Page 37 of Crash: Love in Scrubs
The three dots appeared almost immediately.
Rommy Rome: LT, what you nervous about? I’d love to. I hadn’t planned on asking for his blessing so soon, but it is what it is.
Me: Here you go doing too damn much again. LOL
Rommy Rome: I got that bad, huh?
Me: Very, but it’s kinda cute. I’ll send more details later.
I slipped my phone back into my pocket, grinning despite myself. The man’s confidence was ridiculous, but I was starting to love it.
“Ma, what is it? Everything good?” Samaj asked, wheeling himself closer to where I stood by the deck railing.
I took a deep breath, looking around at the three people who meant everything to me. “I brought you all out here because I got accepted into school. I wanted to finish my degree and got accepted to South Silverrun University’s psychology program. I start in two weeks.”
The silence lasted exactly two seconds before the deck erupted. Lorana let out a squeal that probably had the neighbors looking over the fence. My dad slapped his knee and pulled me into one of those bear hugs that lifted me off my feet.
“Baby girl! I’m so damn proud of you!” he said, spinning me around like I was seven years old again.
“Sametra, honey, this is wonderful!” Lorana was wiping tears from her eyes. “I knew you had it in you. All these years of putting everyone else first, and now it’s your time.”
“Happy for you, Ma,” Samaj said, and when I looked at him, his smile was the brightest I’d seen since before the accident. “You’re gonna be Dr. Andrews soon.”
“Eventually,” I laughed, settling into the chair next to him. “It’s going to be a long road. Four years, maybe more if I go for my master’s.”
“So what made you finally do it?” Daddy asked, still beaming with pride.
I thought about it for a moment. “Honestly, I’d been thinking about it for a while. I applied months ago but kept second-guessing myself. Then the accident happened, and when I woke up in that hospital bed, I had an acceptance email waiting for me.” I shook my head, remembering that moment. “It felt like a sign. Like the universe was telling me something.”
I looked at Samaj. “And seeing how strong this one has been through his recovery, I know I’m raising a young man who could handle whatever comes his way. I don’t have to keep putting my dreams on hold to protect him.”
“Thursday’s dinner will be a celebration. I’m so proud of you, MiMi,” Lorana said, with so much excitement she almost knocked me over coming in for a hug. She planted a kiss on my cheek. That was her thing.
“Speaking of Dr. Holloway, he’s coming to dinner Thursday. Daddy wants to meet him properly.”
“At Sheena’s?” Lorana asked, already mentally adding that we may be more than friends. I never allowed anyone to come into our family dinner. Not even my besties. But Malik felt different. In a way, he’d become family, with the way he helped Samaj.
“Yeah, is that okay?”
“More than okay,” she said, getting that look she got when she was planning something special. “I’ll make sure my famouspot roast is on the menu for the night. Can’t have your man thinking we don’t know how to cook.”
“Hang on, he’s not my man. We’re just friends.”
A lie didn’t care who told it. Malik may have been my friend now, but he wouldn’t be for long. He was gunning for me like Elmer Fudd.
For seventeen years, I’d been running a one-woman show because asking for help always came with strings attached. But Malik didn’t offer help; he wanted to share the stage with me. And I was finally ready to stop being a solo act.
As we sat there on the deck, watching the sun start to set over the ridge, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time: pure, uncomplicated peace. My son was healing, my family was supportive, I was finally going after my dreams, and there was a man in my life who made me feel like anything was possible.
Rommy Rome: Want some company tonight?
Ipulled into Sametra’s driveway and cut the engine, sitting in the quiet for a minute. I took a risk texting her to see if she wanted some company tonight. I thought for sure she would tell me no. Low-key weekends in the house had become normal for me over the years. Hell, I’d perfected the art of solitude, good whiskey, city views, and my own thoughts for company. Unless it was football season. Now that she was in my world, those quiet nights felt like wasted time. Every free moment I had; I wanted to spend it with her. My free time should be hers now. The realization didn't scare me the way it probably should have. If anything, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
I took in my surroundings and smiled at her humble two-story home. It wasn’t anything fancy, but clean and cared for. Sametra didn’t need fancy, but for a single mother, she’d done well for herself. You’d think I knew her for a long time, the way I smiled proudly. Black women handling business and doing whatpeople said they couldn’t always made me happy. My baby was proving people wrong.
The flowers lining the walkway told me she had put real work into it. Purple petunias mixed with white gardenias created little borders that told me everything about who lived here. I could picture Sametra out there in the dirt, sweat on her forehead, hands deep in the soil, wearing that concentrated look. That whole domestic vibe was doing something to me now. Never thought I’d be the type to get turned on watching a woman cook or garden. That domestic energy was attractive as hell to me nowadays. It hadn’t always been like that, but here we were.
A lot of what Sametra did reminded me of my mother, from how she moved through the world to how she spoke, and it made me think about everything I’d ever wanted in a wife, in my forever I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not, but Sametra’s energy calmed my soul the way only Mama had ever been able to do.
