Page 165 of Call Me Mrs. Taylor

I could go obnoxiously big if I wanted to. Ace gave me the green light. But I could also go classic and elegant. Something is pulling me in that direction. There’s a round brilliant in a platinum setting that looks like something future me would wear. Like something Brenda Malloy would wear.

“That one,” I say softly.

Ace doesn’t ask how much. He just nods at Emily.

He takes the ring and slips it on my finger, then kisses the back of my hand. I feel like I’m in a Disney movie;Cinderella, maybe, not the one where they made the black girl a frog for most of it and then had her work her ass off and marry that dusty ass, ran-through prince.

I think I see Emily swoon a little bit.

“It’s perfect.” I angle my hand back and forth, catching the light. “I love it.”

“You sure?” he asks. “I want you to have exactly what you want."

I nod, choking back happy tears. No way in hell am I about to cry in this store in front of this lady.

Ace hands the lady his card like it’s nothing, his eyes locked on me.

“Can you take a picture of me?” I say softly, my eyes still on my ring.

“Doin’ it for the ‘gram?” he jokes. “Of course. Gimme your phone.”

He takes several snaps of me in various poses. He’s so cute and eager, never once getting sick of me and my nonsense. I make him hop in one with me, only realizing just then that we didn’t have any together.

After we leave, we walk arm-in-arm down the busy street, the little blue bag swinging from my wrist like a trophy. The ring is a tad bit loose on me, but when she told me it would take a couple of weeks to get it resized, I politely declined. No fucking way I was walking out of there without my prize.

The other is by my side.

I catch my reflection in a shop window. I barely recognize the woman I see. She looks…happy.

I slip my hand into Ace’s. “Thank you. You really made me feel like a princess.”

He kisses me right there on the sidewalk, just a peck, but with the promise of something deeper later.

“Youarea princess,” he murmurs against my lips. “Now and always.”

I sigh happily.

Nobody and nothing can take this away from me.

I’ll die before I let that happen.

49

Ace

The Ashford garage smells like stale oil, cardboard, and mildew. I don’t see how Raya put this motherfucker on the market in this condition, but I didn’t ask questions.

The movers are sweating, but I barely hear them over the thoughts banging around in my head. There’s so much shit to do and not a lot of time to do it in.

I point to a group of boxes stacked against the wall. “Take those three, but you can leave that one on the left.”

Raya’s orders.

She’s upstairs right now, but I hear her talking, her voice digging through the floorboards. She’s like a drill sergeant with this shit. It’s kinda cute, though.

I lean against a shelf, catching my breath for a second. Her father’s tools are crammed into it. All that shit is going to the dump.

We had a funeral for his ass. I held Raya’s hand through it, playing my part while she played hers. Tori, too. We had to do it. It would have been suspicious if we didn’t. Every time the preacher said something about what a loving man he was, Raya tensed up. It wasn’t easy for her to watch people celebrate his life.

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