The words didn’t move me because I’d heard them too many damn times already. “I’m sorry too,” I answered honestly.
He paused. “For what?”
“For believing you every time.”
He got quiet again. “I love you,” he finally said.
I looked around my apartment while he waited on me to say it back. My eyes landed on the framed pictures hanging over the fireplace, then the brand-new dining table Tasha had practically forced me to buy, and finally the hallway leading toward my bedroom where every piece of furniture had been chosen by me and didn’t shit remind me of Rome.
“I know,” I replied.
“Nah…” he said quickly. “That ain’t enough for me. Say it back.”
I smiled sadly because that right there summed us up better than anything else ever could. Even now, with another woman pregnant and divorce papers on the horizon, he still wanted reassurance from me.
“I’m not doing that.”
His breathing changed. “So that’s it?”
I nodded as if he could see me. “Yep, that’s it.”
“You fucking with somebody?”
I knew that question was coming. “No.”
“You lying?”
“I said no.”
“Navy, Ashley don’t mean shit and I’ll take anger management if you want me to. ”
“She means enough to be carrying your child and it’s too late for all the rest.”
“You always throw that shit in my face!” he groaned. “I’m tired of that shit. I’m not perfect.”
“Because it happened!”
“It was a mistake.”
I frowned. “A whole baby a mistake?”
“I ain’t mean for none of this shit to happen.”
“No,” I answered. “You just meant for me to keep accepting it.” I told him while sending Marv a text telling him to come park on the side because I was coming out of the back.
I then watched through the window as the headlights slowly turned into the apartment complex entrance. Instinctively, my eyes followed the black Mercedes as it rolled over the speed bumps before easing farther into the lot and heading to the side.
A slow grin spread across my face knowing that was Marv. He had barely pulled into a parking space before my phone buzzed with a text.
Marvelous
Marv:I’m outside.
I couldn’t help the light chuckle that escaped my lips.
“Who the fuck got you smiling?” Rome asked.
The smile stayed right where it was. “Nobody.”
