Page 22 of Love At Close Range

When the waitress came, Rhyse gave her his order first then I gave mine and Reiana’s. When she left, I figured I would start a conversation with Rhyse.

“Say, Rhyse. You enjoying your summer? It’s almost over and school is about to start. You ready for that?” I asked.

He looked at me with a slight frown before he answered me. “You ask a lot of questions and all at the same time. My Uncle Q said if a nigga asks a lot of questions, they must be the police,” he stated, shocking me and his mama.

“Rhyse Alexander, watch your mouth before I pop you in it. Now apologize…now,” Reiana fussed.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s cool,” I countered smirk. I shouldn’t be surprised anymore about the shit that this little nigga lets come out of his mouth.

There was an awkward silence surrounding us, so when our food came, nobody wasted time digging in. Rhyse started on his pancakes while Reina tasted her omelet. I had ordered steak, eggs and potatoes, but I spent half my time watching her steal potatoes off my plate after claiming she didn’t want any when she ordered.

“You could’ve ordered your own,” I pointed out as she reached over for another one.

“I didn’t want a whole order,” Reiana responded as she took it, anyway. “I just wanted a few.”

“You got a whole plate of food,” I reminded her as I laughed and pushed it back within her reach.

“And now I have potatoes. Problem?” She sassed.

“Nah, baby… you got it,” I chuckled as she took a few more potatoes off my plate.

For the first time in a minute, shit actually felt good between us. She wasn’t questioning me, and I wasn’t worried about whether my phone was going to ring with some more bullshit. Sitting there with her and Rhyse made me think about what I had been trying to build with her for the last two years. Maybe that was why the words came out before I really thought about it.

“You know I’ma make you my wife, right?” I asked as I peered down at her.

“What?” Reiana asked as her eyebrows bunched together.

“I said eventually,” I clarified as I looked between her and Rhyse. “I’ain saying tomorrow.”

Rhyse looked at his mama before turning his attention back to me. “I’on need no daddy so I hope that’s not why you tryna marry my mama.” He frowned.

“Boosie,” Reiana called his name as she gave him a look.

“Ain’t like I’m lying.” He shrugged.

“That’s my last telling you to watch your mouth before we have a problem. Now eat your food and stay out of grown people’s business,” she chastised him before looking at me. “And we’ll talk about this later.”

I could tell by her face that later didn’t mean she was excited to continue the conversation. She wasn’t mad exactly, but the calm demeanor she had five minutes ago was gone.

“Aight,” I agreed as I picked my fork back up.

The rest of breakfast wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the same either. The last thing I wanted was for her to feel like I was trying to corner her into marrying me. I just wanted to know that everything I had been putting into us was actually leading somewhere. Once we finished eating and I handled the bill, we walked outside toward my truck.

“Y’all wanna do something else?” I asked as I unlocked the truck and opened Reiana’s door.

“Nah, I’m good,” Rhyse answered as he climbed into the back seat. “I wanna go home.”

“Same,” Reiana agreed as she stepped closer to me. “I got some stuff I need to do around the house anyway.”

“Aight,” I replied as I nodded and helped her into the truck.

The ride back was quiet for the most part. I knew Reina was thinking about what I said about marriage, but I wanted her to know what my intentions were.

When I pulled into her driveway, Rhyse was out of the truck almost as soon as I put it in park and headed to the front door before his mother. Getting out, I went to the passenger side to help Reiana out.

“You good?” I asked as I stood in front of her.