Page 149 of Buy Back My Love

“Thank you.”

Her smile faded some. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

I already knew I probably wasn’t going to like whatever came next, but I followed her a few steps away from everybody else. She looked uncomfortable, which wasn’t something I was used to seeing from her.

“I owe you an apology.”

I frowned. “For what?”

“For my son.”

My eyes went across the room to JB. He was standing there laughing with his friends, completely unaware his mama was over here trying to clean up behind a grown-ass man.

I looked back at her. “You ain’t gotta apologize for him.”

“I know. But I should’ve said something a long time ago.” She rubbed her hands together before continuing. “I knew things wasn’t right. Maybe not everything, but enough.”

I didn’t really know what to do with that. There had been a time when I probably would’ve had plenty to say, but I wasn’t finna spend my gender reveal digging through five years’ worth of shit with JB’s mama.

“I appreciate you saying it.”

She reached for my hand and squeezed it. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you.”

As soon as she walked away, Wren appeared beside me holding my water.

“You good?”

“Yeah.”

She studied my face for a second, probably trying to decide whether I was lying, then handed me the bottle and left it alone. That was why I loved Wren.

I looked around the room and noticed Hannah wasn’t there. Neither were the kids. Their daughter had come a few weeks early on Christmas Eve and had only recently gotten out of the NICU, so I wasn’t expecting Hannah to drag a newborn out to Topgolf for my gender reveal. JJ was home with them too, which was probably for the best. This whole thing was already complicated enough.

My phone buzzed in my hand, and for half a second I hoped it was Van. It wasn’t, just Nina asking if she had enough time to stop somewhere before she came. I answered her and slid my phone back into my purse.

I had wanted to invite Van. I thought about it more than once, but every time I did, I pictured him walking into a room full of JB’s people while JB stood there watching me smile at him. Yeah, no. I liked Van too much to get that man jumped at Topgolf. JB would’ve acted stupid, and half the niggas standing around him would’ve acted stupid right along with him just because they could. Van didn’t need that, and I damn sure didn’t need my gender reveal turning into a crime scene.

So I left him off the guest list, even though I still wished he was there.

JB eventually wandered over in his blue shirt with that little smug look on his face. His eyes moved over all my pink before he shook his head.

“All that for nothing.”

I looked at him. “You real confident for somebody who don’t know shit.”

“I know it’s a boy.”

“What make you so damn sure?”

He looked down at my stomach. “The way you carrying.”

I stared at him for a second. “You sound like somebody grandma.”

JB laughed. “I’m serious. Watch.”

“I hope it’s a girl now just because you getting on my nerves.”