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“That is really some hard stuff to stomach.And these are the peoples’ whose approval that you want?”
“What you mean?”
“Youare workingyour ass off to prove yourself to yourparents that you are worthy of their affection and love. And you shouldn’t have to do that. You don’t deserve that.”
He didn’t say anything. I watched him pour syrup on his pancakes.
“Well, I am here to tell you, I am nice, very nice, until I’m not. Your mother or father pull somecraplike that on you in my presence, and it won’t be pretty. You’ll see the Bern come out of me so fast. It all makes sense now, though.”
“What does?”
“Why Kia was just being nasty to me right out the gate. And y’all really haven’t had a conversation about it since then?”
“Kia and I’s last full conversation was at that hospital.”
“Sheesh. Well, now that everything makes sense, I—”
“You cannot say anything to her about this, Quinci.”
“I wasn’t going to say anything like that. I was going to say that it makes it even easierto be nicer to her,yaknow? She’s still grieving andhas tosit near the man she’s in love with every day and can’t say one word to him if it’s not about work. That must be hard, I imagine. So, her gripe is not with me, it’s internally.” I shrugged my shoulders.
He squinted at me and smiled, making me smile. He’d picked up the disposable camera, snapping a picture of me before I could protest. My robe was halfwayopen,andmy hair was all over my head. Istilllooked and felt halfway malnourishedfrom the marathon this man ran on me last night.
“Now, why would you want that memory?”
“To show our babies, once they grown, how crazy I had their mom looking after dropping dick in her.”
I rolled my eyes.“Disgusting.”
“So, about last night…can I ask you how did you get so experienced like that? I feel like I always have something to prove every time I’m with you. I didn’t think each time with you could get better and better, but it does.It really does.”
I grinned. “Were you planning on giving me lackluster dick or something?”
He nearly choked on his food. “No, I just wanted to know if…I just wanted to know.”
“All of this came afterDerekand I broke up.” I smiled because I could visiblysee some of the air let out of his chest. “I met a man who was also newly separated from his wife. Shannon was his name. At the time, I was, like, twenty-one, andhe was like forty-three.Ohmy goodness, we had the best time together. We both knew that it wasn’t going anything pasthanging out andhaving sex, but he took care of me.Trips. A lot of food. A lot of talking. A lot of sex. We both allowed each other to just vent to each other about our significant others. He introducedme toa different type ofsex, ifthat makes sense. And don’t get me wrong, Derek was not a bad lover at all. At all. Shannon was just moreexperienced,and it was very appreciated.”
“I mean…did your parents know about this man you were seeing, who was twenty years older than you?”
“No. He stayed a couple cities over.Quest Sr. would have been livid and probably would be in jail right now.ButI learned so much about myself being with him.”
“Damn. Is this my competition?”
I playfully rolled my eyes.“Everything is not a competition, Mr. Dymon. You should learn more about yourself with every relationship you have, be it friends or family.”
“Can I ask you if you’re over Derek?”
“Um…” I looked at the table and then back at him. He was biting his lip anticipating the answer. “There is a long answer to that, but the short answer is yes.”
“What is the long answer?”
“Do you really care about that, Mr. Dymon? Or, do you just want to know if you have some competition?”
“Yes, because I care about you. Do I care about him, specifically? No.”
I ate a few bites of food while I tried to gather my thoughts. “Okay, so Derek and I were friends before we even thought about getting together. When I saw him, I was caught off guard, and then on the same day, he invites me to lunch to meet his pregnant fiancée. I cried in the car. I’m sure Mr. Bernard told you.”
He slightly nodded his head confirming what I already knew.
