Page 33 of The Marriage Rebound

Tanisha smiled at everybody. “Nice to meet you.”

Courtney put her hand on the small on my back and led me over to the side of the booth where Shae and Khadijah sat. Tanisha took the seat to the right of Tina, who hadn’t stopped grinning.

Tanisha looked around. “I’ve never been to this place, it’s nice. And I’ve never had Korean barbecue.”

“Oh, yeah. We’ve had it before, but this is our first time here. I follow this account called Foodie Tour and they hit up hot spots around the city. Some well-known, some not, but all tempting. Plus, what’s not to love about Korean barbecue? All you can eat for one low price. Hell, it’s the best kinda place!” Tina rubbed her hands together, getting more geeked the more she talked.

We all laughed, knowing her ferocious appetite.

“Hey . . . with an endorsement like that, I can get down,” Tanisha said, smiling at Tina.

“I know that’s right. Let’s get some drinks flowing.” Courtney cut her eyes over at me but said nothing. It was dinner, was she really expecting me to not drink? Besides, she wasn’t, due to the pain meds, so built-in DD.

Tina started snapping her fingers. “Almond Joy.”

“What?” Khadijah asked with a small laugh, looking very confused. The rest of us already knew.

“That is my stage name,” Nish said, filling her in before turning to Tina. “So, I guess you did see me.”

“Given how often we frequented that establishment—” she paused and gave Courtney a brief stare that made me and Shae laugh “—it would have been impossible not to have seen you dance. You . . . you had that burlesque bit that was . . . well, I remember.”

“I guess you do.”

I snuggled back against Courtney, watching the exchange between Tina and Nish, and noticed that the rest of the table was just as interested. Before the awkwardness of being the center of attention could be a thing, our waitress arrived to give us a rundown and take drink orders.

“Hey, Khadijah, how are Jahzara and the baby?” I asked after the waitress left.

A huge grin spread across Khadijah’s face. “They are both doing great. Jah is Jah, already making plans to have me and Shae on babysitting duty now that the season is over. But it’s my Nolan, so I’m not gonna say no. I have pictures. Want to see?”

“You already know I do.”

Shae laughed as Khadijah quickly whipped out her phone and scrolled through before handing it to me. Courtney rested her arm along the back of the booth and leaned closer to get a glimpse.

“He’s getting so big already,” I gushed, zooming in on one of the images.

“I know. I know. Look at those cheeks.”

He was an adorable little bundle. “He’s such a juicy baby. I just wanna bury my face in his roly-poly neck and kiss his puffy little cheeks,” I said as I handed her the phone back.

I loved babies. They were so sweet and precious. When I was younger, I never minded being on babysitting duty for people in my family or being in charge of the littles during get-togethers. I didn’t do it as much these days since a lot of my family deemed me irresponsible when I started stripping and that view hadn’t changed.

“I am so ready to get there,” I said after the waitress returned to drop off our drinks and take our first meat selection orders.

Courtney didn’t say anything, but her body language was enough. She removed her arm and created distance between us. I didn’t need to look at her to know she was probably frowning at the mention of kids. Another topic that went nowhere. To me, having a child was the logical next step in our relationship, but Courtney wouldn’t even give me a straight answer on why she was opposed to the idea.

“That’s news,” Tanisha said. “Since when do you want kids? How did I miss that conversation?”

“I don’t run everythin’ to the group chat. It’s been somethin’ we’ve been discussin’.”

“No, it’s not.”

I snapped my head in my wife’s direction. “What do you mean it’s not?”

She picked up her soda and took a long sip. “Can we just not? Can we not today?”

“Can we not what, Courtney?”

She shifted her attention to the others around the table before looking back at me, drinking more of her soda as she shook her head. “Nothing.”