Building Trust Through Our Issues

Chapter Thirteen

Jerome POV:

"You look beautiful." I told Ashlyn as I grabbed her hand. We hadn't really spent a lot of time together so I was taking her out. We were just going out to eat and then we'd probably have sex. Since I had a full day tomorrow I didn't want to be out all damn night.

"Thanks, you look nice." She said as she leaned up and kissed my cheek. I held the door open for her before going in myself.

Once we entered, I gave the hostess my name for our reservations and she took us back to a private table in the back. There were two candles lit and a bottle of chilled champagne already on the table just like I'd requested.

"This is nice babe. Thank you." Ashlyn said as I pulled out her chair before going to the other side of the table and sitting down. I watched her as she looked around with a smile on her face. "This is like our first real date." She giggled.

"Yep." I smirked.

"So how was your day? What'd you do all day?" She asked as she folded her arms and looked at me with a smile on her face.

"Well, I went running this morning before going to take the kids to school. Then I met up with Mike for lunch and we chilled for a while. After that, I picked up the kids from school because Armoni's meeting ran late. So while I was waiting on her to get home, I helped the kids with all their homework and spent time with my baby girls. Then I called your fine ass to see if you wanted to go on a date and now we're here." I informed her. "My day was good, I guess." I shrugged.

"That's good. How has Armoni been? I haven't seen her lately." She asked making me roll my eyes. Sometimes I feel like she's only with me to get closer to Armoni. We can't have one conversation without this girl bringing up Armoni.

"Engaged, happy with Chris." I told her as our waiter approached the table. He took our drink orders and reviewed our menus with us before leaving.

"That's great! Have they set a wedding date yet?" She asked with a smile on her face. "I know she's excited."

"I don't know Ashlyn." I sighed. "Armoni didn't even tell me, Aaliyah did." After Chris proposed, Armoni called Li at like two in the morning while she was over at my house for the weekend.

I busted in her room thinking that something was wrong because she was screaming but come to find out, her over dramatic ass and Armoni were on FaceTime talking about Chris proposing.

"Well that's good for her, the next time you talk to her tell her I said congratulations." She said before picking up her menu.

"I will." I mumbled as I took my phone out of my pocket and placed it on the table, face down. Giselle had been blowing me up and I'd been ignoring her but I didn't want Ashlyn knowing, it'd just create more unnecessary drama for us.

"How is the baby? I've seen a few pictures on Instagram. He's so cute and chunky, he looks just like Chris." She giggled.

"His fat ass is straight." I chuckled. "He don't do nothing but eat and sleep."

"How are your kids? I haven't seen them since Aaliyah's birthday." She asked. I gave her the run down on the kids and told her about Aaliyah's birthday party that was next week. Ashlyn wouldn't be able to come because she'd be out of town for her cousin's wedding. I was supposed to go with her as her date, but I couldn't miss my baby's birthday.

"Li has a little boyfriend now, his name is Marcus." I said shaking my head.

"Aw, that's so cute! Do y'all like him?" She cooed.

"Yeah, he's alright. The kids love him and Mookie does too. He's a cool kid but I got my eyes on him." I admitted.

"Aw, Daddy Jerome." She giggled. We talked and laughed the rest of dinner, after going to dinner her childish ass wanted to go get ice cream. We were currently sitting on the swings at the park, sharing a big pint of soy ice cream.