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“No, that I will not do. Plus, someone has to watch Yasmine.”
“Oh, shit! My kid. I forgot about her. Look, if you think this woman is a good match, hire her. I don’t have to meet her.”
“Yes, you do. The only day I have is tomorrow.”
“I can see her on my own during the week to take the stress off you,” Eimy said. “Then she can meet the baby.”
“That would be great. I’ll text you each other’s phone numbers. Thank you so much.”
This was a first for me; I wanted Sunday free in case Ryan wanted to do something together. I never arranged my schedule for a man. Ever. And up until the night we’d slept together, I had barely tolerated him. He had a hold on me, and it was frightening.
After ending the call with Eimy, I sat down with a cup of coffee, trying to figure out what I needed to do. On weekends, I enjoyed vegging, sitting in front of the television wearing sweatpants, trying to recover from the work week. But the time off took on new meaning with all these people in my life: Eimy, Yasmine, Myrla, and now Ryan, too.
I looked at my watch. It was almost lunchtime, and I hadn’t heard from Ryan yet. I’d get busy cleaning the apartment and doing laundry, and I’d put a grocery order in. All things that would keep me occupied until he got in touch. I didn’t like that I was already organizing my life around him. It had happened organically, too. He hadn’t asked me to do it, and I had never wanted that kind of relationship with a guy.
At two o’clock, my phone beeped with a text from him. My heart rate revved up when I saw his name. Again, it was out of my control, and scary.
On my way back. Will you have a late lunch with me?
I answered him right back: Of course.
He’d be home in about forty minutes, so I quickly showered and dressed, taking extra time with my makeup and hair. One thought kept moving through my mind like it was printed on a banner: Don’t get caught.
What did that mean? My initial assessment of Ryan had been that he was a player, and all these months later, he was still a player. But it scared me because I wondered if crossing over from friendship to romance included the possibility of love. I didn’t want to fall in love with Ryan.
When he came to the door, heat flashed through me. I’d did everything in my power not to jump into his arms, and it wasn’t easy.
“Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes,” he murmured, picked me up off the floor to kiss while kicking the door shut with a foot. “Thoughts of you distracted me all day. My mother even asked what my problem was. I wanted to tell her about you, but I wasn’t sure what to tell her.” He put me down. “Will you be my girl?”
I looked at him sidelong. “You mean, like a real girlfriend, going steady, exclusively yours?”
“Yeah, that’s what I mean. I promise to be faithful to you, to love and obey you, until you get sick of me.”
“Ha! Did I hear obey?”
“You did. Isn’t that what most women want?”
“I don’t want you to obey me, Ryan, that I can promise you. And what’s with love? You don’t love me.”
“Ah, yes I do.”
“No you don’t,” I said. “We barely tolerated each other for months.”
He pulled me to his body again. “And then what happened?”
I couldn’t get away from the way he looked at me, staring into my eyes with a knowing smirk on his face. Desire for Ryan surged through me, and every bit of energy I had used in the past to avoid it came rushing back, transforming into a longing I had never experienced before. I slumped against him, threading my arms around his waist.
“I wanted you,” I whispered.
“We wanted each other,” he corrected. “It was perfect timing.”
We held each other, rocking together. I had promised myself to stay in the moment, and here it was.
“Let’s go to lunch,” he said. “I have just the place. It’s the most romantic restaurant in Manhattan.”
“You must take all your babes there,” I said with a touch of acid.
“Ha! No, but I’ve heard from women that it’s a place to go if you’re looking for a mood. Probably Saturday afternoon isn’t the most advantageous time to go, but let’s try it. We can do it for dinner another time.”
