Page 60 of Honey's Special Roux

I bolted out of the store. I left my cart in the middle of the walkway as I headed straight to the automatic sliding doors. I didn’t stop running until I made it to the car. I got inside and took a moment to catch my breath. When I could breathe again, I pulled out my phone and called Jenifer.

“Girl, where the hell are you?” she quizzed when she answered the phone.

“I… I had to go back to the car. I’ll send you the money for the groceries. I just can’t go back in there.”

My lip trembled as the tears built in my eyes. I blinked rapidly, but the stubborn streams of water fell anyway.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you when you get back to the car. I’m sorry…”

“It’s okay, boo. I’ll be as quick as possible.”

We hung up, and I placed my hands over my face.

When did he get out of prison? Why didn’t anyone tell me? How the hell was I supposed to go back to my parents’ house? His aunt and uncle were their neighbors.

Shit. Marquise will see Quis at my parents’ house.

My lungs burned as the gut-wrenching sob escaped from my lips. I wasn’t ready to reveal the secret I’d been harboring for so long. I felt like God had saved me a lot of trouble when Marquise got arrested the day I was finally going to tell him about the baby. How do I explain a six-year-old child to him now?

I stared out into the parking lot, though my mind had gone back to a different time in my life.

My head pounded. My stomach was in knots as my cramps beat my ass. I’d always had easy cycles, but this month was not nice. I’d curled up in bed as the tears slid down my face.

“Babe,” Marquise called out to me.

“I’m in the room.” My voice strained as I held my stomach and continued to cry.

The bedroom door opened, and Marquise walked in. He sported a gray sweatsuit with the zip up jacket. He held a large gift bag.

“What’s all this?” I asked as I wiped my face and adjusted my body to get a better look at him.

“I know you’ve been feeling like shit, so I got you some of your favorite things, plus some other shit.”

I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes. He pulled out the heating pad, and my face lit up. “Yes! I need this right now.”

“I know. I’ll plug it in while you look at the other stuff in the bag.” He set the bag in front of me and opened the box with the heating pad. It came with back support too.

“Thank you, my love.”

“It’s the least I can do for making it come early.” He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes. We’d fucked all night long. While I cleaned up in the shower, my period started. I was mad as hell, but grateful it came. We weren’t ready for a child just yet.

I continued to pull out things from the bag. He’d gotten me fuzzy slippers, new silk pajamas, a new bonnet, gummy bears, my favorite chips, ginger ale, and a bottle of wine. It tickled me when he bought me alcohol because I was very much under the legal drinking age. I guess it paid off to have a grown ass boyfriend.

“Thank you, baby.”

“Always, my love. Set up a movie. I’m finna take a quick shower. Order us something to eat too.”

“What do you want?”

“Whatever you get, order two.”

“What if I want a buffalo chicken pizza with olives and jalapenos?”

He scrunched his nose. “I’on’t want that.”

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