Talk a Good Game (38 page)

His mother released a long sigh.
“I couldn’t make it. Of course their mama dogged me and my husband
out on Facebook.”

My eyes widened.
Talk about childish
.
“You
’
re kidding.”

I couldn’t believe the way her
head was rolling. “Now,
that
’s
an evil woman. I don’t know how
Giggles was married to her for so long.”

And she was the only wife he
claimed. What was up with that? He definitely had some explaining
to do.
And no time like the
present.
I looked up to see Jeremy
stepping in to the kitchen, followed by his brother.

“
We
’
re ready for some of Aunt
Gerry
’s
apple pie.
” He had the nerve to have that
stupid grin on his face.

I glared at him, trying to make
eye contact. When he finally did, I rose from the chair. “Can I
talk to you in private?”

Jeremy looked nervous. “About
what?”

“
About
your
three
wives.”

Where the hell did they come
from?
Once again his nosy cousin Karida
was all up in our business. I wanted to snatch her tracks out of
her head if I wasn’t already anxious to get my fiancé
alone.

“
My three wives?” he repeated like
he hadn’t heard his cousin the first time. It was clear he was
stalling for time. “What are you talking about?”

“
I don’t
know why you lied
to that girl like that?” his mother shook her
head.

He must have glanced around and realized that
everyone was looking at him because he did something I never
expected.

“
Is that what
you told my family?” he accused and had the nerve to look like I
had betrayed him or something when he was the one who had betrayed
me. “
I
don’t
know why you sitting there telling
that lie. I
told
you I had three wives. Hell you met one of them while you
were at Tiffany
’s
graduation!”

No he didn’t just embarrass me in
front of his people. “But you didn’t tell me you had two
more.”

“
What you in
here doing… fishing for information from my family? You wanna know
anything then you need to ask me. All you
’
re doing is
looking for an excuse to end our engagement. Fine…
you don’t
wanna marry me, then don’t!” He then grabbed a
chicken leg from the island and stormed out the
kitchen.

JANELLE

I left Frankie
’s
place and headed back to Columbia with a big shit-eating grin
on my face. We had just spent a fabulous weekend together, and I
was really feeling that dude.

Here was my homeboy from back
during a time when he had a big crush on me and I was fucking older
boys with jobs and cars. Now he was a man I was really feeling.
Don’t get me wrong there wasn’t a day that passed I wasn’t missing
Kaleb. I missed his smile, his touch. I even missed that
cripple-ass walk that was his own unique swagger. I couldn’t get
him off my mind. But as much as I wanted to be there when he
received his next installment check, I’d be damned if I was going
to continue to be disrespected. And to prove to him how serious I
was, I waited until he was in Kansas City on business and had all
of my things moved from his house and into a storage unit.
He
’
d been calling and begging ever
since. Like I told him before, Jae is not to be messed
with.

I pulled into Columbia and felt
this need to drop by and see my mother. I usually saw her on
Mondays but for some reason I just wanted to talk to her and share
what was going on in my life and hear what she had to say. I drove
down Providence Road past the park. They were playing hoops so the
park was packed with wall-to-wall brothas. Back in the day I
couldn’t wait to get my hot ass down the hill so I could be seen in
the hood but that was before my father started sliding up and
embarrassing me. Nothing worse than a cop snooping around. After
that I started going places he never could find me.

I made a right at the light and a
few seconds later I pulled in front of the house. That eerie
feeling returned but I pushed it aside. Today I wasn’t letting
anything steal my shine!

I was surprised to find the door locked since Mama
always wanted to make it easy for her nurse to get in without
having to roll her wheelchair to the door. As much as I complained,
she was too damn paranoid to give the healthcare agency a key.

A little annoyed, I reached for my keys and opened
the door. As soon as I stepped inside, I gagged at the stench of
stale cigarettes.

“
Mommy!” I called between coughs.
“Where you at?”

It wasn’t until I had cleared my
throat that I heard moaning coming for the rear of the house. I
dropped my purse and raced toward her bedroom. The last time my
mother had fallen it had taken two days for someone to discover
her.

I pushed her bedroom door open and
braced myself for the worse. “Mommy, you—” My breath stalled. I
shook my head to make sure I wasn’t seeing things but even when I
opened them again the image was still there.

Mama in the bed getting busy with Uncle Todd.

He was in mid-stroke when I came barging in, and he
leaped off my mother like a crusty old frog.

“
You
’ve
gotta be fucking kidding me!”
I sputtered, while still trying to process what I was
witnessing.

Of course his fake ass was the
first to speak. “Jae, it
’s
—”

“
Save it!” I
screamed while I just stood there looking at the two of them in
disgust. Here I was thinking Mommy
’s
moans had been
a result of another fall. Yeah, she had fallen alright. Right onto
Uncle Todd
’s
little-ass dick.

“
Jae, I know
you
’
re upset,” she managed to
say.

I glared, while they tried to
cover themselves up. “You couldn’t begin to know how I feel. The
two of you disgust me!” With that I turned and left the
room.

Uncle Todd called after me just as I was turning the
knob to hurry out to my car.

“
Jae, you hear me talking to
you.”

Like a child who had been raised
to respect her elder, I stopped, blew out a long breath then slowly
turned around. There wasn’t shit he could say to explain what I had
just seen, but I did as I was told, even though I felt two seconds
away from throwing up.

“
We need to talk.”

At least he had taken the time to put on a t-shirt
and his pants.

“
How can you betray my father like
that?” All I could do was shake my head in disbelief.

“
Your father has
been dead for almost twenty years. He was my best friends. Don’t
you think he woulda like to see me and your mother happy, even if
it
’s
with each other?”

I gave him a look that said he knew better than
that. As selfish as my father was he would rather we all be
miserable as he was.

“
But
you
’
re my godfather. Why couldn’t you
have picked someone other than my mother?”

He stuck his hands in his pocket
and moved closer. “Claudette is a good woman. I
’
m not
going to make excuses for loving her because I do. But we should
have told you. I
’
m sorry.”

I brought a hand to my waist. “And
how long has this been going on?”

Uncle Todd couldn’t even look me
in the eyes, which meant it had been going on longer than I wanted
to know. Maybe even while my father was still alive. I shook my
head and this time he didn’t stop me from leaving.

I left the neighborhood, angry and
frustrated. My perfect morning had been ruined.
So much for not letting someone steal my shine.

I pulled up at the hotel where I
had been staying, ready for a hot shower. As soon as I climbed out
my car, I spotted Kaleb
’s
Range Rover rolling up
beside me. I couldn’t get out the car fast enough before he dashed
across the parking lot towards me. I swung around so fast, I saw
him flinch.

“
What do you want?” I asked
through gritted teeth.

He smiled. “Babe, before you go
off, hear me out.”

I dragged my purse over my
shoulder and rolled my eyes. I’d been blowing off his calls for
days, but I
’
d be lying if I said I wasn’t
curious to hear what he had to say. “What do you want?”

“
I miss you.”

I tried not to get excited by his confession yet
damn this man did things to me. But then there was that crazy
side…

I glanced around to see if anyone was watching. Just
in case Kaleb decided to go off again at least I would have
witnesses. Sadly there were none.

“
You gonna stand there and act
like you don’t miss me.”

At his words I felt the area
between my thighs spring to life, but I quickly shook it off. “Yes,
I miss you but that doesn’t change anything.”

Kaleb looked at me with this
knowing smile. “Yes it does. I know you love me and I love you, and
as long as we have that we can work through anything.”

I stifled a laugh. “Work through
what? You being controlling? That
’s
never going to
change.”

“
Yes, it will. Just give me time
baby and I’ll work on it. I’ll even see a therapist if that will
help.”

I was speechless. Maybe he was
trying to change. “You
’
d do that for me?” I
asked although I was still suspicious.

“
Anything to
have you back. I feel like someone has chopped off my right arm.”
He leaned in to kiss me, but I drew back and he caught my ear
instead. There was no way I could think straight with his hands all
over my body. One touch and it
’s
a wrap. I had gone
through his bullshit enough times to know that it was going to take
me not putting up with his bullshit for things to finally change in
our relationship.

“
I
’
m willing to do whatever it
takes. Just come back home.” He was practically
pleading.

“
I
am
home,” I snapped and
didn’t mean to sound upset but I was. He was trying to play mind
games with me again. Have me move all my shit over so he could get
mad and send me packing again. I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to go
through that again.

“
Babe, please. I love you too much
to lose you.”

Kaleb then got down on his knee,
pleading in the middle of the hotel parking lot. “Babe, I love
you.” He took my hand in his and then reached inside his pocket. I
spotted the engagement ring as he attempted to slip it back on but
as good as it looked on my finger, I yanked my hand away. “Stop
it!”

“
Stop what?” he
persisted. “Loving you? Wanting my fiancée back?”
he sighed.
“I messed up. Babe… I admit I scooped the poop,
but it
’s
nothing we can’t
fix.”

That was easy for him to say. I
wasn’t the one who was crazy and wishy-washy.

I took a step back, putting a little space between
us. He was wearing that new Armani cologne I bought him and it made
me wanna bury my face at his neck and inhale.

He rose and signaled with his
hand, “C
’
mon. Let
’s
go inside
and talk.” As usual, Kaleb was trying to run things.

“
How about we
don’t.” I was getting a little annoyed at the way he was acting as
if this was so simple. “I
’
m not ready yet to hear
what you have to say. You said you’re willing to get help then do
it, and when I see you’re trying to change, then I’ll be willing to
listen!”

He was trying to maintain his
composure but I knew he was ready to go off or so I thought.
“Janelle, I will do whatever it takes to get you back in my life.”
He tossed his hands up in surrender. “All this instability…
I
’
m fucking up my
son
’s
life.”

Now that was one thing I
couldn’t
argue.
“Then get yourself together
for your son
’s
sake, not mine.” At least I
tried to sound sympathetic.

Kaleb shook his head.
“There
’s
no me without you. Don’t you
love me?”