Page 18 of Hired By My Rich Baby Daddy 3

Then she stuck her tongue out at me.

All three of us laughed, and I shook my head. Between her and him, I could already see how this was about to go.

“No, but seriously,” she said, looking at Ozy. “I’m really glad you’re here, because my baby really was trying to get ahold of you.”

My smile softened, and I looked down at my hands.

“So now that the two of you have reconnected, do you feel like there are any sparks or anything?”

“Ma!”

“What? We need to get you down the aisle. You’re not getting any younger,” she said.

“Oh my God.” I turned toward Ozy. “Excuse her.”

My mom went right on fixing his plate like she hadn’t said anything out of the way, then placed it in front of him with a fork.

She fixed mine next, and I watched her pour us each a glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade.

The food smelled so good, and now that it was sitting right in front of me, I was ready to eat.

My mom made another plate, covered it with foil, and picked it up.

“I’ll be back. I’ll go give this to your driver.” She winked at me. “Y’all go wash up!”

I shook my head, embarrassed, but I couldn’t help laughing too.

Once the front door closed behind her, Ozy looked over at me.

“Your mom definitely is a trip.”

“Yeah, I told you.”

He stood up first and then pulled out my chair, surprising me. I smiled a little as I stood and directed him to the bathroom, where we silently washed our hands one by one, stealing glances at each other before drying them on my mom’s fancy hand towels and heading back into the kitchen.

He pulled my chair out once again. I took a seat and was ready to dive in, but he said, “You wanna pray first?”

I paused for a moment, but given the circumstances, I felt a prayer would be nice.

“Absolutely.”

He reached for my hand, and I looked down at his before carefully placing mine in it.

“Don’t be squeezing my fingers, because I don’t wanna have to beat you up next.”

“After what I saw today, I need to put you on the payroll, so you don’t have to worry about me squeezing ’em, love.”

I laughed with him before we both closed our eyes.

“Lord, thank you for this food and for Ms. Carolyn taking the time to cook it. Thank you for bringing Noree back into my life and giving me the chance to finally meet my baby girl. You know I got a lot running through my mind right now, and we got plenty to work through, but I’m grateful. Just keep your hands on all of us, guide me, and help me do right by Noree and my daughter. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

“Amen,” I said softly. His prayer was sweet as hell, especially the part about wanting to do right by me and Oaklynn.

We opened our eyes, and I looked over at him with a little smile before we let go of each other’s hands and dug in.

I was glad we were talking, laughing, and getting over all of the awkwardness, but I knew we still had a long road ahead of us.

When I opened the door, PB was standing there with the biggest smile on his face. In one hand, he had a bag of takeout from my favorite Mexican food restaurant, and in the other hand, he was holding up a bottle of tequila.