Page 52 of The Marriage Rebound

She laughed and shook her head, holding her hands up. “Not at all. For an overthinker, more like shock. I promise.”

“All good,” I chuckled. “But honestly, it probably was too quick. But things were good . . . great. No fights, we just seemed to click. It was nice. Easy. All the things were aligned for me. So, after a big win in Vegas, as in ‘our first time ever beating them on their court’ big win, I rounded up the girls and we hit one of the chapels.”

Shae laughed. “I remember that night. You knocking on my door at, damn, almost two in the morning, talking about come be a witness. Thought you were out of your mind, but drug my ass out of bed and went anyway.”

I smiled at the memory. Sasha initially wasn’t even supposed to be on that trip. I’d been prepared to fly her out as I’d done for other games, but she’d said she had work and couldn’t get off. I’d been disappointed, but had also respected she had a job and couldn’t drop everything for me. Next thing I knew, I got a text with a picture of the hotel lobby. She’d shown up and surprised me.

Her being there, showing up after saying she couldn’t. Her making time, making me a priority, it shifted something in me that night.

“Oh . . . so real impulsive.”

“Again, sounding like judgment, Doc.”

“No, no, it’s not, I promise. Again, overthinker.”

I shrugged, not really annoyed because she wasn’t far off, it was 100 percent impulsive on my part. And it’s been growing pains ever since. “I’ve been thinking, and thinking, and thinking, but . . . but I think I need your brand of overthinking.”

“What does that mean?”

I rolled the half-empty bottle between my palms and shot a quick glance to my friend before returning my attention to Doc. “That, um, checklist you and Shae did.”

She sat up right. “You know about that?” She shot an accusatory look toward Shae.

“Yeah, on the way to Seattle on the plane, Shae was going over it. Anyway, with everything, during the drive, one thing kept repeating in my head. There was a disconnect somewhere between me and Sasha and I’m thinking part of it has to do with our quickness.”

Doc nodded. “I mean, I can see that if you were just goin’ on vibes and emotion. And that’s not judgment,” she rushed to add.

Shae shrugged. “Ion know, I like vibes.” She winked at Doc, who just rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Seriously, though, before Dijah I didn’t put much thought into where could this go. And while I thought that checklist was . . . a lot, it has been good. So, maybe it could help.”

Doc grabbed her cell phone off the coffee table. “What my beautiful girlfriend meant to say is that I’m thorough.” She scrolled and tapped for a few moments before my own phone chimed, indicating a new message. “But look it over, pick out what works for y’all and hopefully it’ll be a conversation starter. And hopefully everything will work out how you want it to.”

“Thanks.” I opened the message, my eyes widening as I looked over what I’d been sent. I could see what Shae meant by a lot, but as I scanned some of the topics listed, maybe a lot was what I needed.

Chapter 19

Sasha

Vuitton was at my heels, moving as I paced back and forth in the kitchen. I’d been doing nothing but going over my last conversation with Courtney and remixing it with the one I’d had with Tanisha and Denise. Was I really as bad as they made me out to be? If either of them needed something, I showed up for them. I was there for Tanisha when her mom was sick, even cooked a few meals for them, and after her breakup I was ready to ride at dawn against that cheating scum of an ex. When Denise had to vacate her apartment because of flooding from the unit above hers, I arranged and paid for the movers.

My friendship wasn’t as self-serving as they said. I was a phone call away if they ever needed something, and they both knew that.

But Courtney had also implied I was selfish.

I never congratulated her. I’d convinced myself that it was fine. She was fine. We were fine. But we were not fine. She’d left me, twice now. Her driving Mya to school wasn’t as drastic, but the message was just as loud. Why was it so hard for me to admit when I was wrong? To just say sorry?

Bending, I scooped up my dog, bringing him close for snuggles. “Mama really fucked up this time, baby.” I nuzzled his soft fur with my face.

I’d gone too far. And like when she left to stay with Tina, Courtney still hadn’t reached out. I knew she’d made it to Florida because Mya had been posting on social media, but her sister had been notably absent from all the photos. It had been radio silence from my wife. Was she still there? How long was she planning on being gone?

Your phone works both ways, Sasha.

The night I’d stayed out after she’d gotten home popped into my head. I’d been so pissed I hadn’t even bothered to call to let her know I wasn’t coming home. That was fucked up of me, and now she was paying me back tenfold.

I was worried, but also too chicken shit to call or text out of fear of rejection. What if she didn’t answer, or left me on read?

Maybe I was as selfish as everyone had been implying because at the end of the day I let my feelings dictate my actions.

What if she didn’t forgive me this time?