Page 26 of For the Lover in You
"Look at it as if there is something better in store for you. Shit, granted, you had to be hurt, and your life is doing a complete reset, but maybe this is where you're supposed to be instead of there. Look at this karma as good karma and not bad."
The look on Mila's face showed she was thinking about what I had just said. I reached across the table and grabbed her hand. I slowly stroked the top with one finger. She kept her eyes trained on our touch. She finally looked up at me, and we locked eyes. A strange wave of feelings came over me. I wanted to reach out to her and hug her tightly. I wanted to whisper in her ear and let her know everything was going to work out for her.
"Things happen for a reason, Mila. Just know I've got your back now. You're going to be alright."
Instead of her responding. She nodded, and I released her hand. We sat in silence for a few minutes. I couldn't help but study Mila as she sat there looking everywhere but at me. I wanted to talk to her more, but before I could spark up a conversation, the server returned with our entrees. She placed our plates in front of us and smiled.
"Anything else I can get y'all?"
Mila looked at the server and smiled.
"May I have a mimosa?" Mila asked.
Eight
Mila
As the lunch went on, I loosened up around Tremaine. We laughed the entire time and barely finished our food. People looked back at our table with fucked-up looks, but we didn't care. We kept laughing. By the time we left the restaurant, I'd consumed four mimosas and felt it. Tremaine and I laughed loudly in his car as he weaved in the streets. He'd left his to-go box on the table and panicked when he realized he had.
"That's what you get for being so wrapped up in finishing your glass of whiskey. You almost left three good reheatable lamb chops on the table." I laughed, wiping at my eyes.
"Man, I would've been pissed off! I knew I would've been craving them after this liquor wore off."
"I know, which makes it funnier."
Tremaine was taking me home to prevent me from having to call an Uber. I didn't protest it. It was a little after one, and I lit up thinking about the nap I could take before having to deal with a busy KJ. He rode the bus over to Chasity's mother's housewith his cousins after school. It was the arrangement set in place when I started working multiple shifts at the diner.
Ten minutes later, we pulled into the apartment complex. Trey parked the car and shut the engine off. He looked at me and smiled.
"I forgot to ask. How are you liking the apartment? Is KJ liking it?"
I nodded. "KJ is obsessed with it. I just have to find him some more kid-friendly decorations for his room."
"And yourself?"
I smiled, thinking about the amazing sleep I had been getting in the comfortable king-size bed.
"I love it. It's beautiful. Thank you so much."
He playfully shrugged his shoulder and fanned his hand.
"It ain't no biggie. I love handing out apartments for free!"
We both laughed.
"Really, I'm very thankful for what you did for us."
"You're welcome."
He placed a hand on my knee.
Chills ran from my knee to my spine, back down my spine to my knee, then to my toes. Tremaine's touch was gentle. Snapshots of what he could do to my body with his masculine hands flashed through my mind. I wasn't sure if the champagne was doing this to my body, but I needed to get a grip, and fast.
"Let me get going. Thanks for lunch."
"You're welcome. I owe you from the other day," he replied.
I smiled and opened the door. Before I fully got out of the car, I remembered a question I needed to ask him.
