“How is she really?” Sweetie asked in a shaky voice as she hugged her sister back.
They stayed in the embrace for a moment before they pulled away.
Audra looked at her sadly. “She’s still Granny, bossing everyone around and trying to get Mama and Daddy under control, but she’s weak, Sweetie. I can tell it won’t be long . . .”
Audra choked on her words, which made fresh tears fall from Sweetie’s eyes. Suddenly, she felt nervous to lay eyes on her grandmother, knowing it wouldn’t be long before she couldn’t see her anymore.
“What’s wrong with her? What happened?” Sweetie asked as she searched her sister’s eyes for answers.
“Liver failure.”
“I can donate. I can?—”
“It’s too late for that. They caught it way too late with everything else she has going on.”
Sweetie knew it was a long list. Her grandmother had been fighting like hell for the past few years while her body slowly just shut down on her.
Shaking her head, Sweetie tried to gather some strength. “I can’t believe this is happening right now.”
Audra stayed quiet for a moment before she whispered, “You look good, Sweetie. I been worried about you.”
Sweetie’s brows hiked. “You have?”
That really shocked her. Audra had always been so busy being up under her dad and soaking in all his knowledge because she was the one that would take over his empire whenever he retired . . . or died. Her big sister never really seemed to care about Sweetie one way or another. In fact, she seemed to hate her.
Audra shook her head sadly. “I know I haven’t been the best to you. It wasn’t on purpose. I’ve just always had so much pressure on me since you made it clear you wanted nothing to do with the family business. I guess I always sort of envied you for doing whatever the hell you wanted while I was stuck under Daddy’s thumb. I always had to be perfect, and you had all the room in the world to fuck up. I don’t hate you. I just wished I could be more like you.”
Only a dying grandmother could have pulled this confession out of Audra, Sweetie was sure of it. Audra hadn’t reached out to her over the past year, so Sweetie assumed she really didn’t care.
“My life wasn’t all that easy, either, being the fuck up. I mean, look at me and look at you. You got designer labels on and you’re in your loungewear. I’m rockin’ Walmart. I should be the jealous one.”
They giggled and wiped their tears.
Audra reached over and squeezed Sweetie’s hand. “Do you know how you got your name?”
“Because I was always such a sweet child, even out the womb, let Mama tell it.” Sweetie’s brows dipped because she didn’t understand why Audra had asked her that.
“That’s true, but really, I named you. They had a whole other name picked out for you, but when I came to see you in the hospital, the first thing I said to you was, ‘Hi, Sweetie.’ I’d heard Granny call Mama that. I thought it was just a nickname or something, but Mama ran with it.”
“Why are you telling me this? You never told me before,” Sweetie said as she peered at her sister. She’d never heard that story before and wondered why.
“Because from that moment on, you stole all the attention. That childish envy runs deep.” They laughed again. “But when you got kicked out, it kind of seemed like something was missing from around here. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect, but I was too proud to reach out. Granny had a lot to say about that. You know she always hoped we would grow closer. And now . . .”
Her sentence trailed off, but Sweetie didn’t need her to finish. She knew. And now their grandmother was dying.
Sweetie sighed and stood. “Can we talk more about this later? I don’t have much time. I have to get to work.”
Truthfully, it was a lot to take in. She didn’t even want to go to work anymore, but that hustler mentality wouldn’t allow her a night to rest. She needed to see her granny and get to work. She would come right back the following morning.
Audra stood too and smiled. “Heard you strippin’ now. You any good?”
Sweetie grinned. “What you think?”
Audra nodded approvingly and whispered, “Daddy is beside himself that he has a daughter that’s stripping . . . I say do the shit until your knees give out just to spite him.” Sweetie giggled. She liked this side of Audra. She always thought that Audralikedtheir father, but it seemed like her sister might have a little more to her than Sweetie thought. “Come on. I’ll go in with you.”
They made their way toward the guest room, and Sweetie gently pushed the door open. It was set up like a comfortable hospital room, but her eyes fell on her granny in the middle of the bed.
“Granny?” Sweetie whispered as she moved further into the room and sat down in the chair next to the queen-sized bed.
