That night, she fucked me so good, I was sucking her toes by the morning. It was something about new pussy that would have a nigga’s head gone, but new pussy from a woman you cared deeply about made you think about the future. And seeing that I’d already envisioned what Danae would look like walking down the aisle, I was already ahead of the game.
As of today, Amil hadn’t said anything to either of us about the cameras at the diner. That shit had Danae walking around on eggshells. I, on the other hand, was prepared to hear my sister’s mouth if she did come across the footage. Part of me felt like if she had seen it, she was waiting for the opportunity to play it as her ace in the hole to get something out of me. The Libra in her wouldn’t be able to help it.
“You overworking your brain again?” Grandma Lettie asked from where she sat across from me.
We were in her living room watching the latest episodes ofLove After Lockdown.
“I’m a thinker, G.”
“That’s true, but when you get to thinking real hard, you get real quiet.”
I sat up straight. “What are you, the grandchild whisper? How you just be knowing shit?”
“It comes with age, baby.” She smiled. “How’s Danae?”
“She’s good. Out shopping for Key’s Valentine’s Day party and Mil’s Galentine’s Day dinner she’s having later.”
“Okay. A sponsored shopping trip, I hope.”
I smirked. “You know it.”
“You come from good stock.”
Laughing, I nodded in agreement. “She’s been opening up more. Letting me in little by little. She even spent the night.”
G paused and looked at me over her glasses.
“Before you even start, she came on her own.”
“Hey,” she said with her hands up. “You just never know witchu, grandson. I know you ain’t above a little kidnapping in the name of love.”
We both laughed, and I waved her off. “Mannnn, it ain’t never that serious.”
She cut her eye at me, lips twisted like she didn’t believe what I was saying.
“Aight. Aight. I might,” I admitted.
She shook her head, still laughing. “And Grandma still love you, baby. And I’m happy for you too. For a minute there, I thought I was gonna have to pull up on Danae myself. You been driving us crazy.”
I chuckled. “Damn. That bad?”
“Boy, yes. I was on the phone wit’ ya daddy yesterday, telling him about it. He was cracking up. That’s cause he knows he was just as bad when it came to ya mama.”
I sighed, feeling the residue of grief that still held a piece of my heart come up. “I told Danae about my moms and what her suicide did to him.”
“Did you tell her what it did to you? I think that’s far more important considering she’ll be with you and not your father.”
“She asked me why I never gave the women I dated in my life my heart. I said I saw how it broke him after she died. And I didn’t want that for me.”
G pushed herself up off her favorite chair and slowly walked over to sit by me. “You can’t build on a lie you’ve told yourself for years in order to maintain, Aura.”
I squinted, and my forehead creased in confusion. “What I lie about?”
“The reason you never gave anyone you dated your heart wasn’t because of what you seen your father go through. You never gave your heart because you couldn’t give away something that was broken, baby.”
“Ho…”
“I need you to hear this,” she cut me off. “I watched your heart break in real time at thirteen-years-old when you sat in this living room, curled up in my favorite chair, questioning why God couldn’t make your mother stronger. And what did I say to you then?”
