Page 21 of Hawk
“Thanks. I remember it was your favorite.”
“Yes, it is,” I say licking my fingers. “You’ve been spoiling me this week. You have to stop.”
“Why?”
“Ain’t no need to cook for a man like this when you have no desire to stick around.”
“How do you know what I desire, Gideon?” she asks.
We lock eyes for a moment and she blinks her way out of it and says, “I appreciate the compliment. Thank you.”
I eat a piece of corn on the cob and crack a crab leg. The way it melts on my tongue has me ready to marry Ivy all over again.
Speaking of marriage, we’re still husband and wife. She never served me with divorce papers. Maybe amid all the issues going on with her, she hasn’t found the time.
“Looks like babygirl has eaten herself into a coma.”
She looks over at Lilly and says, “Yeah, she was playing pretty hard today. I knew she would pass out after dinner.”
“She sleeps like you—get tired and boom, just pass out right where you are like nothing else matters.”
She giggles. “Like that time we were on Bourbon Street and you got me to try that hand grenade.”
“Oh, that’ll knock you off your feet even if you ain’t tired.”
She chuckles. “Right. They’re good, though.”
“Yeah, they are.” I grab a large shrimp this time, dip it in the sauce and toss it in my mouth. “We had some good times, didn’t we?”
“We did,” she agrees. I can see in her expression that she’s reminiscing on those good times.
She snaps out of it and says, “I’ma go lay her down.”
“Yep,” I say and continue eating while watching her walk out of the kitchen with Lilly in her arms. Ivy’s done eating, so I don’t think she’ll be back since she’s not all that comfortable around me anymore, but to my surprise, she does return. She goes to the counter and takes the lid off of a cake saver. I wasn’t aware she made dessert, too.
“Do you want a slice?”
“Now, what kind of question is that? You already know the answer.”
“I’m just making sure.”
She proceeds to cut two slices. She puts them on small plates and returns to the table. It’s double chocolate fudge cake, my favorite. I wonder if it’s a coincidence that she’s made my favorite or if it was intentional.
I say, “I was trying to protect him. Gage, that is. That’s why I got caught.”
“You don’t have to talk about that if you don’t want to, Gideon.”
“It’s fine. I feel like I need to state my peace. You didn’t give me the option to do that before, so I want to take advantage now that we’re somewhat on good terms.”
She nods, eats cake and licks the fork. The motion of her tongue has me thinking of all the other things she’s done to me with it. I miss that tongue. I used to eat that tongue like a delicacy. We used to be good for each other.
“Gideon?”
“What?”
“Did you hear me?”
“Uh…”