Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74123 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74123 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 371(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 247(@300wpm)
This time Amina couldn’t stop the laugher that erupted from her mouth. “That’s a good one, Mark.”
“What’s so damn funny? I’m pouring my heart out to you and you’re laughing? What the fuck, Amina?”
“Building a life together? How?”
Amina wanted to point out how she knew his parents were paying the rent on his apartment even though he was a grown ass man of nearly thirty. Maybe his parents were part of the reason he was so rotten but she hoped soon none of them would be her problem.
“I know you’ve always wanted to get married. How about it? We might as well do it Amina. Let’s get married.”
Amina nearly laughed again. This wasn’t how he proposed the first time around, but the timeline was similar. The first time he came over to her house for a meal she’d cooked for him. After dinner, he’d made a big speech about dating a lot of women before her, but he decided to pick her as if she was winning some type of prize.
The funny thing was, she felt that she was.
“Is this a proposal? Wow, how romantic,” she responded in a deadpan voice.
“I know you women like pomp and circumstances, but let’s be practical. When are you ever going to get this chance again? But if you need a big hoopla, I can have my mom throw a dinner in honor of our engagement. She can invite some close friends and family. You should invite your aunt and cousins. Oh, and since you claim to have friends now, invite them too. I’ll shoot you the details later this week. Bye, bae.”
He ended the call without waiting for her response, leaving Amina to process what had just happened.
His first proposal to her had been shitty but this took the cake. At the ‘engagement party’ he made a big show of presenting her with a ring that had a diamond so small, it was basically a chip. Amina wasn’t materialist enough to care about the size. The problem was, he didn’t put any thought into the purchase. In retrospect, she knew that he’d bought the cheapest ring possible not because he was cheap, but because he didn’t think she was worthy of anything more elaborate.
What was worse, there was no one at the dinner to support her. Mark had invited her aunt and cousins to surprise her but they were only there for a free meal. The rest of the people in attendance weren’t much better. It was Mark’s sanctimonious parents and a few of their church elders.
Amina had felt out of place and uncomfortable at a celebration that she was supposed to share the honor in. She had to put up with snide comments from Candace about the size of her ring and the ugly dress Amina had worn, a dress that her future mother-in-law had bought for her. It had been an ugly brown concoction with ruffles around the neck and wrists. And it nearly touched the floor. She could barely walk in that thing without tripping over her kitten heels.
Amina shook her head to rid herself of that distasteful memory. There was no way she could go back to the way things were. Maybe Mark wasn’t currently at the point where he was downright abusive yet, in this timeline. But he was already showing signs of becoming exactly that.
Her phone vibrated in her hand and for a moment she thought it was Mark calling her again. To her relief and delight, she saw that it was Ethan.
“Hey.”
“Hey yourself. You sound kind of bummed. You didn’t have a good day hanging with Paisley?”
She missed the sound of his voice. There were a few times when he’d stopped by her office this week, he gave her a quick kiss.
It was those stolen moments that kept a smile on her face that entire week.
He’d wanted to see her this weekend but he had a conference to attend that he would be lecturing at.
“We had a great day actually. That girl has a black belt in shopping. She wore me out and I ended up spending a significant amount of money. But it was well spent because my wardrobe was in need of an update.”
“Will you be okay, financially? If you need my help, just say the word.”
Amina’s heart flipped inside her chest and a grin split her lips. Offering to help her out would have never occurred to Mark. He talked a good game before they were married, but once he had access to her funds, he considered them his as well.
“I’ll be okay but thanks for the offer. But as I was saying, I had a great time with Paisley and we plan to hang out more often. She’s super sweet.”
“That’s good to hear. Then why so down when you answered?”
Amina groaned. “Because I just got off the phone with Mark. He apparently came by my house earlier but I wasn’t home. He was pissed and called several times.”