Page 48 of The Marriage Rebound

Chapter 18

Courtney

The closer I got to the city, the more dread and unease filled me. The thought of going home made my head hurt, and it wasn’t something I particularly wanted to do right now. Plus, I was trying to sort out how I felt about not speaking to Sasha since leaving. We’d not exchanged so much as a text message. I hadn’t told her Mya and I had arrived safely and she hadn’t inquired. That was a sobering realization and caused a knot in my stomach over what it all meant.

Normally, I’d be the one to break the tension. I always apologized first.

But I no longer had the urge to. Maybe all the times I’d bent to keep the peace were coming back to bite me in the ass. Or maybe I was just tired of bending.

Hitting the button on my steering wheel, I called out the command to phone Shae.

“Hey, what’s up?” she answered after a couple of rings.

“Nothing much. You home?”

“I’m home-ish.”

“How the hell are you home-ish?”

“I’m at Dijah’s place. We’re babysitting, but her house is better suited for the small human.”

“You mean you just don’t want to have to babyproof your house.” I laughed.

“He really can’t go nowhere. Not like he crawlin’ or anything yet, so why babyproof my place if hers is already done?”

“Done? He’s only a couple months old.”

Shae huffed a laugh. “Yeah, I know. But seriously, she bought child locks, gates, bumpers, all for a kid who can’t even roll over yet.”

“It’s called being prepared.” I heard Doc’s muffled yell as she defended herself.

I laughed again. “You know how she is. She’s a planner.”

“Yeah, that’s why we’re over here.” There was more background noise, but this time I couldn’t make out what Doc was saying. “Anyway,” Shae continued. “What’s up?”

“I just wanted to stop by if you weren’t busy, but it’s not a big deal.”

“Come on by. You got the address, right?”

“How you just invited me to Doc’s house?”

“Bitch, the same way you just sent her to mine.”

I couldn’t really say much there. The issue they’d had during the playoffs needed to be worked out and the best way to do that was for them to talk, so I’d given Doc Shae’s address and hoped they’d work it out. Which they had. They got their shit back on track, we went on to win it all, and they were now that happy couple that seemed to work on every level. Easy. Stress-free. And what I wanted for my marriage.

If my marriage could be saved . . . Did I want to save it? That was another sobering thought. I had to admit we rushed into it and that was on me. Everything since had been the fallout.

“You there?”

“Yeah, yeah, sorry, must have hit a small dead zone. Anyway, y’all needed to talk, so you’re welcome.”

“Whatever,” she said, stretching out the word. “When can we expect yo ass?”

“Y’all sound busy so . . .”

“So, you’ll bring yo ass over. Peanut won’t mind and neither does Dijah.”

“Yeah,” I heard Doc yell. “We’d love to see you, and we’ll see about getting a poopy diaper for you.”