A Love Like This (Book 1) (38 page)

“Oh shit, you done brought a white boy home,”
 
Nogood
 
says laughing.
 
 
Koolaid
 
and
 
Dayday
 
have wondered off.

“This is Tucker and yes he’s white just like your last three baby
Momma
’s.”

“Girl you know I’m down with the swirl.
 
We’re about to repopulate the whole
 
fuckin
 
earth and make everybody black.
 
What’s up man,” he says giving Tucker the man
handshake hug.
 
He looks past
us and sees Sarah emerge from the car.
 
“I think I see baby
Momma
number four.
 
Hook me up with your friend,”
 
Nogood
 
says.

“I will not be part of this union,” I say.

Hey Miss lady,” he says walking over to Sarah.

“Hey Boo,” Sarah says transforming from herself to Thug Mrs.
 

“You’re not with Wall Street over there are you,” He asks motioning to Mike who’s standing by the car on his cell phone.

“No we’re not together,” Sarah says. I walk away thinking they’ll be like Bonny and Clyde by the end of the week.
 
I stop before walking through the front door.
 
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
 
My palms are sweating and I feel a little nauseous.
 
“I’ve been ready since the day I met you.”
 
His certainty makes me feel more comfortable about what I’m about to do.

*****

Tucker doesn’t want Leila to know that he’s terrified about meeting her family.
 
He thought about throwing in the towel, driving back to the airport and catching a flight home.
 
But every time he looked back at her face in the rear view mirror he couldn’t imagine his life without her.
 
Leila’s house is small compared to his family’s homes but so much more alive.
 
 
Nickie
 
is the first person he sees when he walks through the front door.
 
She notices how nervous he is so she hugs him and tells him everything’s
going
 
to be fine.
 
The next person he meets is a small pretty older woman with short curly brown hair and very fair skin.
 

“
Momma
,” Leila exclaims releasing his hand and running over to hug her mother.

“My baby,” She says holding Leila and rocking her back and forth.
 
They would be the same height if Leila wasn’t wearing heels.
 
They pull away from each other crying.
 
Leila turns to face Tucker.
 
 
There are small kids running in and out and loud music coming from the back yard.

“Mom,” This is Tucker.

“Nice to meet you,” Dana says shaking his hand.
 
“You’re a handsome young man.
 
How long have you two been dating?”

“We’re not dating mom.
 
We’re married,” Leila blurts.
 
“Tucker and I got married in Las Vegas,” She repeats looking up at Tucker and back over to her mother as the color drains from both their faces.

Chapter 18

 
 
 
 
 
Pookie
 
is sitting on his leather sofa
 
with his laptop open laughing at all the emails from Leila.
 
His cell phone chimes with a text message.
 
It’s from
 
Nickie
 
and it says, “The jig is up.
 
Leila just told
Momma
about the drunken marriage.”
 

“Damn it,”
 
Pookie
 
says grabbing his coat and heading for the door.
 
He steps on an envelope on the floor in front of the door.
 
The envelope reads Jermaine Peterson
and
 
there’s no return name or address.
 
He picks it up, walks out and locks the front door behind him.
 
 
 
Pookie
 
tears into the envelope as he walks to his car.
 
The letter says:

Dear Jermaine,

 
 
 
 
My name is
 
Christ
 
Callaway.
 
We’ve never met but I recently discovered something that links us together.
 
Maybe we can chat online or meet for coffee if you feel comfortable.
 
I can be reached at
 
[email protected]
.
 
I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Chris Callaway

“What the fuck is this garbage,”
 
Pookie
 
says tossing the letter onto the passenger seat of his car.
 
 
The minute it leaves his hand he forgets about it.
 
He drives quickly from his downtown condo to Dana and Xavier’s house near signal hill.
 
 
There’s chaos in the house.
 
The women are the ones who keep order and they are all missing.
 
In their place is Doug sitting on the couch holding baby Noah and drinking a beer while little X strikes matches and throws them into the air.
 
 
Pookie
 
marches over and snatches the
 
matches from him and smacks the boy on the back of the head.
 
Near the
kitchen
 
Nogood,
 
Koolaid
 
and
 
Dayday
 
are sitting at a table playing dominos with some dude in a business suit.
 
They are oblivious to Trinity and Heaven sitting on the kitchen counter digging into sock-it-to-me cake with their hands.

“Where is your mother,”
 
Pookie
 
asks pulling the girls off the counter and wiping their hands.

“She’s in the room with Auntie Leila and a giant white man,” Trinity says.

“You and your sister better stay out of that cake,”
 
Pookie
 
says pointing at the girls.
 
Trinity crosses her arms, rolls her eyes, and stomps off towards the backyard.
 
Heaven follows closely behind her.
 
 
Pookie
 
walks over to the cabinet and takes out six wine glasses.
 
He gets a bottle of wine from the rack in the pantry and sets off for the bedroom.
 
He can hear voices coming from the other side of the door.
 
They sound as if they’re trying to whisper but
 
Pookie
 
can clearly hear every word they say.
 
He pushes the door open cautiously.
 
Leila is sitting on the edge of her bed with her head between her knees.
 
Tucker is rubbing her back.
 
Nickie
 
is sitting near the headboard watching the action.
 
Dana is standing a few feet away pacing the floor and Keisha is in a chair near the bed clearly amused by the whole scene.
 
 
Pookie
 
gives everyone except Leila a glass and fills it with wine.
 
“You guys this is all going to be fine,” he says.

“No it’s not going to be fine,” Dana shouts.
 
“How is she going to graduate from college with a husband and kids?”

“I don’t have any kids,” Leila says with her head buried between her knees.

“Well it’s only a matter of time and how are the two of you going to afford to take care of a child.
 
You’re just kids yourself.”

“He’s twenty-six and I’ll be twenty-one soon,” Leila says dryly.

“Mrs. Peterson I’m perfectly capable of taking care of Leila and our kids whenever we decide to have them,” Tucker says.

“I’m going to graduate and I’m going to take care of myself,” Leila says.

Dana drains her glass of wine and snatches the bottle from
 
Pookie
 
for a refill.
 
“What about your father?
 
He’s going to be so upset about not being able to walk you down the aisle.”

“We won’t tell him,” Tucker says forcefully shocking everyone.
 
 
“I don’t mean to be disrespectful Mrs. Peterson but you’re upsetting Leila.
 
Can you all please just give her a moment to collect herself?”
 
Dana’s eyebrows raise and her eyes nearly bulge out of her head.
 
The whole room is perfectly still.
 

Dana purses her lips and stares at Tucker for a few seconds.
 
She smiles and says, “Come out to the backyard and say hello to your new father-in-law when you’re ready.”
 
She leaves the room shaking her head.
 
Keisha snickers and leaves the room with her mom.
 

Nickie
 
stands up and whispers, “I can’t believe you stood up to my mom,” before leaving the room.

“I’ll see you guys out back,”
 
Pookie
 
says.
 
He rubs Leila’s back and pats Tucker’s shoulder before leaving the room.

“Let’s just leave,” Leila says.
 
“I can’t face my daddy,” right now.
 
Tucker pulls her to her feet.
 
He brushes away her tears and kisses her.
 

“I hate it when you cry,” He says.
 
“I’m going out to get your bags.
 
Just take a moment to relax and come out whenever you’re ready.”
 
Leila nods and kisses Tucker once more before he leaves the room.

*****

I take a quick shower and let my hair down.
 
The fluffy mound of curls falls around my shoulders.
 
I change into sweats and a tight tank top.
 
I look down longingly at my bed wondering if I could get away with taking a little nap.
 
The knock at my bedroom door answers my question.
 
“Baby you coming out?”
 
My grandma Bess calls out from the other side of the door.

“Come in grandma.”

“My baby,” she says walking over to hug me.
 
She’s so squishy and soft and she smells like butterscotch candy.

“I just want to take a nap granny.”

“Non-sense your family’s been waiting all day to see you.”
 
She takes my hand and pulls me out of the room. “That young man of yours has made quite an impression on your mother.

“What about daddy,” I ask as we walk through the empty house to the backyard.
 

“You know your daddy doesn’t think anyone’s good enough for you.
 
He’ll come around.”
 
I stand in the doorway and watch everyone.
 
 
Nogood
 
and Sarah are sitting at a table talking.
 
Aunt Clara and three of my female cousin’s have Tucker cornered.
 
Mike is standing near the grill talking to my daddy and staring at
 
Nickie
 
like he just spotted lunch.
 
Keisha and Doug are arguing about something and the kids are running amuck.
 
My daddy spots me and smiles.
 
I’ve missed him so much.
 
He closes the grill wipes his hands on a towel and comes over to hug me.