Page 82 of Grace

“Mmmhmmm…” She licked her lips, rocking the same peach color lipstick as earlier, though the color seemed less vibrant from this view.

“Yo, Witherspoon,” I inhaled, ready to spit out my point in hopes of being done with this. “never had I ever thought about my birthday since…kicking with you around the therapist’s office.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” her tone stiff, unyielding.

Either the chick was tired or still pissed with my ass.

“I mean…” This time, I exhaled. “Me not telling you when my birthday is ain’t no slight to you. It’s not a big deal to me. It ain’t a big deal at all.”

She rolled her eyes. “Seemed to be a big deal earlier.”

“Nah. My family know that. The only reason Chels made a big deal about it is because she’s so damn bull-headed. Last year, we made a deal to not flex over it if I would let her do something this year. I made the agreement to blow her off, and it bit me in the ass today.”

“What’s the big deal about celebrating your birthday, Jas?” Her beautiful eyes swept down to the phone for a cursory glance. “Who doesn’t want an excuse to celebrate? And you’re pretty popular in your family. Y’all got like a weird “Godfather” vibe going on over there. I just hate that you don’t trust me to share basic shit.”

Laying in the bed, I placed the book I’d been reading,Up in Black Armsby Tyler Thomas, on the nightstand and clicked off the lamp. “My bed ain’t basic, and I wanna share it with you.”

Witherspoon didn’t respond for a while. She kept driving in silence.

“You never even said if you liked it.”

“What?”

“You know what?”

“The bedroom set?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t get a chance to. Chels’ big ass mouth came in the kitchen, talkin’ about something that ain’t matter to me. I was talkin’ toyouabout what mattered to me—or at least, trying to.” My tone dipped when I copped to her. “I like it. A lot. I was surprised.” Damn surprised, coming home after a long ass day. I was prepared to sleep somewhere else until having the mental capacity to order a new bed. “I was planning on just replacing the bed. You got me a whole new bedroom set. I ain’t even recognize my spot when I walked in.”

Witherspoon ordered the bed with a big ass headboard, matching nightstands, and sofas and tables for my sitting room.

“Did you see the mat?”

“In the sitting room?”

“Yeah. It’s thick and purple.”

“For royalty. It’s for when you pray.”Shit… I wasn’t expecting that. “I figure since you spend so much time in that position, you might as well save your knees. Consuela said she’d take care of everything. The sheets…pillows and stuff…making up the bed for you.”

“She did. She stayed late and made the bed with clean sheets and everything.”

“Bed pillows, too,” Witherspoon emphasized. “Your shits were lumpy.”

“Well, damn.” I laughed. “Tell me how you really feel, shortie.”

As I turned onto my side, I watched Witherspoon bite her bottom lip. Her forehead strained as though struggling with something. “I don’t want to feel like an interloper anymore. That’s how I feel. I’m not a threat to you. I’ve let you in emotionally, I feel I need the same. I’m over the surprises, Jas.”

“I want to, Witherspoon.” My stomach turned over. “I think I do. I just need time. This is all new to me.”

“And it isn’t to me? I just found out my boyfriend hid a whole damn lover from me. You don’t think that fucks with me?”

“Man, fuck him.”

“No. I’m fucking you. And I don’t even know your real name. The best I got was a damn street name.”Not this again. “Now, I agreed to this arrangement with you under these circumstances, but damn, Jas, your birthday is barely weeks away and I had no clue.”

“Because I ain’t the birthday type.”

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