Page 77 of Call Me Mrs. Taylor

Jovan laughs. “What’s good?”

“I just asked him the same thing,” Titus says, dropping onto the picnic table bench. The rest of us follow, stretching out in the shade.

“Lifeis good,” I say with a shrug. “Killin’ it at work. Raya finally got her head on straight.”

Titus snickers as we exchange a glance.

“We were at the beach this weekend.” I nod, thinking back to the way she looked in the sun, her skin glowing, her body pressed against mine. “Shit was nice.”

“That’s what’s up.” Dayton daps me up. “So y’all locked in?”

I hesitate. I know they’re waiting on my answer, ready to jump on whatever I say. If I play if too cool, they’ll call bullshit. If I sound too soft, I’ll never hear the end of it. I’ll be a simp for the rest of my life.

Niggas clown each other for everything, so no point in sugarcoating.

“She’s cool as fuck,” I admit. “It’s too early to be saying she’s the one, but I can kinda see a future if I squint real hard.”

Dead silence.

Glances exchanged.

Then—

“You sure you ain’t just pussy whipped?” Titus teases, cracking a grin.

Bron shakes his head as the other guys snicker. “He’s still pissed off cuz you missed the last game.”

“Won’t happen again, boss.” I give Titus a sarcastic salute. “Last thing any of us should ever do is get pussy instead of playing pickup basketball.”

“Relax,” Javon says. “We’re just fuckin’ with you.”

“Iamrelaxed,” I defend, rolling out my shoulders. “Matter of fact, I wanted to ask you something,” I say to Javon.

“What’s up?”

I lean back, elbows propped against the table. “You know anybody that’s hiring?”

I ask Javon because he’s the CFO for Dodson County schools. It’s a small district just outside of Metro Atlanta, but it’s better than that little daycare center Raya’s working at.

Jovan frowns. “Who you askin’ for?”

I hesitate, then say, “Raya.”

Titus lets out a low whistle. “Damn! You tryna get your girl a job? You ain’t even put a ring on that yet, and you already leveling her up.”

“Yet,” I say.

That makes them pause.

Dayton lets out a long, drawn out “Daaaaaamn.”

I exhale, rubbing my palms together, feeling the sweat cooling on my skin. I’m just as surprised as they are, honestly.

I still don’t know her like that yet. There’s still some shit we gotta unpack. But Dayton’s words ring out in my head, that thing he said about not wanting to go on without Shara around. And when I really think about it, I already can’t see a tomorrow that doesn’t have Raya in it, even if I don’t quite understand the why of it yet.

It doesn’t make sense in my head, but my body feels it.

Javon studies my face, eyes narrowing. “I mean…alright. I’ll ask around, lover boy.”

---