I rode my bike up the driveway and parked in front of my grandparents’ car. Before I could take my helmet off good, the screen door creaked open, and a loud squeal followed.
I looked up at the sky for a moment, then glanced over at the woman who harbored the same gray colored eyes as me. My mother was crazy beautiful, but she was irresponsible as fuck. I looked away for a moment, then returned my attention to her and nodded in her direction.
“That’s all you have for your mama? Don’t make me pop you Duke.”
She gripped her hips and smacked her lips with each word. I reached out and wrapped my arms around her for a moment. Just a moment. I wished our relationship could be more thanawkward hellos and goodbyes. I guess that was the life of a child who made a child, but left her responsibilities behind.
I released my hold on Heiress and walked around her to head into the house. The screen closed behind me, so I figured she decided to smoke while she was out there. Coffee and peppermint wafted past my nose the moment I stepped into the living room. My grandad was sitting in his recliner with his newspaper. While my grandma sat on the couch closest to him, watching some medical show on TV.
“If it isn’t my little baby.” My grandma announced at the sight of me.
Grandad peered over the top of his newspaper and released a breath with a wave of his hand.
“That boy damn sure ain’t little no more, Glory.”
I laughed, then walked over to place a kiss on her cheek. Then gave my grandad a pound before taking a seat beside my grandma.
“He is always going to be my little baby, Winnie.” She reached over and pinched my cheek.
I smiled, crumbling under her attention, which caused my granddad to groan. He hated when she called him that shit in front of company. I remembered asking why as a kid, outside of the obvious reason that he was a grown man.
She would always say he had the kindest soul and was never in too much of a hurry. Not to mention, my granddad had freckles scattered across his cheeks and nose, with the same gray eyes and pecan-colored skin as my mother and me.
That was one of the reasons why, when I was a kid, if I went anywhere with them, people often thought they were my actual parents. I was fine with that, and they never corrected anyone when asked.
Shit, if you asked me, theyweremy parents—they just carried the grandparent title too.
The woman outside smoking felt more like a sister than a mother. But whenever I slipped up and called her by her name as a kid, my grandparents would get on me about it.
Before I could say another word, Heiress, my mom, came back inside. She sat on the edge of my grandad’s recliner instead of taking a seat by me. My grandad didn’t fret or say a word, he just adjusted the way he was sitting, so she was comfortable. It was always that way with my grandparents. They never made her feel bad for leaving them with her responsibility.
“I just wanted to come and check on y’all since I haven’t been here in a few days. You know the bar has kept me busy and the Black Thorns.” I told them.
“Yeah, and we like what you’ve done with the Black Thorns, son. They used to be such a nuisance, but these days, you’ve switched all of that around,” my grandad said.
I smiled under his praise.
“Maybeliene, you know her. She lives down the street. She was in the salon on Sunday, talking all about it. How you did the dang thing with the giveaways, but that heffa was the main one talking stuff when you first joined. I reminded her of that, too.” My grandma added.
I chuckled because although my grandma was God fearing; she didn’t play behind me or anybody else in this family. Not to mention, she and Maybeliene had a love dislike relationship. They lived to throw little remarks at each other but would go have lunch on the regular like best friends.
“You and Maybeliene are a trip, but I appreciate you standing up for me.”
She reached over and pulled me close to smother my cheek with kisses. I couldn’t help but to smile. I didn’t smile a lot but when I was around the folks I loved; I thrived.
“He not all that, Mama. You gone give him a bigger head than he already has.” Heiress said.
I stood. “On that, I’m gone head out. If y’all need anything, let me know.”
Heiress rolled her eyes. “Why are you always so damn sensitive? I was just kidding.”
I shrugged and kept walking. She wanted to argue, but I had no plans on entertaining her.
Once I was outside, I hopped back on my bike and made my way to Chrome. I made it a point to drive past Scottie’s to see if ol’ girl from earlier was still out there.
She wasn’t, but I didn’t want to miss my chance to see her sooner rather than later.
Ten minutes later, I made it to my street, where the old donut shop someone had purchased was nearly finished with renovations. I could clearly see the name now—Sugar Kissed, which was right up my alley.