I smirked. “Who said I’m sentimental?”
He snorted. “Nigga, your eyes glossy. Cut it out.”
I elbowed him. “Shut up.”
April walked up, slidnin’ her arm through mine.
“You ready?” she asked, lookin’ up at me.
“For what?” I asked.
She smiled. “Your toast, dummy. DJ said he got your song lined after.”
“Oh,” I said.
I’d almost forgot about that part.
I grabbed my glass, nodded at the DJ.
Music faded down.
“Alright, alright,” he said into the mic. “We gon’ let the groom say a few words before y’all get too drunk to remember ‘em.”
Everybody laughed.
He handed me the mic.
I cleared my throat, lookin’ around the room.
“Oookay,” I started, draggin’ it out, buyin’ myself a second.
“Don’t start cryin’ yet,” Charlee yelled. “I ain’t got no tissue.”
More laughter.
I smiled.
“So,” I said, takin’ a breath. “Y’all know I’m not the speech nigga. That’s Roman’s job. He like hearin’ himself talk.”
Roman flipped me off. The room laughed again.
“But I just wanna say this,” I went on. “For a long time, I was scared as hell of this.” I lifted my glass slightly. “Not the party. The… gettin’ married part. The commit to one person, tie your life up wit’ theirs, no exit plan part.”
April squeezed my arm.
“I seen a lot of shit that made me think love was just somethin’ people said while they was bored,” I said. “But standin’ in this room? Lookin’ at all y’all? I can’t even lie… this right here changed my mind.”
I scanned their faces.
“My brother,” I nodded at Roman, “who lost his wife in the worst way and still found the heart to love somebody else real and loud.”
Roman’s jaw flexed, eyes droppin’ to Melissa briefly. She reached for his hand.
“Fee and Trend,” I said, lookin’ at them, “bout to bring two little humans in this crazy world and still find a way to laugh when they both tired as hell.”
Fee wiped at her eyes, shakin’ her head.
“Truce and Charlee,” I said. “Y’all two crazy as hell, but somehow it make perfect sense. And now y’all got a baby on the way too. God help us.”
