“Don’t go bothering him while he’s at work. He’s out trying to make a living for you all. You should have called me first instead of calling him.”
My mouth twisted in disgust. I swore I couldn’t stand that lady. If my kids didn’t love her, and vice versa, I would have cut her ass off a long time ago.
“I understand.”
“Now, what time do you have to leave?”
“I need to leave in the next hour.”
“Mm. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”
“Thank you, Mama Leanna.”
She hung up on me.
Stupid, bird-face broad.
I sighed deeply as I went back into the kitchen to finish loading the dishwasher. I knew better. Leo had to be talking negatively about me to his mother for her to think she could talk to me that way. It honestly hurt my feelings that she treated me like that. I had been nothing but kind to that woman sinceI started dating her son back in college, and all she’d ever given me was attitude.
There had been many occasions where my mother had to speak to her about the way she treated me. Talking to me as if I were incompetent earned her a nice cursing out from Anika Dancy. My mom played about a lot of things, but her children and grandchildren were never one of them.
Leanna didn’t like that my mom told her she would slap what little edges she had left off her head if she continued to talk to me crazily, and that only made the lady hate me more.
Leo knew that, so for him to call her to come over and keep the kids was crazy to me, but I had no other options until my mom made it back from New York that evening. I was going to make one last attempt to salvage our marriage. Even though we couldn’t go to the cabin that night, I was going to do something romantic for us.
I had already purchased his gifts since he thought I didn’t buy him anything, and I made sure to pull out the food to prepare a three-course meal for us. I was excited, and I prayed everything would go well.
Leanna arrived thirty minutes later, as promised. She didn’t say much to me, but I didn’t care. The sooner I could secure my client and get back to my children, the faster I could get her out of my house. I could have met with them over Zoom, but I wanted our first meeting to be in person so we could get better acquainted.
I just hoped that by the time I returned, Leanna would pack up her shit and disappear.
By the timeI made it home, Leanna had made it her business to stay a little longer than she normally would. I simply ignored her ass and went to prepare my babies’ bags so they could go with my mother. I called Nora as I packed the last bag to see if she wanted to come over and have a pre-anniversary drink with me because I knew Leo wouldn’t be home until eight that night.
She answered on the third ring.
“Hey, friend!”
“Hey. What are you up to?”
“Not much. In the middle of packing because I’m going out of town for a few days to celebrate our wiiin.”
I laughed. “Okay, ma’am! Where are you going?”
“Nowhere special. Just to Traverse City. Are you all ready for tonight?”
“I’m getting there. My mom is on her way to get the kids. I’m going to use this weekend to get my marriage back on track.”
“I know that’s right. I hope it all works out for you, friend. You deserve love and happiness. How many years will it be again?”
“Thirteen.”
“The big one three!”
We both laughed.
“Yeah, I was going to ask you to come over for a drink, but I see you already have plans. Let’s pray for many more.”
“To many, many more, darling. Let me go ahead and finish packing, toots. I’ll call you when I get there.”
