Epilogue
LEO
I stood over a mountain of green peppers, sorting through each one in search of the perfect ones for my mother’s stew recipe. Ivy and I had decided to make it together, a recipe she’d been wanting to try ever since my mom walked her through it on FaceTime.
I was at the Greene Gardens Market, the only market in the village.
It was my third visit here. My first time was when my agent, Simeon, asked me to check on the display of apples from his parents’ farm, which supplied produce to the market.
My second visit was less about errands and more about desperation when Levi spiked a high fever, and his doctor suggested cooling gel pads to help bring his temperature down.
Those pads worked wonders, even if they didn’t ease his frustration one bit.
That night had been one of the hardest for Ivy and me since moving in together.
Levi’s cries echoed through the house, pulling me from a deep sleep. He’d been fussy and feverish all day, likely due to teething, according to his doctor. Ivy and I had been working in shifts, taking turns rocking him back to sleep. It was her turn now.
Since the night we made love in her room, I’d started sleeping in Ivy’s bed.
At first, it was just practical—the master bedroom had the attached en suite and was closer to Levi’s nursery.
But over time, it became impossible to sleep anywhere else when I knew the woman I loved was just down the hall.
Ivy liked to joke that I only went back to my own room to “play with Legos,” and she wasn’t entirely wrong.
Levi’s cries softened as Ivy reached his room, but the whining didn’t stop completely. I was exhausted, having returned home late after a game the night prior. But the sound of Ivy’s soft humming through the baby monitor tugged at me.
I pulled myself out of bed and headed to the nursery because that’s what good boyfriends and godfathers do.
When I entered, Ivy was sitting in the rocker, holding Levi against her chest and pressing a teething ring to his gums. Her eyes were heavy with exhaustion, and her head dropped back slightly between her shoulders as she bounced him gently.
I approached, placing a hand against Levi’s forehead. Warm, but not as bad as earlier.
Yawning, I grabbed the infant pain medicine off the dresser, measured out the dosage, and brought it to her. She stood from her seat on the rocker to meet me by the dresser.
“Angle his head a little,” I said, my voice rough with sleep.
She adjusted Levi, letting me carefully pour the medicine into his mouth. He swallowed it down without a fight.
Ivy yawned as she patted Levi’s back, her head falling forward against me. I wrapped my arms around both of them, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice soft.
I leaned my head against hers, my hand rubbing small circles on her back. “Thank you, too.”
Levi’s cries quieted into soft, even breaths. He was finally asleep again.
The two of us had found our rhythm in this house, learning to work together to care for Levi so neither of us carried the burden alone. It wasn’t always easy, but it had been worth it. And since we’d embraced the relationship growing between us, things felt even more natural.
Now, standing in the market on my third trip here, everything about this little village had become familiar.
“Leo Vanguard?” a voice called from behind me.
I turned to see a pretty, brown-skinned woman approaching with a shopping cart and a bright smile.
“Hey!” she greeted warmly. “What’s up?”
I smiled back. “Just shopping… for groceries. You?”
She laughed, looking genuinely excited. “I’m Alexis.”
“Nice to meet you, Alexis.”
“I don’t usually do this,” she admitted, waving a hand.
“I know it’s, like, a rule not to bother celebrities, but I’m just way too hype to see another famous face out here.
” Her eyes darted around before landing on someone behind me.
“Keith!” she shouted, motioning toward him. “Keith, look who it is!”
I snickered to myself, already turning toward the direction of her gesture.
Coming toward us was none other than the Keith Aaron, the rapper whose career had been exploding recently, especially after one of his songs was featured in a major movie.
“Oh, shit,” I said, adjusting the basket in my arm to hold my fist out for him to bump, which he did. “You out here?”
He laughed, then pointed at the woman. “Yeah, because of my girl. You out here?”
“Yeah.” I smiled. “I live out here.”
Keith’s brows shot up. “Word?”
“See?” The woman bumped her shoulder with him. “One of the NBA’s hottest players calls Greene Gardens home. Take that.”
I chuckled.
“She’s been trying to get me out here…” Keith’s eyes moved around the market. “I’m thinking it over. It’s beautiful.”
“Very beautiful,” I added.
“But, it ain’t Manhattan,” Keith added. “Feel me?”
“Oh, I feel you.” I laughed. “That’s why I’ve gotten involved with some community initiatives. The businesses around Manhattan are what make it appealing. If Greene Gardens gets some of those businesses to set up locations out here, it could be Manhattan 2.0.”
“Hmph,” Keith huffed.
“They got a business improvement district out here,” I informed.
“They hold meetings every month downtown, giving locals an opportunity to participate in discussions on how to attract more businesses and visitors with special events and beautification projects, man…” I nodded.
“They got some real big plans for Greene Gardens. Don’t sleep on it. ”
“Thank you.” Alexis grunted. “That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to tell his hard-headed ass.”
Keith slapped her on the ass, and I snorted a laugh. He pointed at her next. “You shhh.”
“I’m working with them to develop a local athletic facility so I can have a basketball court, gymnasiums, and sports complex to train in, so I don’t have to go all the way out to the city.” I shrugged. “Home is what you make it. Feel me?”
“I feel you,” Alexis said with a nod. “Anyway, we won’t hold you. I just needed to make a damn point to this guy.”
Keith kissed his teeth while turning to me to hold his hand out for a dap. “Pleasure meeting you, Leo.”
“Man, likewise,” I replied, accepting his dap. “Between the Lines is one of my favorite albums.”
Keith pressed his hand to his chest and nodded. “That means a lot, for real.”
“It was good meeting you too, Leo.” Alexis smiled. “I’ll see you around.”
“Yes, you will,” I replied with a smile as they walked off.
I spent a little more time at the market, selecting the rest of the ingredients I needed, then took them to the register to check out.
I had finished shopping and was back in my brand-new SUV, which I'd gotten after selling my city loft and deciding to live in Greene Gardens full-time.
The decision became an easy one once I realized that home was wherever Ivy and Levi were…
which was kind of difficult to explain to my friend-with-benefits, Vanessa.
“So, y’all finally stopped lying to yourselves?” Vanessa asked me over coffee. “Or are you finally done lying to me?”
I’d invited her to a café in Brooklyn shortly after my night back in Greene Gardens with Ivy. Though Ivy had never questioned what being involved with her meant for me and Vanessa, I thought it was time to end whatever thing Vanessa and I had. It was the moral thing to do for all of us.
“I was never lying to you,” I explained. “I honestly never saw Ivy like that until after we moved out to Greene Gardens.”
Vanessa sucked her teeth loudly, looking off and shaking her head. “I knew something was up when we stopped having sex months ago, so…” Her arms had been in a tight fold from the time she arrived, and I told her my plans to move back to Greene Gardens.
Vanessa and I hadn’t seen each other much since I returned to Manhattan. Hadn’t slept together since Ivy and my first hookup. I enjoyed Vanessa’s company, but we were never really for each other. We had very little in common besides sex.
“You know I moved out to Manhattan for you, right?” She laughed cynically.
“Packed up all my shit and moved out here from Atlanta for a guy who wouldn’t even give me the title of girlfriend.
” Her arms came out of their fold so she could point at me.
“I don’t know why you asked me here to tell me this when we were never together, right? We were just fucking, right?”
I looked around me, then leaned in. “Can you please keep your voice down?”
“So what?” she continued. “You’re gonna marry her now?”
I jerked my head back, the question unexpected.
I honestly hadn’t considered the idea of marriage until that moment. And the idea didn’t make me recoil in the least. The idea actually made a smile pull at one corner of my mouth as I imagined Ivy and me in a role like husband and wife.
She’d make a damn good wife. That would be a really good win for me, actually.
After too long of a silence between us—me staring out into the distance, spending a little too long on the idea of marriage with Ivy—Vanessa released an audible exhale.
“You know what, whatever.” She pushed her chair back, the legs scraping loudly against the floor. “Good luck. I hope you live happily ever after with the friend I knew your ass loved from the very first time you introduced me to her short ass. I hope you two have a good fucking life.”
Vanessa snatched up her designer bag from the back of her chair.
“By the way,” Vanessa added, pushing her arm through the straps of her bag. She leaned in close enough for her words to sting. “I’ve been fucking your teammate, the rookie Xavien, for the past year, and I’m glad I was smart enough to do it.”
My brows shot up. “Excuse me?”
“See you around,” she said, walking off. “Asshole.”