Chapter 1
Summer
“I really think that this experience will be a good thing. You’ve been the only child around here, since forever. And now, you’ll have company.”
Reclining on our sectional with a throw pillow in my lap, I was trying my best not to roll my eyes at my mama. She was really standing in front of me, trying to sell me on the idea of her boyfriend moving in with his son. And I wasnota happy camper.
“Ma, I’m eighteen years old. And in all these years, I have yet to ask for a sibling. So, I don’t understand why you’d think that I want to live with some random people,” I rebutted.
My mama sassily rolled her eyes, as she waved me off. “You’re so damn dramatic, Summer. You literally go to school with Breeze. And I’ve been with Ricky for the past two years.”
“Right. But that’s been ay’allthing, ma. The most me and Ricky do is say hi and bye. I don’t know him, for real. And then, you spend entirely too much time at work, for those people to move in here. I’ll literally be alone, in a house filled with strangers.”
“Summer, come on.” She sighed, gripping her forehead. “You’re definitely being a brat, right now. Besides, this is why Ricky is moving in. To lighten the load. I won’t have to do doubles at the hospital, anymore. He’ll be taking over the mortgage payments. In fact, he’s taking overallthe bills. We’ll have more money for vacations. Shopping. And you’ll go off to college with a nice savings. Everybody wins.”
Sitting back, I shook my head, realizing that my mama’s mind was made up. One thing about it, Array loved money and nice shit. We both did. That’s exactly why she worked her ass off as a nurse practitioner and charge nurse.
We lived in a two-story, four-car garage, 4500 square foot lakefront home, equipped with a boating dock out back. It was my mama’s dream home that she’d purchased ten years back, when the rates were beautiful. According to her, anyway.
Array was an overachiever, who’d been a nurse since before I was born. She was now 41, with expensive taste, and thought that she was a cast member onThe Real Housewives of Atlanta.I’m talking real diva status. Except she was all natural.
With a medium, shapely physique, light brown skin, unnaturally white teeth, my mama was a sight to see. She was fine and knew it. And she literally carried herself like she was some type of celebrity. Hair and makeup was always on 10. Even when she was headed to work in her scrubs, they were always pressed straight from the cleaners, and was gonna hug every curve on her body.
Keeping up with the Joneses, mama drove a Mercedes G-Wagon, and had just passed down her 3X BMW SUV to me, after paying it off. So, I knew with Array, it wasalwaysabout the money.
And now, me, her only child. The apple of her eye. Her baby. Was about to be placed in an uncomfortable position, because Tricky Ricky wanted to move in, and pay for shit.
“Ma, I just really don’t wanna do this,” I groaned, thinking of how my life was about to completely shift.
To me, everything was perfect as it was. My mama worked a lot, which gave me free reign over the house. I could wear whatI wanted. Smoke my weed. Have company, after sneaking them by the blind spot on the cameras.
Basically, after my mama left for work, I became a grown ass woman in my own house. And there was no way that I could do me with Ricky and fucking Breeze hanging around.
Breeze
“Okay, so, when we go in here, don’t be saying no crazy shit,” my pops warned.
I lightly chuckled, as I peered at the house we’d just pulled up to. The muthafucka was nice, and was just up the road from the home that we’d been renting for last few years. It was about twice as big, and had a G-Wagon parked out front.
“Ole man, quit tripping. I’m chilling,” I promised, as I was still buzzing from the blunt I’d smoked. “Aint nobody finna mess this up for you. I know that your tricking done finally paid off. So, I aint gon show my ass til we at least fully move in.”
He cut his eyes at me. “You aint funny, lil’ nigga. My tricking finally paid off,” he mimicked. “Me taking care of what’s mine is hardly tricking.”
I hooded my eyes. “Then what else do you call it?”
“It’s called that I got a woman, and she’s worth providing for. And she won’t sit her ass down and stop pulling doubles, unless I can do more. Then I’m tired of not being here every night, cause I gotta keep a eye on your wild ass. Something had to give. So, we finna try this family shit. I know that you don’t give a damn, but this woman is the one. Which means that there aint no more waiting for our kids to leave the nest. It’s happening now, and one day when you find a muthafucka that you can’t be without,then you’ll understand my position. Meanwhile, go in here and smile. Play nice.”
I shrugged. “Hey, I’m cool. So, let’s go in here and be fake with ya gal and her stuck up daughter.”
Pops shook his head. “You just make sure to keep them thoughts to yourself. Besides, what makes Summer stuck up?”
I shook my head, as I thought about it.
To put things into perspective, I’d been living with my pops since I was 15. Before then, I’d been living with my mama, back in 5thWard, which was one of the oldest hoods in Houston. My mama and daddy hadn’t been a thing since I was like three. By the time I was seven, I had four other siblings, and my daddy was the most decent out of all the baby’s daddies. He was the only consistently present father, unfortunately.
My pops paid his child support religiously and picked me up every weekend. It wasn’t until I was 13 did I realize that I wasn’t fully benefiting from the money my pops paid in child support.
With my mama having two other deadbeat baby’s daddies, my child support was used for everybody. And even with my mama working, there was never enough money for any extras. I often had to call my daddy for the simplest shit, like money for McDonald’s or field trips. Despite his hefty payments, I couldn’t get anything directly. And by the time I was 14, I realized that life would be better out in the burbs with my pops.
