Page 24 of Rounds
“Man, change the subject. I do not need to hear about your sex life with my mama. God bless her soul. I’m glad she’s not here to verify your claims, because then, I would be looking at her in disgust too.”
He gave me a tight smile. “Well, I wish shewashere to verify it. I would much rather see your look of disgust than to be without her.”
I nodded repeatedly. “You’re right. I would much rather that too. I miss her.”
He continued eating his food in silence for a couple of minutes. “This burger is so good. Either it’s really good, or it’s been so damn long since I had one, any burger would taste good.”
I chuckled as I watched him devour the rest of his food. “You see how fast you ate that? I don’t wanna hear nothing about you having heartburn or indigestion later.”
He rolled his eyes and chuckled. “And if I do, you gon’ have them people give me something. It’s partially your fault since you brought it. It ain’t like I can get it myself.”
“For all I know, you could be calling Uber Eats or Door Dash and eating what you want all the time.”
He chuckled. “I don’t know how to use that fancy stuff. I’ll have to pay one of the nurses to do it for me.”
I slowly shook my head. “Let me find out. Don’t have nobody losing their job just because they got you fast food. You want that on your conscience?”
He waved me off dismissively then belched.
“See, that’s all that grease already getting to you.”
“Go home and see about your woman instead of worrying about me and what I got going on.”
I slowly shook my head and smiled. He was an entire mess when he was feeling okay, so I was grateful for that. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I sent a text to Delaney.I’m about to head home. Do you need anything?
I could surely get used to sending those types of messages. Hopefully, nothing happened to prevent that.
Idon’t need anything. You can get something for me to cook though. Something quick and easy, since it’s getting late. Thank you.
I smiled as I set my phone beside me on the floor. I was still going through my things and trying to put them in a proper place. Being here had released so much tension from my body. It felt like a huge weight had lifted off me. While I was still unsure if I’d made the right decision with getting into somewhat of a relationship with Glover, I was grateful for his concern and tenderness. Although his attraction to me motivated his offer for me to live here, I knew it wasn’t the entire reason he did it. He actually cared about me, and that felt great.
Jumping into another relationship so soon was nowhere near any of my thoughts, despite how attracted I was to Glover. I knew I needed to debrief from the bullshit with Jaunté. However, that muthafucka put me in a position to have todepend on someone else. I was just thankful that Glover wanted to be there for me. He already had a lot on his plate, but he made room for me. I would always be grateful for that, no matter where we ended up.
As I stood to put things away in the bathroom, my phone started to ring. I immediately dropped everything, not wanting to miss a call from Glover. When I picked up my phone and saw my mother’s number, I knew she was calling me back. That call I made earlier out of desperation had gone unanswered. I almost wished I hadn’t called. I slid my finger on the screen to answer it. “Hello?”
“Hey, Delaney. You okay?”
“Hey, Mom. I umm . . . I got into a situation with Jaunté. We’re no longer together. I found an apartment, but they changed my move-in date. I have to wait an entire month to move in.”
“That’s no good. You can’t stay in the house with Jaunté until it’s time?”
“No. He put me out, because I hurt his pitiful feelings. He’s lying about his whereabouts, and he’s cheating on me. I overheard him having phone sex with someone. I called him out on his bullshit and kind of insinuated that I could do it too.”
“So he couldn’t take what he dished out. Typical for most men.”
“Right.”
“So where are you staying? Did you find a place?”
I was trying to wait to see if she would offer for me to stay with her. Instead of telling her I moved in with Glover, I said, “I got a hotel room for the weekend, but I stayed in my car during the week.”
“Why can’t you pay for a hotel for the entire time? You were staying in his house. You should have been saving money.”
That pissed me off. “I have money saved, but I also needed to furnish an apartment. Like a fool, I allowed him to convince me to donate my old furniture because his was newer.”
“Oh, Delaney. You know better. You should have put it in storage.”
“I know that, Mom, but what can I do about it now?”
