“Latrice!”
My dad and Mr. Freeman snapped at the same time.
“Oh, shit,” Ricky said, taking a sip of his water.
I waited to see if my mom would scold Ricky for cursing, but she fixated her eyes on Mrs. Freeman and Sandra. The one thing my mama did not play about was her man. She was the sweetest, God-fearing woman that you'd ever meet, but she was ten toes down for her family. Even Jesus flipped tables and whipped grown men for disrespecting his Father's house.
Tension was so thick in the room that you could slice it with a knife. I didn't know what was going on with Mrs. Freeman and Sandra, but this nasty attitude duo they were displaying was about to get their teeth knocked in. Before anyone else said another word, the waiters and waitresses brought out our drink orders and appetizers.
“Right on time,” Leonard said, grabbing his cup of scotch.
“Amen,” Mya chimed in with the same drink.
They glanced at each other with a smirk and gave each other a cheers gesture before throwing back their shots. Thankfully, the waiter had left the bottles in the room because I had a feeling it was going to be a long night.
“I apologize,” Mrs. Freeman said after taking a sip of her wine. “I did not intend for my words to come out as harsh as they did. However, I was only stating facts.”
My mom rolled her eyes. “We'll agree to disagree.”
Sandra scoffed as she took a sip of wine, causing my mom to cut her eyes at her. “Anyway, Mya, is it? I enjoyed the food at your restaurant regardless of the fact that it made me nauseous.”
Mrs. Freeman rolled her eyes. “So now we have to argue about facts and research, Patty?”
“Nauseous?” Mya said, cocking an eyebrow. “All you had was half a BLT and some lemonade.”
“I guess you didn't cook it all the way.” Sandra shrugged, taking another sip of her wine.
I could feel Mya's body tense next to me as she crumpled her napkin that was in her lap into a ball.
“Oh, and I saw your car, Natalie. Crazy how you got two flats.”
“Yeah. Good thing my fiancé was able to get that paid for. You know,” I chuckled. “We’ve been building our savings account for a little bit, but lately it’s like we get extra deposits every month.”
Sandra glared at me as I winked.
“Latrice, we're going to drop the subject, okay?” I heard my mom say.
“Uh, Sandra, are you sure you should be drinking wine?” Lawrence asked, his brow furrowing. He meant to say it in a low voice, but at that exact moment, everyone ceased their own conversations.
“Why are you so concerned?” I asked nonchalantly. I shouldn't have said anything, but I figured, why not? He should have never brought this hoe here, and she was causing problems.
“I uh,” Lawrence stammered, all eyes on us now.
“I told my boss that I was pregnant,” Sandra chimed in. “Mr. Lawrence, it's only a little wine.”
“Wait, Natalie, I thought you and Lawrence ran L&N together,” Leonard asked, looking over at me.
“We do!” Lawrence quickly answered. “I usually take care of the employee matters.”
“You sure do,” I said, pouring myself another glass of wine.
Ricky snorted out a laugh, but quickly pretended he was coughing as Lawrence glared at me.
“Boy, slow down! That's your second glass of rum and Coke,” My mother chided.
“I think we should all slow down on our drinks,” Lawrence said, staring at Sandra. “I mean, I don't think that is safe for the baby, and we, I mean you, wouldn't want anything to happen to him.”
My eyes bulged as I stared between him and Sandra. I knew she was pregnant, but I didn't realize that she was further along than I thought. So, they were having a baby boy. Although the child had nothing to do with this, I was pissed off. Observing Lawrence, I could see the pleading look on his face as he watched Sandra drink her wine. He really cared about her and the baby. The fact that he repeatedly told me he never wanted kids, but showed so much compassion for her, was a punch to the gut. Sandra's words came flooding back into my mind. I guess I wasn't good enough to be his wife or have his children. If I were, he never would have hurt me the way that he did.
