Page 55 of Leave It to Us
“Because I’m my mother’s sole caretaker, and that takes up all of my spare time,” she said.
And because I might be on my way to needing a caretaker at some point in my life as well.Even though she knew that was a horribly negative thought to have. She was doing a good job maintaining her diabetes and high blood pressure, so there was no reason to think that might change. Then again, there was every reason to believe it might. Having both conditions put her in risk groups for certain other, more serious conditions that she didn’t want to ponder right now.
He nodded. “Yeah, you told me she had a stroke a few years ago, and I get that. I’d do anything for my parents too. But you still deserve a life of your own. You know, some time to take walks with good-looking men, maybe go to fancy restaurants, or possibly even go away to foreign places to see new things.”
Yvonne couldn’t help it—she grinned because, despite everything going on around her, this man made her feel giddy and excited. And other things she hadn’t thought she’d ever feel. “And I’m sure you have a specific good-looking man in mind for me to do all those things with.”
He smirked. “Well, I mean, I’ll just say you don’t have to look that far. Like, he could be standing right in front of you if you’d just open your eyes.”
But Yvonne’s eyes were wide open. She did see Deacon and all his physical fineness. She also saw what she thought was a good man who loved his family, was devoted to his people, and took pride in his work. At another time in her life, he would’ve been perfect. Now ... well, she wished he could be perfect now too.
“You get these lines in your forehead when you’re starting to worry over something,” he said, and then leaned in to softly kiss the lines he was presumably referring to. “Go to bed, Yvonne. Get a good rest, and I’ll meet you back here in the morning for that walk.”
He didn’t wait for her to respond but instead gently released the hand he was still holding and eased away. She watched him walk towardthe steps and then to his truck, stood on the porch until the headlights from the vehicle were no longer visible. And then she sighed. Not that weary kind of sigh that went along with the weight of the world on her shoulders. But a dreamy kind of sigh, the one she thought might go with a woman falling for a man.
Chapter 20
TAMI
“Think positive.”
Why did those words sound better coming from his mouth? How many times had she told herself the exact same thing today? Yesterday? Last week?
“No news could mean good news ... eventually,” Gabriel continued when Tami still hadn’t responded.
“Or no news could mean this is why they needed an executive assistant, because there’s nobody there to send out that form-rejection email response.” She knew she was being a Negative Nancy, and that was so unlike her. But it was also a natural reaction to waiting almost four weeks to hear back from a job interview. “It’s just that I want this so much. I’ve never wanted anything else like this.”
“Even me? Because I distinctly recall one night about six months ago when you sent that ‘I want you, I need you’ booty-call text.”
Laughter exploded from her, and she fell back against the pillows in her bed. “One time,” she said through loud guffaws. “And in my defense, I was drunk from those weak-ass Jell-O shots Shana had made.”
He was chuckling now too. “They were strong enough to get you drunk.”
“Only after I had like twenty of them,” she countered, turning her lips up at the memory.
“Well, you were sober enough to jump me two seconds after I got to your room and rode us both into oblivion.”
Her pussy twitched at that part of the memory. With any other guy she’d slept with, that comment might’ve seemed weird—or at the very least, uncomfortable, since she rarely participated in sex talk during or after with any of her previous lovers. But Gabriel was no other guy. He never had been.
“Yes, I definitely did,” she said, remembering bits and pieces of that night. Mostly, the pieces that included Gabriel filling her so completely, in more ways than just the physical.
That had been the first time she’d felt that way about him. The first time she’d wondered if the friendship—which had started with her locking herself out of her apartment and him being the one to come up from the management office with the spare key—could be something more. By morning she’d let those thoughts fade with the night. Especially since Gabriel had a date with the new clerk at Walgreens that next evening. He’d sent Tami a text that afternoon, long after he’d left her apartment—when she’d still been telling herself that destroying their unique friendship by entertaining the idea of something more serious with him was ludicrous—asking if he should still go. He’d said he really wasn’t feeling the woman like that and didn’t want to waste her time. And Tami had responded by telling him to take a chance. “You never know where this one date might lead,” she’d said. Because even if she was too mixed up in the head to figure out what she did and didn’t want from him, she still wanted to see him happy.
“I could come down to that island of yours,” he said, his gruff voice pulling her from the memory. “Bring some Jell-O and help you relieve some of the stress you’re carrying because of that job.”
Why did that sound better than any other proposition a guy had ever made to her?
“You’re a goof,” she replied, and let her hand fall to her stomach. Her tank top had risen up when she lay down, so her fingers brushed the bare skin of her midriff, sending an odd chill up her spine.
“Nah,” he said. “I’m serious. All you have to do is say the word, and I’ll be there. I kinda hate that I’m too far away to help you get through this.”
He sounded so serious, so sincere.
“You’ve been helping me through one crisis after another in the year that I’ve known you. Aren’t you tired yet?”
“Nope. I like being here for you. And I like knowing you’re here for me.”
“That’s right, because the majority of the booty-call texts between us have been initiated by you.” She was trying to keep this suddenly heavy conversation light. Trying to maintain the uncomplicated rapport they’d both come to count on.
