His engine purrs as he drives off.
I push the heavy gate open and walk into the front yard. The porch is empty, the yard is cut, and there’s the faint scent of cooked onions creeping out of a crack in one of the front windows.
I gait up the walkway and onto the porch as if I’ve done this a thousand times before because that light and dark feeling in the pit of my stomach swirls in a rage. I hold my clenched fist up to knock on the front door, but it swings open before I can even touch the wood.
Beatrice’s body jerks back, and her eyebrows shoot up.
“Girl, you scared the shit out of me.” She huffs, holding a bag of garbage in front of her curvy body.
“I’m…I’m sorry. I was just?—”
“Pup ain’t been here since Monday.” She avoids my gaze, stepping forward and backing me out of the doorway. “He came and finished the ramp out back, talked with his daddy for a few and then left.”
Her sharp tone is a far cry from the soft “love and light” one she used when we first met. Her brown eyes are hard. They don’t even hold that sympathy for Mama like they did before.
“I’m not here for Rich. I know how to get in touch with him if I need to,” I reply.
“Well, then, what can I do for you?”
“I came to talk to Senior.”
She drops the bag of garbage next to the front door and dusts her hands down the back of her too-tight housedress. “He just fell asleep. Maybe you can call him later to check on him? Pup can give you his number.”
“It’s important.”
“Then call Pup. He can take care of whatever it is. Senior can’t do much of anything from a wheelchair, and I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be here without Pup.”
I scoff out a low laugh, and I hear Mama’s chuckle somewhere in the rumble of thunder the sky chokes out.
I can’t believe I was silly enough to think this would be easy.
This isn’t some random caregiver taking care of Senior. Rich used to put his dick in Beatrice and I’ve hadthatdick.
“Look, Beatrice?—”
“Beatrice? You mean ‘Ms. Carrol,’ right? I’m old enough to be your mama.”
“But you’re not. You used to fuck my man and now you don’t, so I think we’re on equal footing,Beatrice.”
She jerks her head back and her upper lip curls. “Excuse me?”
“I’m not repeating myself. You heard what I said.”
“Look, we ain’t about to have no woman to woman moment on this porch over a man who ain’t even?—”
“A constant in your life?”
Her eyes widen.
“Yeah…” I take a step forward, backing her into the doorway. “He told me that’s what you said you wanted.”
She scoffs. “You playing with fire, lil’ girl.”
“Just like you, huh? Fucking RichandWendell Barnes when you know about the situation between Rich and his brother? Conveniently breaking things off with Rich when shit got too hot just in case you were to get burned? That’s mighty classy of you.”
She lets out a laugh. “Oh, you got yourself some grown man dick and now you losing your mind?”
“The only thing I’m losing is my patience.”
