Page 90 of Raising Love
Keith kissed his teeth while turning to me to hold his hand out for a dap. “Pleasure meeting you, Leo.”
“Man, likewise,” I replied, accepting his dap. “Between the Lines is one of my favorite albums.”
Keith pressed his hand to his chest and nodded. “That means a lot, for real.”
“It was good meeting you too, Leo.” Alexis smiled. “I’ll see you around.”
“Yes, you will,” I replied with a smile as they walked off.
I spent a little more time at the market, selecting the rest of the ingredients I needed, then took them to the register to check out.
I had finished shopping and was back in my brand-new SUV, which I'd gotten after selling my city loft and deciding to live in Greene Gardens full-time. The decision became an easy one once I realized that home was wherever Ivy and Levi were… which was kind of difficult to explain to my friend-with-benefits, Vanessa.
“So, y’all finally stopped lying to yourselves?” Vanessa asked me over coffee. “Or are you finally done lying to me?”
I’d invited her to a café in Brooklyn shortly after my night back in Greene Gardens with Ivy. Though Ivy had never questioned what being involved with her meant for me and Vanessa, I thought it was time to end whatever thing Vanessa and I had. It was the moral thing to do for all of us.
“I was never lying to you,” I explained. “I honestly never saw Ivy like that until after we moved out to Greene Gardens.”
Vanessa sucked her teeth loudly, looking off and shaking her head. “I knew something was up when we stopped having sex months ago, so…” Her arms had been in a tight fold from the time she arrived, and I told her my plans to move back to Greene Gardens.
Vanessa and I hadn’t seen each other much since I returned to Manhattan. Hadn’t slept together since Ivy and my first hookup. I enjoyed Vanessa’s company, but we were never really for each other. We had very little in common besides sex.
“You know I moved out to Manhattan for you, right?” She laughed cynically. “Packed up all my shit and moved out here from Atlanta for a guy who wouldn’t even give me the title of girlfriend.” Her arms came out of their fold so she could point at me. “I don’t know why you asked me here to tell me this when we were never together, right? We were just fucking, right?”
I looked around me, then leaned in. “Can you please keep your voice down?”
“So what?” she continued. “You’re gonna marry her now?”
I jerked my head back, the question unexpected.
I honestly hadn’t considered the idea of marriage until that moment. And the idea didn’t make me recoil in the least. The idea actually made a smile pull at one corner of my mouth as I imagined Ivy and me in a role like husband and wife.
She’d make a damn good wife. That would be a really good win for me, actually.
After too long of a silence between us—me staring out into the distance, spending a little too long on the idea of marriage with Ivy—Vanessa released an audible exhale.
“You know what, whatever.” She pushed her chair back, the legs scraping loudly against the floor. “Good luck. I hope you live happily ever after with the friend I knew your ass loved from the very first time you introduced me to her short ass. I hope you two have a good fucking life.”
Vanessa snatched up her designer bag from the back of her chair.
“By the way,” Vanessa added, pushing her arm through the straps of her bag. She leaned in close enough for her words to sting. “I’ve been fucking your teammate, the rookie Xavien, for the past year, and I’m glad I was smart enough to do it.”
My brows shot up. “Excuse me?”
“See you around,” she said, walking off. “Asshole.”
It didn’t feel good knowing Vanessa felt that way after everything. It didn’t feel good to know I was sleeping with the same woman who was sleeping with someone I knew, either. But that was life then, and this was my life now. I would do exactly what Vanessa wished me to do—have a good life. A damn good one.
Before starting up my SUV to head home, I called Ivy to let her know I was on my way back.
“Hey,” she said into the phone, her voice instantly putting a smile on my face. “You get everything?”
“I did,” I replied, nodding to myself. “Even ran into Keith Aaron at the market.”
“The rapper?”
“Yeah. He was there with his girl.”
