Today. Tomorrow. Always (Free Falling, #3.5)(11)

Sam raised her eyebrows at Terrell. “Know what that sounds like to me?” she asked. “Young love. You were probably crushing on Maisha way back then, weren’t you? Doing whatever you could to get her to look at you.”

Terrell waved Sam off, but didn’t deny her accusation, which made the ladies laugh at him.

“Is that true?” Maisha teased, nudging Terrell when he wouldn’t answer.

“I’m not ashamed,” he finally answered. “I probably always had a thing for you.”

The ladies both laughed again and Maisha leaned in to kiss Terrell on his cheek. “Aww… I thought you were cute, too,” she admitted.

Sam took Anthony into her arms when he reached for her and then settled back into her seat. While Terrell and Maisha went back and forth about their past, their conversation faded into the background as white noise. All I saw, all I was aware of was my wife. She didn’t even know I watched her as she got lost in our friends’ playful ‘argument’, which had now shifted to a debate about who said ‘I love you’ first.

“Man… AJ… do I look like the type of dude who’d tell a girl how I felt before she told me?” Terrell asked, bringing me back into the conversation.

I glanced at his face and had to laugh. “Yeah, Terrell… you kinda do,” I admitted, causing him to protest loudly when Sam burst out laughing. “Maybe to someone who didn’t know you, they’d see your size and think you weren’t that guy, but for those of us who know what a softy you really are… yeah, man; I’d have to say I believe wholeheartedly that you said it first.”

“Aww whatever… What about y’all? Was it you or Sam?” he asked, probably just to get the heat off himself.

Sam smirked and looked down. “That’d be me,” she confessed. “But it wasn’t because I was ready to tell him. I was kind of forced into it.” The very next second the smile began to slip from her face, but she held on to a bit of it to mask whatever thought or feeling had now entered her mind.

“Forced into it? What’s that mean?” Terrell probed.

Sam cleared her throat and hugged our son a bit tighter. “We um… just got caught up and it kinda slipped out,” was all she said. I know Terrell wanted more info, but he took in the same look on her face that I did; however, I too could recall how that all came about. We’d gotten carried away, kissing and making out, when we were supposed to be working on a project for school. The problem was, she wasn’t mine at the time. Technically, she belonged to someone else, but I’d always had a hard time accepting that, accepting that she could ever belong to anyone but me. Always. Maybe that was part of the problem. Anyway, our moment was promptly interrupted by her then boyfriend, Antonio. That incident, that night, was the beginning of it all.

It wasn’t lost on me that what should’ve been a fond memory between Sam and I was sullied by the presence of her ex, which inevitably led to thoughts of who and what he eventually became—her attacker.

Sam put on a brave face once again and brought the brightness back to her smile before changing the subject. “And to make matters worse, he didn’t even say it back for days!” she added.

Maisha turned to look at me in shock. “You left my girl hanging, AJ?”

I smiled a bit, deciding not to let the memory of Antonio ruin the rest of our evening. That, he, was water under the bridge. Besides, last we’d heard, he’d gotten himself locked up again for yet another violent crime. I didn’t have the details, nor did I want them. All that mattered was that he was right where he belonged.

“It wasn’t like that,” I explained. “There was more to it, and if I’d said it right then, she wouldn’t have believed I meant it. So, yeah… I waited a little bit to tell her how I felt.”

Sam glared at me playfully.

“Mmm hmm,” Maisha added with a smile.

Terrell looked at the time after stretching. “I think I’m gonna turn in. We still hitting the gym to play ball?” he asked.

I nodded. That was something I always looked forward to when we got together. “Yup, I’ll be up and ready to go by nine. Promise I’ll go easy on you.”

He chuckled a bit. “Don’t worry about me. Worry about getting dunked on.”

I laughed so loud my son jumped at the sound of it. “Terrell… I’ve been playing ball with you for years and never once have you managed to dunk on me.”

He grinned and went on the defense. “That’s just because I don’t wanna make you feel bad. Watch. I’mma show you tomorrow,” he promised.

And I was pretty sure he’d try, which meant I was also sure I’d get a good laugh. Sam, Maisha, and I stood too, preparing to go inside.

I watched them all head up to bed, staying behind to make sure the fire was out. On my way up, I glanced at the three boxes my father had handed off to me earlier, wondering what I might find inside. Most of this stuff was from my years living alone after leaving Charleston, so they were from the period of my life that didn’t include Sam. Anything could’ve been inside them.

*****

A soft whimper was all it took to wake me. Sam continued to breathe softly, her forehead pressed to my cheek while she slept. With her so close, I wasn’t sure I could slip out of bed without waking her, but one thing was for sure; if I didn’t move now, Anthony would soon be in a full-on cry that would wake the entire house.