by Kat Addams
Me: Is this a joke?
I wondered if my aunt was going senile and thought it was April Fools’ Day. She was that type of prankster. It would be just like her to pull some stunt like this for attention. She’d get us all out to Memphis and then guilt-trip us for having to lie to get us to visit her.
Aunt May: What? You don’t think someone can love this old love sack? Well, he does. Surprisingly. I hope you can make it.
A picture popped up on my screen of her and a gray-headed man smiling at the camera. My aunt was smiling. Smiling!
What the hell?
Me: I’ll see what I can do.
I walked out of the taco truck and dialed my mother’s number. I didn’t speak to my mother very much, let alone see her. I could admit that I held resentment for having to raise my sister and what felt like her too. I could never count on her, even now. She was too busy doing whatever the hell she wanted. She picked up odd jobs here and there, but most of her time was spent being off with this douche bag and that douche bag. They stole money, got her involved in messes, and always left her high and dry. That was when she would come crawling back to me, the tough one, yet again.
One too many times, I’d heard her say how she just wasn’t a good mother and never even planned on having kids. She hadn’t had my sister and me until her late thirties, and she claimed us both as accidents. It wasn’t until my teenage years that I’d begun to realize how toxic relationships worked, and I distanced myself. She’d always be my mama, but I knew trouble when I saw it, and my mama was trouble.
“Well, if it isn’t my too cool for school child. What is it you need? I only hear from you when you need something,” my mother said after picking up on the second ring.
“I can say the same thing, Mama. I take it, you got that check I sent you?” I paced back and forth on the sidewalk.
Rox stuck her head out the back of the truck, checking on me, but I waved her away.
“I did. Thanks.” Her voice fell flat.
I knew she had a difficult time with thanking me. Her pride was just one of her many downfalls. But still, she was family, and I’d always take care of her even if it had to be from a distance.
“Good. I was calling about Aunt May though. She said she got married. Are you going to her get-together?” I asked, closing my eyes and praying to God she wasn’t.
“And where am I supposed to get money for a plane ticket? Pull it outta my ass?”
You could stop giving it to every lowlife man who uses you for it, I thought.
If my mother had one redeeming quality, it was that she never partook in the drugs and bullshit. But she still let the ones who did ruin her life and mine.
Sometimes, I wondered, If my dad had stayed, would things have been better? Maybe one deadbeat dad might have been better than the handfuls of them my mom kept trying to replace him with.
I kept telling myself that my mom was my mom, and she meant well. She was just another one of those little girls who hadn’t learned her life lessons quickly enough. Hopefully, I was going to break that cycle with my children one day.
“I can buy your plane ticket, Mama.” My stomach churned.
I wanted to help, but I didn’t want to give an inch because she would take the five miles she usually did.
“I’ll think about it and let you know,” she said. I heard a man’s voice in the background and rolled my eyes. “Gotta go, baby.”
“Bye.” I sighed, stuffing the phone back into my back pocket.
I rubbed my eyes and turned my face toward the sun. The heat beamed down hot on my skin. I wanted it to burn and melt away all the emotions that played across my expression. I didn’t want to talk about my mom or my aunt. And I knew Rox and the girls would know something was up if I wasn’t my usual chatty self.
“Betty!” a small voice called.
I jumped in response and turned around to see Maisy running toward me, Terrance following closely behind.
“Maisy? Terrance? What are y’all doing here? How’s your arm?” I bent over, inspecting her red cast.
Already, she had five signatures on it.
“It’s all better! Will you sign it?” She stuck out her hand, gripping a black marker. “Daddy said you could. Said we could get lunch and you could sign it at the same time. He said you made the best tacos. Did you know that’s my favorite food? Most kids like pizza. Or apples. Or bananas. Or Oreos. I like those too. But tacos are my favorite. He thought it would cheer me up. But want to know something? You cheer me up,” Maisy rattled off, hopping from one foot to the other.
I took her marker and signed my name where she was pointing, right under her dad’s name.
“Maisy! Give her time to think at least.” Terrance’s eyes grew wide while his daughter droned on and on. “I had to bring her. She wouldn’t stop asking about the pretty lady who was going to teach her how to Judy chop.”
“Judy chop?” I asked her.
“Like this. And a Judy chop!” Maisy jumped up, spun around, and chopped her hand through the air.
“Don’t ask. My dad has way too much time to spend on the internet. He showed her some viral video thing. And now, she thinks she’s a kung fu ninja. Just what I need. More risk of her getting hurt.” Terrance crossed his arms and rocked back on his heels, staring Maisy down.
“He’s one of those helicopter parents.” Maisy pursed her lips.
I threw my head back and laughed, startling the sassy little spitfire.
“Yet more wisdom from my dear, old dad. Anyway, how about some tacos, kiddo? Let’s grab some and go. Miss Betty is probably super busy.” Terrance motioned for us to head to the front of the truck’s order window.
“No, she’s not. There isn’t anyone here. Look.” Maisy stuck her hand to her brow and turned her head left and right as if she was searching high and low to prove her point.
“I’ve got a little break. How about you tell me what you want, and I’ll get it? There are a few tables around front. Go have a seat, and I’ll be right out.”
“Thanks. Just regular tacos. No tomatoes. Sweet tea.” Terrance sighed. He looked as if he hadn’t slept all night.
“Tomatoes are disgusting! Pickles too. Also, snails. Did you know people eat snails?” Maisy started up again.
“I won’t serve you snails. Promise.” I looked back at Terrance. “And for you?”
“Whiskey. Valium. Vacation. One of those breaks like you were talking, except about two days long. Minimum,” he replied, dragging his feet toward a table.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I said before heading back into the truck.
“Harry Potter World!” Maisy jumped up and down, following behind her dad.
I felt DTF’s eyes on me before I saw them. I knew they’d all been staring out the window, and now, I’d have to answer questions. Sure enough, Layla was the first to open her mouth.
“You’re going to be a mommy.” Layla jumped up and down, slightly jostling the truck.
I rolled my eyes. “No one said anything about motherhood. Now, make me some tacos without tomatoes.” I poured sweet tea into a cup and put a lid on it. Already in mom mode.
“But that’s his daughter, right?” Nikki asked. “It has to be. They look so much alike!”
I sighed, staring at Terrance and Maisy out the window. They had their heads together in deep conversation. Maisy kept nodding her head up and down, and Terrance kept shaking his.
“Yes, it’s his daughter. Before y’all start asking questions, he’s a single dad, not a playboy. He has a few babysitters he uses, which is where all the women you see him with come into play. One, in particular, is a witch.”
“Maria?” Nikki looked from Maisy to me and tilted her head.
“How did you know?” I set the cup down and searched her eyes for a clue that she had known all along how Terrance had a child.
“I sometimes saw him paying an older lady outside the back of the club. Same with him paying women I saw coming from his bartending job, too, a
t Scarlett Herb. Honestly, I thought he was a gigolo, and they were exchanging money or something he owed them. Anyway, he introduced me to Maria one time when she showed up after my gig. She scowled at me and stuck her nose in the air. I didn’t ask questions. You know I never do. I thought it was just his business. But now, paying babysitters makes a lot more sense. Damn! Terrance is a single-dad stripper. That’s a stereotype turned on its head! Guess we’re supporting single dads.” Nikki scraped her palms together as if she were throwing money and making it rain.
“Let’s let Betty go handle her business. That poor little girl out there with the cast is waiting on her tacos.” Rox grabbed the plate from Layla and put one of our choco tacos on it before covering it in sprinkles and whipped cream and handing it to me. “Here. Maybe this will make her feel better. She gets this choco taco, and Terrance will be getting some of your choco taco once he sees how sweet you are to his baby girl.”
“And here I thought, you were just being nice. I see how it is, Rox. I don’t need to bribe a man to take my goodies. My choco taco is doing just fine. F-I-N-E,” I lied. I needed to get laid. After being interrupted during my torture session with Terrance yesterday, I still hadn’t had the time to finish myself off.
“Go, go, go, little mama. Then, come back and tell us more.” Layla handed me a clump of napkins and shooed me out the door before I could give her my death stare or a playful smack on her ass. She was so used to them now that she would see them coming and stick her butt out, waiting for me to whip it good. I thought she liked it.
I walked a plate of tacos over to Maisy and sat down beside her.
“What is this?” Her eyes grew big at the sight of dessert.
“A chocolate taco. Don’t worry. It’s not meat. It’s ice cream in there. So, eat up before it melts.”
“I can have dessert before my meal then?” She looked up at Terrance with puppy-dog eyes, which even shot a warm feeling through my cold, dead soul.
“Yes. Just this once. We wouldn’t want it to melt and get too messy. Go ahead. You eat and let Betty and me talk for a bit, okay? We need to have a grown-up conversation. We’ll be at that table right there. Five minutes,” Terrance said, pointing at a table just a few feet away.
Maisy nodded, her mouth already full of whipped cream. I pushed the pile of napkins toward her and followed Terrance to the other table.
“Look, I want to apologize for all the craziness. For yesterday and bringing Maisy by today without even giving you a courtesy call. It’s just that I didn’t even know what to say. I’m so damn tired right now; I can’t even think straight.” He ran his hand through his hair and moaned. “And”—he lowered his voice—“I fired Maria.”
I scooted closer so that I could whisper back, “You fired her? She seemed like a mean old lady, but now, what are you going to do? Can your dad watch her more?”
Terrance scooted in even closer, knocking his knee against mine. I instinctively rose my ankle up the entire length of his leg and bit my lip before I realized what I’d done. His eyes grew wide as he glanced over at Maisy, who was stuffing her face and paying us no attention at all.
“Shit! Sorry. I didn’t mean to feel you up out here. I mean, I did. Obviously. But that was, like, a reflex. No idea where that even came from.” I felt the heat rise in my cheeks, and I thanked God for making me Black.
The last thing I wanted Terrance to know was that Queen B was embarrassed or weak or completely losing herself around him. It wasn’t often that happened with me, but when a man wore a tight-fitted T-shirt and had bulging biceps, just like Terrance, I wanted to take a bite out of him. Maisy had diverted my attention, but now, with her out of my sight, I drank up the hot piece of ass in front of me.
“It’s okay.” He grinned, showing me a bright white smile.
It was the same devilish smile he gave all the women at the club. That smile earned him the big bucks. I’d seen ladies stuffing twenties in his G-string left and right when he grinned like that.
“I’m sorry you have a lot going on. It’s okay. I get it. Not that I have kids, but I come from a single mom, and I pretty much ran the house at a young age. That’s why I said, it does take a village. I can’t help with much, but if you need to get away for a day or two, I might be able to make that happen.”
He bit his lip and glanced at Maisy again, who was finishing up her plate.
“What are you saying? A make-up date? We going to do the swing again?” He raised one eyebrow and rubbed his stubbled chin.
Again, I instinctively reached out, stroking his jawline, before realizing what I was doing.
“I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with my hands, but I can’t keep them off of you. I’d love to finish what I started in my dungeon. Give you some of that Queen B. But this weekend, I have to go to my aunt’s in Memphis. I’m flying out just for an overnight. I know you said two days, minimum, but I can’t handle my family that long. So, do you want to take a day-long vacation or what? It’s not the beach or somewhere exotic. Actually, it is exotic because it’s my crazy-ass family but—”
“Yes. I’ll go home and pack now. Tell me which flight, and I’ll book the tickets. Let’s go. Let’s get out of here. I need to double-check that my dad can watch Maisy, but I have a feeling he’d jump through hoops for you. He liked you. I do too.” He shifted his eyes back to his daughter again.
“Okay. I didn’t know if you’d think that was too weird, me asking you to meet my family when we haven’t even screwed yet, but here I am. I could see it in your eyes. You need a break. Don’t ever feel guilty about it either. I have seen a lot of single parents burn out and give up. We’ll make it fun and restful. I’ll bring my toys.” I rose from my chair. I needed to get out of here and think about the crazy commitment I’d just made.
Am I crazy? What just happened? Why the hell did I invite this stripper man to my family’s get-together? Do I really want him to meet my aunt May? Or worse, my mom?
Panic bubbled in my chest as I remembered I needed to call my mom. I hoped she would say she wasn’t going to go. I couldn’t think of a worse situation than being stuck on a trip with my mom and Terrance. No doubt she would not be happy that I was dating a White boy unless he was super rich. If she learned that he was a stripper, I’d never hear the end of it. She was the last person who needed to be judgmental, but she was the worst when it came to picking people apart.
He followed behind me while I made my way to Maisy.
I quickly turned around, putting my index finger on his soft lips and slowly running it down, past the ripples on his abs and down to his belly button. I couldn’t stop myself.
“We’ll see how you can punish me with your toys when you can’t seem to keep your hands off me now.” He smirked.
“It’s talk like that that’s going to get you in trouble,” I snarled.
“Bring it on then, Betty,” he snarled back, stepping into me.
My breath caught in my chest. I loved it when a man fought back.
“Daddy?” Maisy came up behind me and stepped between us.
“Hey! Finish your food?” He reached out and pulled her to him, hugging her tight.
“Yes. And I did this!” She stuck her red cast out and pointed to a heart she had drawn under her dad’s signature and above mine.
“That’s a pretty heart,” I said. My voice came out high-pitched and awkward.
One minute, I had been feeling up her dad’s sexy body, and the next, she was declaring her dad and me in love. This kid stuff wasn’t for the faint of heart—or me.
“I’ve got to go help the girls in there. It was good to see you, Maisy. I hope you feel so much better and have a quick recovery. Remember, don’t let anyone push you around or bully you.” I cupped my hand over my mouth and leaned down to whisper in her ear, “You kick them straight in those quaffle balls if they do.”
She giggled and nodded her head before straightening herself up under her dad’s curious gaze.
“Got it, Miss Bett
y! Thank you for that choco taco! And this!” She stuck out her cast again, pointing to the heart she had drawn.
I nodded at them both and ran back into the taco truck. I forced myself to not look back.
“Well?” Rox sat on the edge of the back door to the truck, swinging her feet back and forth.
“I don’t know what the hell I just did. I couldn’t think when he had his muscles out and in my face like that. I just … I invited him on a trip.”
“You did what?” Nikki stood behind Rox with her mouth hanging open in horror.
“It gets worse. That trip is to meet my family. My aunt got married and invited me. And my dumbass was getting all hot and bothered, looking at that chiseled jaw, and I just—shit! How am I going to get out of this?” I leaned against the back of the truck and took a deep breath.
“You’re fucked,” Layla said. “I’ve never seen you frazzled. I’m kind of scared.”
“Oh, shut it.” I rubbed the back of my neck and closed my eyes.
I wouldn’t admit it, but I was scared too. Whatever chaos I’d been dealing with in the last two days would be nothing compared to the chaos of introducing my new boy toy to my family. And that wasn’t even the scary part. The scary part was that, even knowing about the upcoming disaster, I still felt a tiny bit excited. I felt things inside me that I hadn’t thought possible. When Terrance had said he liked me, I’d felt butterflies. Butterflies! I hadn’t even known such a beautiful thing could live inside my dead soul. But here I was, Queen B, catching feelings over a man. If my crotchety, old aunt May could settle with a man and be happy, perhaps there was hope for me too. Not that I wanted it. Yet.
“Let’s get back to work. I got money to make!” I pushed myself off the back of the truck and clapped my hands together, ignoring the silence and the curious eyes of my besties. I couldn’t explain to them what was going on when I couldn’t even explain it to myself.
Six