“Navy…”
“I gotta go.”
“Don’t hang this phone up. I swear to God I’ll be at your door, and you know I don’t give a fuck.”
I grabbed my keys and I walked toward my back door. “I’m not your concern anymore Rome.” I spat.
“Navy!”
I ended the call and for a second, I just stood there with my hand resting on the doorknob, letting the quietness of peace consume me. Then I looked through the peephole, seeing Rome approaching the front door as I slipped out of the back. I took one deep breath to steady my nerves, straightened the front of my dress, and smiled despite myself because it was my first date in years.
Marv’s Mercedes sat a few parking spaces away on the side with the headlights still on. The driver’s door opened before I could make it halfway across the lot, and Marv climbed out moving a whole lot slower than the last time I’d seen him standing, which, truthfully, wasn’t standing at all. He shut the door carefully before straightening up, with one hand briefly pressing against the side of his abdomen like he thought I didn’t notice. The stitches might’ve healed enough for him to leave the hospital, but his body was still reminding him every day that somebody had damn near killed him and yet here he was still trying to be a Mack. I smiled before I could stop myself and shook my head. .
“Damn,” he laughed, catching me looking. “You over there smiling like you actually happy to see me.”
“I am happy to see you,” I admitted, stopping in front of him. “You actually look better.”
He looked down at himself. Tonight he wore dark jeans, a crisp white T-shirt, and a pair of black Dior sneakers that probably cost more than my monthly car note. He had on his thick gold chain, and although he looked good, I could still see the stiffness in the way he carried himself.
“So that’s your nurse assessment?” he joked. “You look better?’”
I laughed, shaking my head once again. “Don’t start.”
“Nah, I’m serious. I got dressed up and everything.”
“You didn’t get dressed up for me.”
“I absolutely the fuck did.”
I smiled as I gazed into his eyes. “You lying.”
He shook his head. “I ain’t.”
I folded my arms across my chest, studying him the same way I’d studied him every morning in that hospital room. “Marvelous…”
“What?”
“You’re still walking like your stomach hurt. You know this can wait right?”
He looked down instinctively before catching himself. “Damn… y’all really don’t miss nothing.”
“It’s literally my job.”
He chuckled under his breath and opened the passenger door for me. “Well, Ms. Nurse, since you off the clock, try not to diagnose me all fucking night.”
“I don’t make no promises.” I teased.
“You already breaking my heart.”
I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t stop smiling as I climbed inside. The leather seat was cool against the back of my legs, and before he shut the door, he leaned down just enough to look at me. “I ain’t gone lie,” he admitted with that crooked grin that always seemed one joke away from getting him in trouble. “You prettier outside the hospital than you was inside.”
I laughed so hard I had to look away. I had to look away. “You play too much.”
“And that’s saying something,” he added, shutting the door before I could think of something slick to throw back at him.
Marv walked around the front of the Mercedes, and he caught me watching too because the second he slid behind the steering wheel, he smirked before reaching over to start the car.
“I already know what you thinking.”
