Page 174 of Buy Back My Love

“I asked you.”

That sent everybody around us into laughter, and after that I stopped worrying about being the pregnant stranger Van had brought to Sunday dinner.

His mama fixed me a plate before I could tell her I wasn’t that hungry. One of his uncles asked about my nail business, and Skye eventually handed Tobias over to me while she went to make him a bottle.

I settled him against my chest, careful with his little head. He was still small enough that one of his hands barely wrapped around my finger. Then my own baby kicked, and I looked down at my stomach. Holding Tobias while mine moved around inside me had me feeling all kinds of ways, and I wasn’t about to start sorting through none of them in the middle of Van’s mama’s house.

When I looked up, Van was watching me from across the room.

“Why you over there staring?”

“Just looking.”

“Well, look somewhere else.”

Van smiled into his cup, which irritated me mostly because it made me want to smile too.

By the time we left, I had eaten too much, Skye had invited herself to come get her nails done, and Denise had hugged me twice.

I waited until Van pulled away from the house before I said, “Your family nice.”

“Told you.”

“You did not tell me half of them still thought you was my baby daddy.”

He laughed. “You still stuck on that?”

“Yes.”

“They know now.”

I looked over at him. “Do they?”

He thought about it for a second. “Probably not.”

I laughed and settled back into the seat while the radio played low between us.

A few minutes later, I looked over at him. “You really talk about me?”

Van sighed. “Here we go.”

“I’m just asking.”

“You already asked.”

“And you gave me some half-answer.”

He glanced at me before looking back at the road. “Yeah, Lee. I talk about you.”

I looked out the window before he could see me smiling. This man had me meeting his mama, eating Sunday dinner with his family, and apparently getting discussed when I wasn’t around.

Casual my ass.

Lee

Blocking JB kept him out of my life for a little while, but of course it didn’t last. That would’ve been too easy. Eventually, he popped up at my house one evening like the block button had personally offended him. I had barely gotten the door open before he started in on me about keeping him from his baby because I was jealous he had moved on.

I almost laughed in his face. “You really think I’m jealous?”