Chapter 3
Ajori
The weekend had come and gone. It was Monday morning, and I was up making breakfast for me and Kyrin when I heard the key in the lock. Moments later, Vanessa breezed into the kitchen like she’d just returned from a vacation instead of another night out. My mama was still beautiful in a way that made grown men lose their common sense. Her honey complexion mirrored mine, but everything about her always looked a little more…glamorous and expensive. She wore a champagne-colored slip dress with heels to match, a small clutch tucked under her arm, and the faint scent of mimosas lingering around her.
“Good morning, gorgeous daughter of mine,” she sang, kicking her heels. “Where’s my baby?”
I rolled my eyes internally while stirring the eggs. “Kyrin’s in his room.”
She walked down the hall, her voice instantly turning sweet when she called his name. A few minutes later, she reappeared, sipping from a water bottle.
“He’s ready to eat. I swear that boy will eat you out of a house and a home.”
“Better than him not eating at all,” I mumbled, hoping she heard me.
And she did.
Her eyes flicked toward me with that familiar look she gave whenever accountability tried to tap her on the shoulder.
“Ajori, don’t start,” she said, waving her hand. “I’m just talking.”
“Yeah. You’re real good at talking,” I sassed.
She ignored that and leaned against the counter. “Anyway, I had the best time last night. You should’ve seen this man trying to buy me a bottle, acting like I ain’t know it was the cheap stuff. I told him—”
“You ever think about staying home justoneweekend?” I interjected, not caring to hear about her club chronicles or who tried to impress her and failed.
Vanessa’s brows shot up. “Excuse me?”
I turned off the stove and finally faced her fully. “Ma, you’re barely ever here. Every other night, it’s a new outfit, new heels, a new man, and a new drink. Meanwhile… Kyrin’s got doctor appointments, medication schedules, and a heart that could quit on him if we’re not careful.”
Her jaw tightened. “So what you saying? That I’m a bad mother? I wouldn’t say that. I raised you just fine, didn’t I?”
I stared at her. “You meanIraised me, and now I’m raising Kyrin. Ma, when is all of this gonna stop?”
“All of what, Ajori?” she asked, with a heavy sigh likeIwas exhaustingher, while rummaging through her purse, looking for who knows what.
“The partying! The men! The disappearing acts! Kyrin needs his mama! Hell,Ineed my mama!” I stressed.
My voice cracked at the end, but I didn’t care. I’d held it in long enough.
“I’m tired of pretending I’m fine when I’m exhausted!” I continued ranting. “I’m twenty-nine! I should be living my life, moved out, with a ring on my finger, or at least in love with somebody’s toxic son by now! But instead, I’m picking Kyrin up from school, packing lunches, helping with his homework, and making sure he eats becauseyou’retoo busy running the streets to be his mom!Do you know how lucky I am to have Lainey? If it wasn’t for her stepping up, I don’t know how I would’ve made it through some of these nights! I’m tired of having to see my brother crying because you promised to come to his events at school and don’t show, and I’m tired of making up stories to explain your absence without straight-up lying to him! And don’t get it twisted,” I added quickly. “I don’t regret taking care of him… not for one second. Kyrin is the best thing in my life, but I shouldn’t be doing it alone!”
Vanessa finally looked at me. Her eyes were glossy, but not in a way that said she was ready to change.
“Ajori, you’re right. But this has always been my lifestyle… this is who I am. I like getting out and enjoying myself. I like feeling free. It’s not like I’m on drugs or something.”
Something in me snapped.
“Sometimes I wish you were.”
She blinked, taken aback. “What?”
“At least then you’d have a reason for your absence. Addicts run because they’re broken; you run because you’d rather party than be a mother. If you were on drugs, there would be a reason… something to fight. But this?”I shook my head.“You disappear by choice, and you abandon us by habit. And the worst part? You think being absent is okay just because you're not high.”
That made her flinch.
Good… maybe it’d make her think too.