The Single Life with Zola Patterson Part 2 - Danielle Allen Page 0,39

with a student, so he didn’t have much time before his next student was coming to do a make-up exam or something. I started telling him how much I enjoyed getting to know him and he interrupted me and told me he’d gotten me a gift.” I paused dramatically. “He gave me a copy of my dad’s favorite book.”

“What?” she gasped.

“He gave me a copy of my dad’s favorite psychology book.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.”

We were both quiet for an extended period of time.

“That’s wild,” she whispered.

“I know! And I can’t stop thinking about it. I just got home not too long ago and I just don’t know what to do.”

“What do you mean?”

I swallowed hard. “A week and a half ago, you said it was a sign. That me connecting with Jordan the way I did was a sign. And now I’m going back and forth about if I’m prematurely cutting ties with Jordan to pursue this thing with Saint and—”

“What?!” she screeched. Her voice was so loud that I had to pull the phone away from my ear. “You and Saint are together together?”

“Yeah.”

“I called you yesterday and you were working. You couldn’t take five minutes to tell me this huge life changing news?!”

“I’m sorry. I was trying to make up for all the work I didn’t do this weekend and I had some stuff I needed to get to The Herald by five o’clock on top of my own stuff.”

“I understand all that,” Kia said dismissively. “But you have a boyfriend! Zola Patterson has a boyfriend!”

“I mean… I guess, yeah, I do. I mean, we didn’t say that, but I guess.” The thought of that felt different—not good or bad, just different. I didn’t know how to process it. “I guess he is my boyfriend.”

“You told me that you two had a good time at the concert and that he was taking you somewhere quiet so you could talk and then I didn’t hear from you again. That must’ve been a hell of a date that you went into the weekend with multiple men and you came out on the other side with a whole boyfriend!”

I took a sip of my tea. “It was an amazing weekend.”

I reclined back in my chair and started telling her everything that happened and then as I was describing how we ran into Jordan at brunch, my eyes landed on the book he gave me. I sat up straight. “So Saint tells me that he’s not looking to date around, he’s a one-woman man, which I respect. He told me that he doesn’t want to try to change me or what I want, but that he’s not going to share me.”

“He gave you an ultimatum?”

“No.” I bit my bottom lip. “He told me to let him know if anything changes with what I wanted. He didn’t want me to do anything I didn’t want to do.”

“Wow,” she swooned. “Wow wow wow.”

“I know.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “He was about to walk out, and I told him that I wanted to be with him and only him.”

She lowered her voice. “Was the sex that good?”

“Girl, better! But that wasn’t why I said it. I mean, yes, I wanted to have sex with him. But I said it because I couldn’t let him walk out. The thought of him leaving felt like it was crushing me,” I explained.

“You’ve got it bad, Zo.”

“Yeah, I do.” I shook my head. “I lost a bet to him, so I had to do something romantic for him. On Sunday, while he was in the shower at my place, I called his sister to help me pull it off. That’s how bad I have it.”

“Wow… you are never trying to meet the family and all of a sudden, you’re calling family members to help with surprises?! You’ve known this man for three weeks—and one of those weeks, you were convinced he didn’t want you because of your bonnet.”

“No, you were convinced he didn’t like me because of my bonnet.”

She sucked her teeth. “Because you had on a bonnet!”

I sighed loudly and dramatically. “Kia, focus.”

“Zo,” she said gently. “You’ve known him for a short period of time, but you are moving differently with him. I haven’t seen you like this since…” Her voice trailed off, but we both knew she was thinking of the only other boyfriend I’d ever had. “It sounds like you know who you want.”

“I know. But…” My voice trailed off as I reached out for the book. “What