“What way?”
“Like you can’t take your eyes off of her. I stayed away, not because I didn’t want to come and help, but because I wanted you to have time to settle in without my interference. And I’m glad I did because you’ve realized that you didn’t need me to lean on, you had someone else.”
“You hadn’t even met her but you set me up?”
Her brow rose and I knew she was wishing she could still put belt to ass since I was sassing her. “And if this turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to you?”
“I’ll buy you a new house.”
“Mijo, you would’ve done that anyway. I would tell you to think bigger but I will just go and talk to my future daughter-in-law and tell her what I want.”
“Do you need anything?” It was easier to look after her than to have her trying to mind all my business and tell me about things I wasn’t ready to face.
“Never. You already do too much as it is, Richie.” My mother was pissed that I refused to take any of the money that had been left to me from my dad. Not that I was arrogant enough to think I was going to make it to the league, I just knew that her having a larger nest egg was more important for her to heal properly than me having money in the bank to blow. Thankfully, I went to a D1 school on a full ride so the money wasn’t needed. Now that I was successful it was even less reason for me to take anything from her and she let me know every time I did something that I was too much.
I leaned over and kissed her cheek, forcing her to smile despite her wanting to boss up on me.
“Nothing will ever be good enough for the way you held everything together for us after Daddy died. That strength is priceless.”
“Save that charm for the woman in there that is going to be your forever. I’ve been able to be number one in your life for many years but in just a few months you’ve found me two replacements and I couldn’t be happier.” The way she smiled when she turned to look at Sterling with Ami had me thinking she’d really been plotting on the two of us getting together.
“Not replacements.”
“When I see the type of joy that you have on your face looking at her, I’m more than happy to be third place,mijo.” She leaned up to give me a kiss on the cheek before she covered the spot with her hand affectionately. “And how she handles mygrandbaby is so perfect to watch. I wonder if she knows she loves that baby even more than she loves you.”
My throat damn near tightened up hearing her say that cause there was no way Sterling was feeling me like that. There had been no sign that she’d harbored those types of feelings. “She doesn’t love me, ma…”
My mama shrugged in that factualmama knows allway she’d been doing my whole life. “Maybe not yet, but watch what I say. We’re going to always give you your space, Richie but it’s especially important now because you have your own family unit that you’ve formed. Don’t get so caught up worrying about us that you neglect them. They are the priority now.”
My mama was fucking me up talking like this for real. She was really going with the fact that me and Sterling were a done deal. Yeah, she made me think thoughts, in a way no other woman had been able to since all this shit with Ami’s mother came out. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that shit after what I knew about myself. With Sterling still being left in the dark about it, would she even want a man that might have a flashback of a night he couldn’t remember while she was fucking him? If I acted up with her and treated her the way I had the other night?
“There are things in the way of us really even seeing where this could go, Ma.” I wasn’t going to spill my guts but I had to be real with her that she might honestly be disappointed and not get her way.
“Isn’t that your job? To evade the defense and get the score? I need you to take the prowess that’s made you rich on the field and apply it to your personal life.” She pushed my shoulder trying to hype me up and I had to smile at her attempt.
“I’ll do my best.”
“I know you will, baby.” She got quiet and then I watched as her eyes teared up slightly. “He would be so proud of how you’vehandled all of this, Aldrich. Your daddy is up in heaven wearing that big grin so proud of you.”
The tears were burning at the back of my eyes again and I swallowed my emotions back down before I spoke. “I’d believe it. I just hope he can keep his hands on me and guide me from up there since he can’t from down here.”
“Always.”
“What do you miss most about him?”
Her face broke into a broad but sad smile. Her eyes went over to the pool and watched as the colors changed from where I had it lit up. “Everything honestly. He used to randomly ask me to dance and it was always one of those things that would instantly brighten my day. Little things like that. We would laugh together. Commiserate over how y’all drove us crazy but we could never see life without any of you. The same way I’m sure you’ll be calling me to lament about Ami when she grows up.”
“I pray it stays that way.”
We stood in silence for a minute before the music that had been playing through the total-home speakers shifted and my father’s favorite song came on. On cue, I opened the door to the house and led my mama back in so we could dance. My brother and sister, despite being teenagers, had witnessed moments like this between my parents frequently. We’d pretend the shit was gross but it was refreshing to see our parents openly love one another the way they did.
I finished dancing with my mama to Ribbon in the Sky and when she excused herself to the bathroom I knew she was going to shed the tears she didn’t think we knew she cried. Losing my father to cancer the way we had knocked us all off our feet. I was a senior in high school and my younger brother and sister had just gotten into middle school. His cancer was so aggressive that in less than a year he was gone and our worlds were shattered.Colon cancer was a muthafucka and it was one reason the foundation I set up paid for screening among African American men starting at thirty-five at no cost to them. There’s a lot of red tape that was put in place to keep men from knowing something was wrong until it was too late. I wanted to help prevent another family from going through what we did when we lost him.
“Dance with me, Ling.”
“Me?” She looked at my brother and sister, both of whom were just looking between the two of us like they’d been waiting on me to make my move. Mateo and Cassie were always doing their bratty younger sibling thing and I knew they would make a bigger deal out of this than necessary.
I jerked my head toward the slightly empty space in the middle of the floor where I’d danced with my mother. “Yeah, you sitting on the sidelines come on and dance.”
