It wasn’t exactly the same kinda sex I’d been dreaming about all this time, but I smiled at him, just glad the ordeal was over.
A few minutes later, he was curled up next to me, snoring. I watched him sleep for a while as I stroked his soft, black hair. After the throbbing between my legs subsided, I actually enjoyed the feeling of tying naked next to my man. I had missed this kind of intimacy.
A knock on the front door interrupted my thoughts, and I panicked. Maybe it was Dylan. After all, I had left his house in a huff, and it would be just like him to try to mend fences. Even if I did want to clear the air with him and let him know I was moving on, I knew I couldn’t talk to him now. Not with Derrick here. I eased myself outta bed, the whole time praying I wouldn’t wake Derrick. I didn’t know what I was gonna do, but I did know I had to get rid of Dylan in a hurry. Fortunately, when I looked through the peephole I was able to relax. I didn’t have to deal with Dylan quite so soon. I opened the door and smiled at my sister.
“Girrrrllll, you just don’t know. I ain’t never been so happy to see you in my entire life.”
“That’s nice. Now, can you get out the way? It’s starting to rain out here.” Stephanie pushed her way past me. “It’s kinda late to be wearing a housecoat, ain’t it? I guess you and Dylan had a late night.”
I hushed her and gestured toward the bedroom.
“Will you be quiet?” I whispered.
“Oh, my bad. I didn’t know he was here.” She sat down next to me on the sofa.
“He’s not here. Derrick is.”
“What? Get the hell outta here!” She went bug-eyed. “What happened? Big Momma told me you wanted to be with Dylan. Boy, is she gonna be disappointed!” She was trying to whisper, but she was about as quiet as a jet plane. I glared at her and reminded her to keep her damn voice down.
“Well, I did wanna be with Dylan—until last night.”
“Last night? What happened last night?” Now she looked even more confused.
“Steph, it was a mess. His ex-girlfriend showed up at his house.” I offered the shortest explanation possible, but of course my sister wanted all the details.
“Oh, no, she didn’t.” Stephanie leaned forward, waiting to hear more.
“Oh, yes, she did. We were just about to do our thing. I had the candles burning, I had just done my little striptease. Hell, he had the condom in his hand. And this chick has the nerve to knock on his door at two in the mornin’, tallcin’ ’bout she’s pregnant.” I rubbed my temples, wishing I could erase the humiliating image from my memory.
“Well, what he say? Did he believe her?”
“Hell, yeah, he believed her. He was jumpin’ around like it was the got-damn Fourth of July.”
“Oh, no, Jazz. I know you wanted to kick his ass.”
“Wanted to? Shit, he pissed me off so bad I slapped the hell outta him.”
“What? You oughta stop. You ain’t slap that man.”
“The hell I didn’t! You should’ve seen the way he kissed that heifer in front of me.”
“He kissed her? Damn, and here I am thinking he’s a nice guy.”
“That the problem, Steph. He is a nice guy,” I said quietly.
“You sound like you still care about him.”
“I do, as silly as that sounds.” Even though I could hear snoring from my bedroom, I whispered. Maybe if I spoke them quietly enough, these feelings would just go away.
“You really got hooked on that guy, didn’t you?”
“Look, I don’t feel like talking about Dylan right now, all right?” I pointed toward the bedroom, but it was just an excuse not to deal with my feelings.
“Okay,” she agreed. “I understand.”
“So what brings you over here, anyway? I thought it was your weekend to take Big Momma to church.”
“Oh, my God. I completely forgot. Big Momma’s outside in the van. She wanted me to make sure you were home.”
“What? Why’d you bring her over here? You know she can’t stand Derrick.”
“Hey, don’t be blaming this on me. Big Momma said something about you and Dylan was supposed to take her to Morrison’s for dinner tonight. Besides, I didn’t know Derrick was home.”
Of course, you know, three seconds later there was a knock on the door.
“Oh, shit! Now what am I gonna do?”
“You better answer the door before she starts knocking louder and wakes up Derrick. You know how Big Momma is.”
I did know how she was, so I got up and answered the door, hoping I could get rid of her before Derrick heard us and came out of the bedroom.
“Girl, why ain’t you dressed?” Big Momma bellowed. “I thought we were going to Morrison’s.”
“I’m sorry, Big Momma. I forgot all about it.”
“Well, I didn’t. I been thinkin’ about their banana pudding all day. Now, go on and get dressed.” She ambled past me and sat on the sofa next to Stephanie. “Where’s Dylan, anyway?”
“Oh, Big Momma he...” I glanced at the stairs, praying for some way out of this.
“He in the bedroom, ain’t he? That’s why you got your robe on at three o’clock in the afternoon.” Big Momma shook her head. “Lord, you young people sure work fast. Last week you were trying to tell me he was just your friend.” Stephanie laughed and I cut my eyes at her.
“He is just my friend, Big Momma. Look, I gotta tell
y—
”
She cut me off again. “Then what’s he doing in your bed?”
“He’s not in my bedroom....”
“Baby, where’s the car keys?” All eyes turned in the direction of the voice. Derrick was walking down the stairs fully dressed. “Oh, excuse me. I didn’t know you had company.”
“Oh, Lord,” Big Momma mumbled under her breath to Stephanie. “What’s he doing here? I thought they sent him up the river.”
Stephanie shrugged in reply.
“And where’s Dylan?” Big Momma continued questioning Stephanie. I rushed to Derrick and gave him a hug, trying to keep some distance between him and my mumbling grandmother on the couch. I talked loud to drown out the questions she was asking Stephanie.
“Derrick,” I started nervously, “you remember Big Momma and my sister, Stephanie, don’t you?”
“Yeah. What’s up, Big Momma? How you doin’, Stephanie?” Derrick approached them, and Big Momma leaned back and glared at him. He did his best to ignore her dis and addressed my sister. “So, Stephanie, I hear congratulations are in order. A new baby, huh? What’s that make, two?”
“Yeah, a boy and a girl.” Stephanie smiled proudly.
“I’m happy for you. I can’t wait till me and your sister have some kids.” Derrick put a hand on my shoulder and joked, “We gonna have to hurry if we’re gonna catch up to her, boo. She’s gonna mess around and have a basketball team before we have one kid.”
“If you say so.” I tried not to grimace. I knew it was only a matter of time before Big Momma opened her mouth.
“How you gonna have kids and you ain’t even got no damn job? And selling those drugs just gonna wind you right back in that prison.”
“Big Momma, Derrick’s gonna go to college. He’s already got accepted to Virginia Union in the fall.”
“Oh, really? What’s you gonna do, Derrick? Start selling drugs to the college students? I guess that’s the next step in your plan to destroy black people.”
Derrick’s face became contorted. He looked like he was about to say something we might all regret. So I gently took his hand and spoke before he could.
“Derrick, didn’t you say that you wanted the car keys?”
“Yeah, I wanted to go see Tyler.” His eyes were still locked on Big Momma.
“Okay. Here they are.” I reached in my bag and handed him the keys.
“Why you gonna give him your car keys?” Big Momma asked. “He needs to buy his own car. When you gonna get your own car, anyway, Mister Big Shot?”
“When you gonna get the hell out my—”
I grabbed his arm. “No, Derrick, please don’t start no trouble,” I pleaded. “Big Momma don’t mean no harm. Go ’head and see Tyler.”
“Oh, I meant every word,” Big Momma spat. But thankfully, Derrick ignored her last insult and headed for the door, turning to me before opening it.
“Hey, baby, you wanna come with me?”
His invitation sounded sincere, and any other time I would have taken him up on it, because seeing Tyler meant seeing Wendy. Even though I trusted Derrick, I damn sure didn’t trust Wendy. This time, though, I was happy to see him go, especially since I was afraid he and Big Momma were gonna tear each other apart.
“No, you go ’head; we’re supposed to be going to Morrison’s for dinner.”
I breathed a huge sigh of relief once he walked out the door.
25
Stephanie
What a long day it had been! Jasmine and I had been at the mall most of the morning looking at bridesmaids’ dresses. After picking out what we thought were the perfect dresses, we went to Applebee’s for lunch and stopped by the party goods shop. I’d always thought my sister was a real square, but after spending the day with her, I had to give her credit. She was actually a hell of a lot of fun to be with. And she had good taste, too. She was taking as much pride in my wedding as I was, and the dresses she helped me pick out were the bomb. We had so much fun, I hated to leave her. And when I pulled into my driveway, I wished I hadn’t.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” I spotted Malek’s car parked in front of our house. He wasn’t in it, which probably meant he was inside talking to Travis. That wasn’t good news at all. Malek had been calling the house more and more frequently in the past few weeks. He was using the excuse that he wanted to find out how Maleka was doing or that he wanted to update me on Nana’s condition, but every conversation ended with him asking for some ass. And me telling him to kiss mine. He must have just gotten sick of the rejection and decided to blow me up to Travis.
I stayed in my car almost twenty minutes, trying to decide if I should go inside. Travis finally made my decision for me. He walked outside with T. J. in his arms. I was so scared to death of what Malek might’ve told him, it felt like my heart had slid down into my stomach. Travis’s facial expression didn’t give me one damn clue of what he knew. It was just blank, and that made me even more nervous.
“Baby,” Travis said, knocking on my window, “you need to come in the house. There’s someone here to see you.” He opened my car door and handed T. J. to me. He didn’t even attempt to give me a kiss, and that worried me. He never forgot to give me a kiss unless he was mad about something. So I just knew I was in trouble.
“Malek’s here, isn’t he?”
“No, but his mother is.” I raised both eyebrows. I was confused but relieved.
“Miss Janet’s here? What’s she doing here?”
“I think it might be best if she told you.” I handed him the baby and walked into the house. Miss Janet was sitting on the sofa, and Maleka was sitting on her lap. They both had Barbies in their hands.
“Mommy! Look what Grandma Janet brought me!” Maleka jumped off of her grandmother’s lap to show me the dolls.
“Wasn’t that nice of her?” I smiled at my daughter, never taking my eyes off of her grandmother. I didn’t even know she knew where I lived, so her presence had me worried. After everything I’d gone through recently, I didn’t need any more drama. It was time for me to leave all that shit behind and concentrate on my upcoming wedding. I just hoped Malek’s mother hadn’t come over and messed up my plans by saying the wrong thing to Travis.
“Hey, Miss Janet. What you doing here?” I hoped she didn’t notice the suspicion in my voice. When she gave me her news, I felt bad for even thinking about myself.
“Momma died last night, Stephanie.”
“Nana? Nana’s dead?”
I knew Nana didn’t have much time, but I at least thought I’d see her before she passed.
“Have you made the arrangements?” My voice was choked up.
“Uh-huh. The funeral’s on Friday.” Miss Janet wiped away a tear from her cheek. “I was hoping you’d do a reading.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that, Miss Janet.”
“Come on, now. You know how much Momma loved you. Least you could do is read at her funeral.”
I glanced at Travis. I felt real bad about Nana dying, but I wasn’t sure if I should be reading at her funeral. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to read. I wanted to do anything I could for Nana. I just didn’t want Travis getting upset. Things were just starting to get back to normal in our house. After the night he left, I had promised things would change. And once I took care of the problem with the STD, I really had been behaving. I’d been coming home straight from work, acting like the perfect fiancée and mommy. But going to the funeral meant I’d be seeing Malek, and I knew Travis didn’t want that to happen. That’s why I was surprised when he put his hand on my shoulder and told me it was okay for me to go.
“Okay, Miss Janet. I’ll do it. I’ll read.”