a parking spot near the Louis Vuitton entrance. "You usually do."
He cut the engine and looked over at me. "Sometimes I just like seeing you smile."
I stared at him for a second before looking away. Years ago... That would've worked. Today... It just made me wonder what he wanted. We walked through the entrance side by side, and the cool air hit us almost immediately. The mall wasn't packed, but it wasn't empty either. Music floated through the speakers overhead while people wandered in and out of stores carrying shopping bags and cups from the food court. Rome reached for my hand like it was the most natural thing in the world, lacing his fingers through mine before leading me farther inside.
Then I felt somebody watching us and my eyes shifted across the walkway until they landed on a woman standing just outside a children's clothing store. She looked to be about twenty-six, the same age as me. She had light brown skin and was pretty enough to make you look twice. She had a long brown and highlighted lace wig that was styled with a part down the middle and silky straight. Her fitted sundress hugged the small baby bump and standing beside her was a little girl, that looked to be maybe three years old, with two puff ponytails and tiny pink sandals. The little girl held tightly onto the woman's hand while looking around the mall, completely unaware of the tension that suddenly started brewing because the woman wasn’t looking at a damn thing in the store nor was she looking at the by passers because she was stuck was looking at us.
The longer I looked at her, the more uncomfortable I got because it wasn't the kind of stare you accidentallygave somebody while people-watching either. She was looking directly at us bur more specifically, at Rome. I finally turned my attention toward Rome noticing he hadn't looked at her yet or at least that's what he wanted me to think. Years of being with him taught me to pay attention to the little things like the way his grip around my hand wasn't as relaxed as it had been two seconds ago. Hell, even the conversation between us had died without either one of us noticing.
"You alright?" I asked, pretending like I hadn't caught any of it.
He glanced over at me with that same easy going; goofy ass smile he'd been wearing all morning. "Yeah. Why?"
I shrugged. "I don't know, you got quiet."
"Nah." He laughed softly. "Just thinking."
"About?"
"What I'm finna buy you."
"Mhm. I’m not sure why you don’t know what to buy me when you drug me here like you knew."
He squeezed my hand before finally looking in the woman's direction and it happened so fast I almost missed it the way their eyes met and it wasn’t for long either, maybe two seconds to three at the most but it was enough to confirm that he knew her and I could bet my last dollar this was the same woman who called me talking about ‘Rome is the baby’s daddy’ and the same woman who got herself played out of me getting all of her shit disconnected.
