Page 41 of Senior

Allison nodded in agreement. “Right. You already slept with the man. If you want to give it a chance, you know we support you. Shit, we don’t want his ass.”

I laughed. “I want him. I just. . . I want it to be right. I told him he has to date me first. And I want to do this in private.”

“Definitely in private,” Tavia agreed. “Deuce is about to lose his shit.”

I rolled my eyes.

One thing about my son, he loved me down and didn’t play about his mama, especially with his father. I thought back to my wedding reception. Senior was in attendance, and I was surprised he’d come to the wedding at all. Not after he practically begged me not to go through with it.

There I was, dancing with my daughter-in-law, when he walked over to us on the dance floor.

“Don’t come over here on no bullshit, Senior,” I warned, pointing a finger at him.

Senior raised his hands in surrender. “I come in peace.” He turned to Salima. “Can we have a minute, baby girl?”

“Sure, Daddy. I’ll make sure to keep your son away.”

He smirked. “I appreciate it.”

She walked away, leaving us alone. He held out his hand to me. I stared at it for a moment, before placing my palm in his and allowing him to pull me into his arms. It felt weird, but nice. It had been a long time since I’d been this close to him. For a while, we danced with silence between us.

“I always knew you’d make a beautiful bride,” he finally said.

“Not enough to make me yours.”

“Steph--”

“It’s fine, Senior. I’m over it.” I held up my ring finger. “Clearly.”

“That’s fair. Even if it should have been me... I’m happy for you.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Are you, now?”

“I am. I ain’t no hating ass nigga. You deserve this. The ring. The wedding. The good man. Eternal happiness. You deserve it all. I love you enough to want that for you, no matter who it’s with.”

I smiled softly. “Thank you, Senior.”

“Just know, if he ever fucks up. I’m back in there, baby.”

I laughed and slapped his chest. “See, we were having a good moment, and you ruined it.”

“You know I’m telling the truth, woman.”

“Our son would never allow that.”

“Fuck that nigga. I’m his daddy. He can’t allow me to do shit.”

“This is true, but he would never be on board with that. You know that boy doesn’t play about his mama.”

“I don’t play about you either.”

“You played enough to let me get away.”

“Touché. I won’t make that mistake again.”

“Mmm hmm. I heard you broke up with Maddie. What happened there?”

“You happened. I felt like I had to finally be honest about me, us, and what happened back then. Maddie’s a good woman. She deserves more than me too.”