it, but then I remembered we’d just made a verbal agreement. Jacquez abided by my wishes of no contract, but just like I would not renege on a written one, I could not do the same with a verbal one that I insisted we have.
“Hello,” I answered.
“Evening,” he answered with that smooth, deep voice of his.
All man. My lady parts remembered and so did my nipples.
Damn.
I was sprung.
“Evening.” I think a smile formed on my face.
“How was your day?” he asked.
“It was all right, yours?”
“What made it all right? Walk me through it,” he asked.
Wait, what?
“What do you mean, walk you through it? My day?” I clarified.
“Yes, that is what I mean,” Jacquez said with a serious tone.
Mmkay.
I gave him the rundown of the day, including it being sort of a blur and that I was eating dinner when he called. He then gave me a rundown of his day thus far, since he was ahead of us by five hours. So his day was full of meetings, in various parts of London. He had to use his helicopter to get to one of the meetings, but the pilot had to be replaced because he kept yawning, and Jacquez was not taking any changes. This made me laugh, but also let me know the man wasn’t timid in expressing what he wanted. Then he shared he had just finished watching television and was about to sod off to bed, but wanted to touch base with me to see how I was doing.
My heart, my heart.
Girl, get a grip.
“How are you feeling physically?” he asked. “I’m exhausted. Some woman kept me up all night for three nights.”
This made me laugh out loud.
“You are not trying to blame me,” I told him.
“Oh, I am,” he replied. “Now, what about you?”
“Sore in places, but in a good way,” I answered honestly.
“Fuck, I wish I was there to make it better,” he added. “I’ll be there this weekend.”
“You will?” I turned from my food to stare at the phone.
“Yes,” Jacquez remarked, like I did not comprehend well.
“But…you were just here, and…” He didn’t let me finish.
“You’re ovulating this weekend,” Jacquez shared. “Plus, my mom needs some things, so we’ll go see her too.”
Wait one minute.
“We?” I gasped.
“Yes,” he answered again with that voice that was asking if I was dumb.
“Jacquez, I don’t want to meet your mother. Why do you want me to see her? That doesn’t make sense.” I needed to draw the line, because he was going too far.
“Sheryl,” he called. “You’re going to be the mother of my child. You will need to meet my mother, so calm down.” He took a pause. “We’re going.”
Nope.
“Jacquez, I am not going to meet your mom. There’s no need. I’m not even pregnant now, and what if this doesn’t work out? Why would I meet her? That makes no sense, and I’m not going. Period.” I was back, because this was asinine and truly, I had no time for that bullshit.
“What the fuck do you mean, what if this doesn’t work out?” was all I heard come through that phone.
Did I actually say that? I mean, I thought it, but fuck, did I say it out loud?
I must have.
“Well, yeah,” I owned it. “What if it doesn’t?”
“We had an agreement, Sheryl.” Jacquez was seething, and that was a quick burn. “You and I agreed. Gave each other a verbal agreement even though I put everything in writing for you. We can check the contract that neither of us signed, because we said we’d give each other our words. So are you not a woman of your word, Sheryl? Do you not honor your verbal contracts?”
Wait.
“None of this has anything to do with meeting your mother,” I snapped. “Don’t turn this on me.”
“When I say you’re going to be the mother of my child, it does.”
“Fine, Jacquez, so how will those introductions go? Hi, Mom, meet the future mother of my child. We’re going to have a baby and she’s ovulating this weekend.”
Silence met me on the other line, but I was not about to meet his mother, and I didn’t care what he said about the verbal agreement. That made no sense to me.
After more moments of silence, I called, “Hello.”
“Note this, Sheryl,” he said slowly. “This weekend, I am going to tan your ass. Then when you’re sitting at my mom’s house, you’ll remember this conversation.”
This caused me to laugh, not out of something being funny, but part nerves and the other part