Page 147 of Buy Back My Love

“Good.”

I looked over at him. He had remembered one random conversation at his house and somehow turned it into this little dog sleeping against my chest.

“Thank you. For real.”

“You're welcome.”

I leaned over and kissed him. I meant for it to be quick, just a little thank-you kiss, but once his mouth touched mine, neither one of us pulled away right away. When I finally sat back, Van was looking at me with a smile.

“Sorry.”

“It’s cool.” He settled back against the couch. “We’re friends that kiss from time to time.”

I laughed. “Oh, that’s what we doing?”

“Apparently.”

I looked at him for a second. “So you ain’t gon’ complain if I do it again?”

Van’s smile got bigger. “Nope.”

“Good.”

I leaned over and kissed him again.

Lee

Ididn’t remember gender reveals being a big thing before I went to prison, but apparently sometime during those five years, everybody decided finding out what you were having needed balloons, cake, matching outfits, and a whole production. JB was hell-bent on having one. I told him no.

All I wanted to do was go to my anatomy scan, lay my ass on that table, and let the sonographer tell me what I was having like they did when I was pregnant with Junior. Simple. No balloons. No cake. No everybody standing around with their phones out waiting on me to have some big reaction.

Then Anika got involved and between her and JB getting on my nerves, I finally gave in. That was my first mistake.

JB told Anika she could plan whatever she wanted and not to worry about a budget. My sister took that shit personally and made that nigga put his money where his mouth was.

The theme was Tee Time or Tea Time, and somehow that turned into us renting out the entire second floor of Topgolf for a couple hours.

When I stepped off the elevator, Anika was standing there in a yellow golf dress grinning like she had personally built the place.

“You like it?”

I didn’t even know where to look first. Every bay on the floor belonged to us. Pink and blue balloons were everywhere, little golf balls with question marks sat on the tables, and somebody had even found pink and blue golf tees to stick into the flower arrangements. There was a whole dessert table, food already coming out, a bar set up, and way more people than I expected. Mostly JB’s people, of course.

His cousins were there, his friends, people from his trucking company, and folks I hadn’t seen since before I went away.

I looked at Anika. “How much did this cost?”

“Why you care?”

“I don’t. I’m nosy.”

“Then ask JB.”

“I’m not asking that man nothing.”

She shrugged. “Then enjoy your party.”

I laughed and followed her farther inside. Mama and Wren had already claimed one of the bays. Mama was dressed in pink, Wren was in blue, and neither one of them looked like they had any business holding a golf club.