Page 52 of Senior

She rolled her eyes. “Shut up, Stanley. Stop playing so we can feed these babies.”

“Can you see yourself doing this all the time?” I asked as we worked.

She smiled. “I wouldn’t mind. Your house is a bigger than mine, so I’m thankful for the extra space.”

“This ain’t just my house, Steph. Your name is on the deed.”

She glanced over at me. “What?”

“Your name is on the deed.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I wanted to marry you, baby. If shit hadn’t worked out the way it did, you and Deuce would have been right here. If anything ever happened to me, I wanted you to have it. You were with me from the start of it all and you held me down, together or not. You deserve every dime to my name, Steph. I’d give it to you if I knew you’d take it.”

She smiled softly as she cupped my chin. “All I’ve ever wanted from you was you, Senior. You give me that and you can have me.”

“I still gotta date you?”

She giggled. “Yes. I don’t need anything fancy or over the top. Just something thoughtful.”

“I can do that.” I slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her into my chest. “First date, Friday night?”

“Time?”

“Seven.”

“I’ll be there.”

She pecked my lips and tried to pull away, but I held onto her tighter, deepening the kiss. We got so lost in it that we didn’t hear the front door opening. We didn’t hear the footsteps approaching the kitchen. The only thing we heard was Shar’s mouth.

“Ooooo! I knew it!” she exclaimed.

We broke apart to see her standing there with a smile on her face.

“Hi, Sharina,” Steph said, wiping her lips.

“Mmm hmm. Hey, Mama Steph, with your fine self.” She pointed between the two of us. “What y’all doing in here?”

“Making lunch,” I answered.

“Unless you were bird feeding my girl, you were doing a little more than that.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Marino has an ear infection, and I forgot to send his ear drops in case he starts whining about them hurting.” She held up a small bottle. “Looks like I was interrupting something.”

The smile on her face made me shake my head.

“Not a word of this to your brother in-law,” Stephanie warned her.

“Oh, girl, I can keep a secret. I just wanna know how long this has been going on.”

“It’s… newish.”

“Mmm hmm. I see you, Senior.” She walked over and grabbed our hands. “You always said you were gonna get her back. I’m not mad at it. For the record, I always thought you two had the most chemistry. You look happy and I love that.”

She kissed both our cheeks.