Page 104 of Don Caselli

“Alright… I love you and take a breath. I know it’s hard but take time for you.”

“Look at you being the parent.”

Don had left the room, so I laid back and laughed on the phone with my mom. “I know some stuff.”

“And have you spoken to him about it?”

“I have.”

She raised her brow. “Oh yeah? What was that like?”

“He agrees with me and wants to do whatever I want… he also said he wants to get a vasectomy, so I don’t have to have my tubes tied.”

“Really?” she raised her voice.

“Yeah.” I shrugged, not knowing how I felt about him doing something like that. It almost felt like I was forcing him, even though I knew that I wasn’t.

“There’s not too many men that would make that sacrifice for a woman. How does that make you feel?”

“Like this is real.”

“Well, babes, you and Antwan have tiptoed around this breakup for some time. Everyone knew that you both would eventually split apart. You are young, Navy… these are the years to live without regrets and find the love you crave.”

“I hear you, Mom.”

“Love you, baby… enjoy your day and call me later.”

“Okay… and take some time for you.”

She blew me a kiss. “Will do.”

I ended our facetime, pulled the covers over my face and took a deep breath. With my eyes closed, I said my birthday prayer that I had prayed every year. I asked God for happiness, to show me how good it could get, and thanked him for all the blessings that he continued to pour down on me and my family.

“Pooh?” I heard Landon’s voice and removed the cover from my face.

He was standing there with balloons and a gift bag in his hands. “Balloons? How did you even get balloons?”

“Made some shit happened for you.” He tossed me one of his shirts, and I put it on, while crawling to the end of the bed.

Carefully, I took the gift bag from him. Pulling out the tissue paper, I pulled out a book. “Ella Gets The D,” I read the title.

“I skimmed your wish list link you have on your book page, and saw you had this one on there. I went and bought all the books on your wish list but felt like this one should be your birthday gift.”

I gasped and looked at him. “Tanvier Peart’s books have been on my radar for some time… Am I able to read it today?”

“Yeah, we doing whatever you want, Pooh… you said you wanna read all day and get fucked while doing it.”

“Sir, I never said that.” I placed the book down and climbed into his lap, and he wrapped his arms around me.

“You don’t have to; your body is telling me.”

I held his face and kissed his lips and then picked the book back up. “I’m excited to start this… thank you for doing this for me, Landon. The trip, the gift, and everything… you don’t know how much it was needed.”

“I knew exactly how much it was needed, which is why I did it. I like to fix things… solve problems, Pooh. So, when I see you have a problem, my solution is to fix it.”

“Being the solution can be draining at times, huh?”

“It’s life.”

---