Page 42 of Love Delayed

Leila proceeded to introduce me to about a dozen others. Surely, she didn’t expect me to remember their names, but I smiled as if I had known them all my life.

Shortly after I took a seat, a tall and sexy man entered the bar and walked over to our table, greeting and hugging everyone.

“Hi, I’m Jayden,” he said, extending his hand in my direction.

“Zamora. Nice to meet you,” I said, giving him a slight smile.

He was cute. No, scratch that––he was handsome as fuck, but he looked a bit young.

“Do you mind if I sit with you?” he asked politely.

“No, I don’t mind at all,” I said with a friendly hand gesture to the chair.

“This is my first time seeing you. Which sister thought it would be nice to introduce me to a sexy woman like yourself?”

I blushed at his compliment. “No one. I decided to hang out tonight, ran into Leila, and boom. I’m sitting with a bunch of strangers who I just met.”

“Seriously?” he quizzed.

“Yes,” I said, holding my hands up in mock surrender. “Up until about five minutes ago, I only knew Leila.”

“Okay, well, I’m Julian’s younger brother. We just reconnected about three years ago. Two different mothers, but we always knew we were brothers. I guess the age difference kept us apart. We found each other on Facebook, and here we are,” he said, volunteering information I did not solicit.

As we engaged in small talk, I noticed how the married couples at our table appeared happy and in love. Other than my parents and Marcus’s parents, I rarely saw happy couples. So, as I slowly slipped my drink, I watched how they interacted––expressing how much they cared for each other through their laughing, touching, and kissing. The way they gazed at each other made me want to take out my phone to record and post a video on social media, showing that Black love was still alive and doing damn well.

The way the men held their wives when they danced and whispered in their ears, leaving naughty grins on their mates’ lips, made me wish I was there with Marcus. We once had that type of connection and closeness, and I missed that feeling. I needed him so badly. My heart, body, and mind ached for him. I didn’t know what to do with myself or how to begin to get over Marcus again, because even though I thought I had, I never did.

“You wanna dance?” Jayden asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“Yes,” I answered immediately.

I needed a damn distraction. Anything to keep my mind off of Marcus.How did I lose my forever?I questioned while we slow danced to Joe’s “The Things Your Man Won’t Do.”

We danced to three more songs, and when I finally looked at my watch, I saw it was close to two o’clock in the morning. I whispered in Jayden’s ear that it was time for me to go because I had an early day the next day and needed to get my rest. After saying my goodbyes to everyone, I proceeded to leave. Jayden rushed behind me, offering to walk me out.

“It was so very nice to meet you, Zamora,” he said once we reached my vehicle. “I’d like to see you again if that’s okay with you.”

My insides were screaming no, but with Marcus no longer single and me soon to be divorced, I knew it was time to move on with my life. So, I gave him my digits with plans to do just that.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Eliana

“I feel good. Baby, I feel good all over.”

I sang along with the music filling my boutique. I’d had a great day, and it was almost closing time. Sales were up, my clients were multiplying, and two men were catering to me. Marcus was my nest egg, and Rush was myeverydamnthangelse. No doubt Marcus was one of the good guys, but bitches like me needed a man like Rush in my life to handle me. As I stood there thinking of how Rush sucked the soul from my body and had me calling on Jesus the night before, the bell from the door of my boutique chimed, alerting me that someone had come in. When I looked up, I was shocked to see it was Marcus’s mother. Faking a smile, I approached her while wondering the reason for her visit.

“Mrs. Coleman, so happy to see you. What brings you by?” I asked as pleasantly as I could.

I didn’t care much for this bitch, but she and Marcus were too close for me to try to put a wedge between them. I was smarter than that. Attempting to do so would have ruined my plans from the very start.

“I came to have a little chat with you. Is there somewhere we can talk?” she asked sweetly with a hint of bitch I detected in her tone.

“Only my office. But since I’m the only one here and don’t have cameras installed yet, we should stay out front here in case a customer comes in,” I explained while watching as she sat her designer bag on my counter.

“No cameras, you say?” she asked, looking around as if she was validating my statement.

“Yes, ma’am, that’s correct. Are you here about the wedding? If so, I told you already that you have nothing to worry about. My parents are going to pay for the wedding. Trust me, we have everything handled,” I added, even though I had no idea how I would cover all the wedding expenses.