Page 40 of Rounds
“Yeah.”
She looked away from me for a moment as the waiter set our wine glasses on the table, along with glasses of water. She took a sip of her wine, then looked back at me.
“I want you to stay, Delaney. I won’t be able to function without you in my space.”
She swallowed hard and turned away from me. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I remained quiet, thinking about the cookies I wouldn’t have to buy if she shot me down. I wouldn’t pressure her to respond now. She liked to think about thingsbefore she committed to them, typically. Our love came out of nowhere, and once again, we’d moved a lot faster than she would have had the circumstances been different. I constantly had to keep that at the forefront of my mind, because I was definitely on some full steam ahead type of shit.
I slid my other hand to hers and grabbed it and gave it a squeeze. I released it and gave my attention to the band. They were playing a slower song. It sounded like an instrumental version of “Angel” by Anita Baker. I slid out of the booth and pulled her to me and began swaying to the beat. Delaney’s makeup was flawless, so she refused to lay her head on my chest. If that damn makeup kept her from relaxing against me, she never had to wear that shit again. I loved to feel her close.
She stared up at me and gave me a soft smile. “I just need time to think about it, okay?”
“I understand, baby.”
I knew her mind had gone to how she ended up staying at my house in the first place. She’d put her trust in a nigga and moved in with him only for him to kick her out not even two years later. Every stage we’d gotten to in our relationship, she’d overcome her fear of it in a short time. This was a big step for her, and I could only hope that she chose to stay with me and continue building our life together.
If she chose to move out, it wouldn’t change the way I felt about her. It would be a waste of money though. I would either stay with her some nights or she would stay with me. I refused to spend a single night without her being close to me. For the past week, she’d been sleeping in my arms. There was no way I could give that up.
When the song went off, I allowed her to sit in the booth first, then slid in behind her. We didn’t venture far from it, because I needed to be able to see our drinks at all times. I didn’t trust people these days. I slid my arm around her once again and tooka sip of my wine. I should have gotten hard liquor. I wanted to gulp that shit. Delaney looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back, admiring just how gorgeous she was.
“I have a confession, Glover.”
Aww shit.“Okay. What is it?”
“I canceled my move the day after I told you I loved you. After that?—”
I kissed her, cutting off her damn sentence. When I pulled away, I gave her the side-eye. “How dare you make me suffer in silence like that? You gon’ pay for that shit when we get home.”
She laughed loudly. “You were suffering in silence for all of ten minutes, Glover!”
I chuckled, because I knew I was being dramatic, but that shit felt like longer than ten minutes. “Whatever, woman. Give me those lips again.”
She kissed me, sliding her tongue to mine. I got so damn lost in her every time we kissed. When I heard someone clearing their throat, I pulled away from Delaney. “Sorry,” I said to our waiter.
He nodded and asked if we were ready to order after setting our shrimp appetizer on the table. We ordered our entrées, then I turned to Delaney. “I’m so happy, baby.”
“I am too. Make sure you bring Dad his cookies tomorrow.”
“Decisions been made already?It’s only been a week since you declared your love for each other,” my dad said, then immediately stuffed a cookie in his mouth like he was scared I was going to take them back.
I chuckled as Delaney smiled. “Daddy, I’m not going anywhere. That man completes me, like I said last Sunday. I canceled my apartment Monday morning,” she said.
He chuckled and slowly shook his head. “You took a pregnancy test yet?”
She shook her head with a smile on her pretty face. “Not yet.”
“Y’all are on the fast track, and I love every minute of it.”
“I bet you do,” I said as I watched him stuff a third cookie in his mouth.
I took the tote and set it out of his reach as he frowned. “Where you going with the cookies?”
“Dad, you cannot eat all thirteen of these cookies in one sitting.”
He frowned. “How come I can’t? This may be my last time getting chocolate chip cookies.”
“Right, so you ought to want to savor them.”
He rolled his eyes playfully at Glover, then said, “Y’all gon’ have to find another house. It ain’t gon’ be big enough for the kids. You care to make a wager that she’s pregnant?”
