Page 86 of Desperate Haste
EPILOGUE
MALCOLM | THREE MONTHS LATER
“Alrighty, what do we need?” I ask as her hand is intertwined with mine.
“Grab a cart,” she instructs, pointing to the instantly recognizable red carts lined up just inside the sliding glass doors.
“Can I grab a coffee?” Bailey asks.
“Oohh, I want one too,” Magnolia adds.
“Here, flower, take this.” Kolbi hands her his black card which she looks at with furrowed brows.
“You know, I have my own money. And my own card,” she tilts her head up to say to him.
“I like when you use mine,” he hums back, leaning over to give her a kiss.
“Isn’t itallyour money now? Y’all are married, you know,” Bailey points out.
“Magnolia wants to have her own separate account with what she makes from work and I can respect that. But things like coffee, andshoes”—he looks at her with a wicked smile—“come out of my account.”
“Thank you for the offer, Jack, but I want to buy my friend and I a coffee all on my own.” She gives him a confident smile and he happily retracts his hand, sliding his card back into his wallet.
“I’m all for financial independence for women,” Ophelia boasts, standing next to me and resting a hand on the cart that I’ve pulled out of the corral. Bailey and Magnolia ask if anyone wants anything before heading to grab a coffee. Once they’ve returned, the seven of us head down the main aisle of the store.
“Okay, where’s the list?” I ask, nudging her with my shoulder. After moving my things into her place once my lease was up, we made a list of items we needed now that we were living together. I’ve practically lived at her condo for the last two months, and one night I presented the idea of me officially moving in with her. She promptly shut the idea down until I brought it up a few weeks ago, mentioning that my lease was ending soon and I was going to have to decide on what I needed to do.
“Well if your lease is ending and you pretty much live here already, you might as well just move in for good. It makes no sense for you to spend money on rent for a place you hardly sleep at,” she had said and I happily let her believe that the real reason she wanted me to move in was for practicalities sake andnotbecause she liked having me around. She continues to wear Marshall’s ring on her right middle finger and only ever takes it off to shower or sleep. I’ve brought it up a few times and asked if I’m ever going to get it back. Every time I do, she snatches her hand away from me and tells me that if she ever took it off for good then it was a bad sign for me.
I hope she never takes it off.
“Hey, where are you going? The kitchenware is this way.” My thumb juts over my shoulder as she and the girls start to make their way deeper into the store.
“Yeah, and?” She looks at me like I’m a complete idiot.
“And we need more plates?” My words drag out. Am I missing something? I flash a look to my friends who look just as confused as I am.
“Okay, we can get them when we come back around that way.” She points in the direction of the plates but walks in the opposite direction.
“Why don’t we just go get them now?”
“Because you have to do a loop,” she says as if this is a fact everyone in the world knows and understands.
“A loop around what?” I press, growing more and more confused.
“A loop around the store, duh,” Bailey exclaims. Magnolia and Ophelia nod their heads in agreement.
“Why in the world would you do a loop around the whole store if you know exactly what you’re here for?” Kolbi joins in my confusion and I feel a little bit better about being so totally lost.
“Because you never know what you might find, Jack,” his wife explains, looking up at him with large round eyes. I visibly see my six and a half foot friend melt into a puddle at her feet.
“That is the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” Conrad jeers.
“Oh hush, you,” Bailey snaps. “Let’s go everyone, we have things to buy.”
Always leading the charge, we follow Bailey through the store. I happily push the cart around and let Ophelia and the others toss things in and collect what we need. Nearly an hour later, our cart and the second one we acquired are filled with everything we need and several things we don’t. While we wait to check out, I pull her hand into mine, gaining her attention when I do.
As I look into her eyes, I feel a deep sense of belonging and contentment settle over me. For so many years, I battled with the demons in my head that told me I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t loved enough, and would always disappoint the people around me. That everyone would leave me because I couldn’t live up to their expectations of me. But looking at her now, I know she doesn’t feel that way about me. I can see it in her eyes.
