“I could have saved my marriage if I would have just talked to the woman and been around more.”
I cleared my throat. “Uh, I don’t even know if you could say Delaney and I were dating. We were just…” I didn’t even know what to say Del and I were. My feeling for her had grown so quickly that I didn’t even realize what I felt ‘til it was too late.
“You love her, son. A blind man could see it.”
I cleared my throat. “I may love her, but that doesn’t mean she loves me.”
“She loves you,” Roc stated.
It was weird as hell to be sitting in Roc’s office talking about Delaney and whether or not we loved each other. “If you say so.”
“Ask her if she wants you to stay home this weekend. We’re not leaving out for two hours. If she tells you she wants you at home, you’re not coming with.”
“Uh, sir?”
Roc stood up. “You heard me, kid. I’m not gonna let you mess up your relationship like I did. Get your ass out of here and call your woman. If she tells you to stay, you stay. If she tells you to go, then you come with us and then you try again when you get back.”
I sat there trying to figure out what the hell was going on.
“Get out, kid. My sappy speech is over.”
Sappy? More like weird as hell. “Yes, sir,” I mumbled. I walked out of his office, and he slammed the door shut behind me.
“I think he might be on drugs, Harlyn. I’m not sure what the hell just happened.”
She laughed and typed away on her computer. “He asked me if I thought he should talk to you. I tried to coach him on what to say but I’m sure he veered way off of what I suggested.”
“I...uh…I can’t even tell you what he said because it was just weird as hell.”
Remy walked into the office and laughed. “Roc talk to you?”
“Sure did.”
“I wish there was a camera in Roc’s office. I would have loved to have heard what he said,” Harlyn laughed.
“Did you both know Roc was going to talk to me?”
They nodded.
“Sure did,” Remy laughed.
“So, I gotta go call Delaney because Roc didn’t talk to your mom enough, Harlyn.”
Harlyn stopped talking and closed her eyes. “He forgot so much of what I told him,” she giggled.
“Well, he at least got the main point.” Remy pointed his finger at me. “Don’t leave town if Delaney wants you here even a little bit.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled my phone out of my pocket. “I already talked to her today, and she didn’t seem to care I was leaving.”
“Talk to her again,” Harlyn called.
I waved them both off and walked out the front door of the office. I connected the call to her phone. It rang three times before she answered.
“Hello?”
“Del?”
The phone was silent.
“Del, you there?”
“Uh, yeah, I’m here. I just didn’t expect you to call me.”
Hell. She didn’t even expect me to call her anymore. “Del, what the hell is going on with us?” I demanded. This wasn’t the conversation we were supposed to have, but I couldn’t help but get straight to the point.
“I…I’m not sure what you mean.”
I closed my eyes and tried to gather my thoughts so everything didn’t come out in verbal diarrhea. “I gotta talk to you, Delaney. We can’t keep going on like this.”
“I’m at the hospital right now and then I have to work a couple of hours at the restaurant. And you’re at work, Jay,” she pointed out.
“I know, I know,” I muttered. “I mean we need to get together and talk.”
“You’re going to Colorado this weekend, Jay, and I have work and clinicals to make up for from last week.”
“But do you want me to leave, Delaney? Do you want me not here?”
“Jay, I just…It’s hard to...”
“Answer the question, Del. Do you want me to leave?” I demanded.
“No,” she hissed. “I don’t want you to leave. I just don’t know what the hell I actually do want.”
“Then I’m not leaving. What are you doing tonight?” If she would agree to talk to me tonight, I would skip out on lunch with God.
“You need to work, Jay,” she insisted.
“Right now, the only thing that matters is if you want to talk to me or not tonight.” I closed my eyes and prayed to God she said yes.
“Fine, fine. We can talk tonight if you don’t need to go out of town.”
I pumped my fist in the air. “I don’t. I’m yours whenever you want me.” Those were words I didn’t want to say yet, but they were true as hell.
“I have to work until seven. Do you just want to meet me here?”
“Whatever you want, Del.”
She rattled off the address to the restaurant she worked at. “I’ll have a table for us when you get here.”
“I’ll see you tonight, Del.”
She ended the call, and I dropped my chin to my chest.
She had said yes to talking to me.
Step one to getting Delaney back.
Talk.
*
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Delaney
“Mama?”
“Upstairs.”
I dropped my keys on the counter and sprinted up the stairs. “I thought I brought my clothes with me to change into, but I must have left them on my bed.” I literally had five minutes to get changed and back in my car so I would make it to work on time. This was why I brought my clothes with me so I wasn’t rushed having to drive ten minutes out of my way back home.
“You should have called me, girl. I could have brought you the bag.” Mom walked into my room and leaned against the doorframe. “Christy’s sister is still in town for one more day so I left them alone for the rest of the day.”
I twirled my finger at mom. “Spin so I can change.”
She slapped her hand over her eyes and turned around. “I brought you into this world naked as a jaybird, girl.”
“I know, I know,” I muttered. Still didn’t mean I wanted anyone watching me while I changed. “Uh, Jay called me.”
“About damn time.”
“Mom, he comes to the house every day. It’s not like he disappeared.”
She scoffed. “From the way you talk, you’re just waiting for that to happen.”
I pulled off my scrub top and tossed it in the laundry basket. “Because I’m scared, Mama.”
“Scared of a man who loves you. I’ve never heard anything more ridiculous,” she muttered.
“You don’t know that, Mama.” I pulled my black, form-fitting polo shirt on then dropped my pale blue pants in a puddle on the floor. “He could be wanting to talk to me to just end this all. I mean, this isn’t really an ideal situation.”
“Losing a baby never is, honey.” That right there is what Mama was doing to help me heal. She wasn’t tiptoeing around the miscarriage. She wasn’t dismissing it either.
“I know.”