“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
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.