Page 80 of When I Thug You Like That

“Here you go wit’ this shit. That man don’t even know my address.”

As soon as I finished my statement, I felt dumb.

“Yeah, you sound dumb,” she said, laughing, without giving me a chance to even admit it out loud.

Pushing back from the counter, she started toward the door. “I’ll be right back.”`

“Read the card before you come up!”

She left out the door without even responding.

I looked over at Chuston, who was still taking his time eating. “Your mother gets on my nerves.”

“That’s my mom.” He shrugged his shoulders.

Smiling, I went back to my food, fully expecting her to return empty-handed once she realized I was right. And I planned on reaching out to Morgan on her business page to tell her to stop harassing me.

Less than five minutes later, the doorbell rang again. I let Chuston get up to get it. When he did, Taina was on the other side with a big ass smile and Dior wrapped flowers in her hand.

“For the record, I love the packaging,” she said, walking inside. “And no, I didn’t open the card.”

“Well, you gon’ hate having to make the trip back downstairs to get rid of ‘em once you realize I was right. Close the door, Chuston.”

Placing the flowers down next to me, she took out the card and held it out to me. I snatched it from her.

One thing I noticed immediately was my name written on the small envelope. That was different than the card Morgan had sent, but she could have been switching it up. Still, I proceeded to open it. My body instantly heated up upon reading it.

I know how you feel about your boundaries, so I opted out of slipping this into my son’s take-home folder. I saw these and thought of you. Hope they make you smile.

-Jay

Below his name was his phone number, along with an instruction that made me laugh.

Use it.

I read the note three times, and I knew Taina was struggling to keep her composure.

“Sooooo?”

“They’re from Jay.”

Her mouth dropped before the shriek came.

“I FUCKIN’ KNEW IT!”

“Too loud, Mom,” Chuston said from the table.

“Oh, I’m sorry ‘bout that, boo.” She turned to him with her hand up to her chest apologetically then turned back to me. “Lemme see the card.”

I handed it over, still blushing hard.

“Oh, my God.” She slapped her hand over her mouth. “This is so cute, Jai. Here, you gon’ need this.” She picked up my phone, unlocked it, and handed it to me.

For the last few days, I’d wondered why he hadn’t asked for my number. I halfway expected him to flirt his way into it at the pizza shop. We’d spent that time talking, laughing, and the attraction between us was clear, yet he didn’t push. Now, I understood why. He’d put the ball in my court. And I had to admit I felt inclined to pick it up.

“Thank you.” I set the phone back down. “Let’s finish eating.”

“Ughh, you make me sick,” she said, rolling her eyes.