Sorry Ain't Enough 2

by Tiana Grover

  But nooo. Sierra and Prince were hosting a big dinner at their house, and my mother insisted that I be there. Plus my mom wanted me there early to help out with the food, so I guess I had to go.

  It took some real effort to drag myself out of bed and get myself together. I knew I had to though. My mom only had two words for me after she told me about the dinner: “Look presentable”. I didn’t feel presentable but obviously no one cared about how I felt.

  So I took a long hot bath to prepare myself for all the sickening public displays of affection I was sure to see between Prince and my sister. After soaking for more than a half hour, I felt like I was ready to face them and pretend that I was happy for them. I wrapped myself in one of the good towels Sierra kept hanging in the bathroom and went to her room to find something decent to wear. I paid no attention to the extreme mess and clutter of the bedroom as I stood in front of her closet. It actually didn’t bother me. Why should it? It wasn’t my house.

  I knew I would have to wear something of Si’s. Sitting around depressed and eating had made me gain a few pounds. As a result, all of my clothes fit way too tight and were uncomfortable. Sierra had always been thicker than me, so I didn’t have a choice but to wear something of hers. I scanned the closet and found a red Michael Kors sweater dress with the tags still on. I tried it on and fell in love with the way it fit my body. I popped the tags on it and kept it on. I didn’t feel bad about wearing one of my sister’s brand new dresses either. She had left it behind when she moved in with Prince so she obviously didn’t want it.

  My hair was a harder issue to tackle. It was in a messy ponytail as usual. I had to take my time and straighten each strand till it fell bone straight past my shoulders. Then I put on some Ruby Woo by Mac lipstick and mascara. My look was finally complete and I had to admit I looked and felt good, despite the extra pounds. I finally felt like the old me.

  I looked so good as a matter of fact that I decided to snap my first selfie in months, complete with a red Chanel clutch Si had also left behind. I cropped out the messy background and posted it on Instagram and Facebook with the caption “I’m back!!”

  I pulled up to Sierra’s house the same time as a white Range Rover. I climbed out slowly so I could be nosey and see who was getting out of that truck. Once I saw the man that got out, I was glad that I had taken the extra time and effort with my appearance.

  He was tall, over six feet, copper-colored with a muscular build. He had slanted brown eyes and sexy full lips that curved into a beautiful smile showing off pretty pearly white teeth when he saw me. The red leather coat that he wore matched the Giuseppe Zanotti sneaks on his feet perfectly. Diamonds clear as day shined bright from his ears. The closer he got to me, the better view I got of the Hublot watch on his wrist. I decided right then and there that I had to get to know him, whoever he was. I didn’t know if he a woman or not; it didn’t matter at that moment. I was attracted to a man for the first time since Andrew left me at the altar months ago.

  “Hey how you been?” he asked me as we walked towards the house.

  He asked me that like he already knew me. I was confused.

  My confusion must have showed on my face. He laughed and said, “Oh you don’t remember me? I was at Sierra’s surprise birthday party. I’m Prince’s cousin, Javon.”

  Now that he said something, I vaguely remembered his face from the party. I had such an attitude that day though that I barely spoke to anyone. “Oh yeah, okay. I remember now. I wasn’t really feeling well that day.”

  He looked me up and down, boldly. “You look like you feeling well today.”

  I smiled and rang the doorbell. “Thank you. I’m feeling better too,” I flirted as I stared at him.

  “Oh yeah?” he said with a smile.

  My mom answered the door before I could respond. Javon put his hand in the small of my back and led me into the house. I gave my mom a quick hug, then walked into the kitchen with Javon.

  I had a good feeling about him.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “It’s about to go down”

  Jay Z ft. Pharell “Give It To Me”

  Prince

  Hosting a big Christmas dinner at my house had seemed like a great idea. We would try to once again bring our families together, then tell them about the Valentine’s Day wedding we wanted to have. Sierra was really family oriented, and I wanted to show her I could be too.

  Inviting Red was a no brainer. At the end of the day, she was my mother. I wouldn’t force Sierra on her, since she didn’t like her for whatever reason, but I did want to spend the holidays with the both of them. Red had to get used to the fact that Sierra wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

  Sierra had no problem with that; as a matter of fact, she encouraged it and even picked out a ruby necklace to give to her. Her only request was that I keep Red under control. I could understand why she would say that, given some of Red’s past antics, so I promised I would.

  Last night, I snuck in her house and put the necklace on her nightstand drawer along with her card so she could see them as soon as she woke up. I had no idea if she would come or not but I was hoping that she would. Sierra’s parents had asked to meet my mother on more than one occasion. Christmas seemed as good a time as any.

  When she walked in the door, I was so happy to see her. We hadn’t been close in months since she didn’t approve of Sierra. I missed her.

  She came right after Sierra’s parents and little sisters, Kiana and Briana. Right after she got there, Javon and Trina arrived. We finally had our families under one roof. What could go wrong?

  Shit. What didn’t go wrong.

  Red came in looking great as usual in some boots and jewelry I had bought her. I was glad to see her and even happier that she was wearing my gifts. It made me realize just how much I had missed her.

  I gave her the biggest hug I could to let her know just how much I loved her. “Merry Christmas Red! You stepped out dressed to impress today huh?”

  “Always do,” she responded, dusting her shoulders off.

  We both laughed. Before Sierra came into my life, we had been very close. I had truly missed her. She was one hell of a woman in my book. Not too many women were willing to take on their husband’s side baby and raise them as their own. She did and never once did I feel unloved. I would be forever grateful to her for loving me as her own flesh and blood. If she hadn’t done that, who knows what would have happened to me? My father made sure I was taken care of and taught me how to make money, but a parental figure he wasn’t.

  For a minute, I wondered if Sierra would be as understanding as Red had been and accept the child I had on the way by another woman. I doubted it, but still hoped for the best for the sake of our relationship. I never wanted to be without her, but I could never be with a woman that couldn’t accept my child either. I didn’t know what to do.

  I shook my head. I wasn’t going down that road today; thinking of Maria, the baby and the consequences that would come with them had consumed enough of my time. It was Christmas and I was determined to enjoy myself. I gave Red a quick hug and led her to the living room. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Mr. Daniel, Sierra’s father, eyeballing the hell out of Red. On the one hand, I couldn’t blame him. She was tall, light skinned and still built real nice despite her age. Her hair was naturally red and curly, which she always wore past her shoulders and she only wore the best shit. Plus her face was beautiful. I had to give it to her; she still caught the eye of niggas my age.

  Still, it was bold of Mr. Daniel to have his eye on Red the way he did with his wife present.

  When everyone was there that we invited, we sat down to eat. Sierra and her mother had gone all out with dinner. We had a baked ham, turkey, greens, potato salad, candied yams, dressing and rolls. I couldn’t wait to make bout three or four plates.

  “Let’s say grace,” Ms. Felicia said.

  We all bowed our heads. Before she could say anything, Red spoke. “I just want to say it is so ni
ce to be here with my son and my old friend Daniel.” She smiled at Ms. Felicia, who looked a little shocked. “Carry on,” Red told her with a wave of her hand.

  I shook my head but decided I wouldn’t say anything to Red in front of Sierra’s family. She knew I felt she was out of line by the look I gave her. She shrugged.

  Ms. Felicia said a quick prayer and we all began to eat. She didn’t let it go though. “So… Red… how do you know Daniel?”

  Red smirked. “We’re old friends,” she responded in a tone that implied they were much more than that.

  Sierra shot me a look, darted her eyes towards Red, then looked back at me. I knew she had caught on to what Red really meant. From the tension that suddenly settled around the table, it was safe to say that we all had. I didn’t know what Sierra expected me to do about it though. I couldn’t control what came out of her mouth.

  Sierra’s mom raised her eyebrows. “Really? How old?” She turned to Mr. Daniel who actually looked unbothered. “Baby I thought I knew all your friends.”

  “Obviously a few slid through the cracks, ain’t that right Danny?” Red responded. Then she winked at Mr. Daniel who had the nerve to actually smile back at her. Their vibe screamed more than friendship and everyone sitting around that table knew it. What the fuck was going on?

  “What is your mother doing?” Sierra hissed at me.

  “I don’t know baby,” I answered. “I didn’t even know she knew your dad.”

  “Okay cut the bullshit, what is going on here?” Ms. Felicia snapped. “And Daniel don’t you fucking lie to me.”

  “Mom, I’m sure its nothing,” Sierra said as she glared at me. “Calm down. Let’s eat.”

  “No, I want to know how they know each other,” Ms. Felicia shot back defiantly.

  “She told you we’re old friends,” Mr. Daniel said casually. “I don’t see what the problem is. I did have friends and a life before you, Felicia.” He rubbed her hand. “Don’t cause a scene about nothing.”

  Ms. Felicia glared at him, then my mother, but started to eat her food.

  The tension was thick and everyone seemed uncomfortable besides Red and Mr. Daniel. They had a good old time chopping it up and laughing while everyone else looked on and wondered just how well they knew each other. While I couldn’t check her pops, I would be talking to Red later about her disrespectful behavior.

  By the time Trina brought out a peach cobbler for dessert, Ms. Felicia was entirely fed up. And from the way Sierra reacted when she saw her sister walking out, I guess she was too… For an entirely different reason though.

  “Trina I been looking at you all day wondering… Is that my brand new Michael Kors dress you got on?”

  My eyes widened. The table was completely silent again, waiting on Trina’s response. I shook my head at Sierra for putting Trina on the spot like that.

  Trina slammed the dessert down on the table and glared at her. “Yeah it is. But why would you ask me that in front of everyone?”

  Sierra shrugged. “You wearing it in front of everyone like its yours. Why would you put on my brand new dress? It was a gift from Prince. The tags were still on it!”

  “Si, chill,” I said as I put my hand on hers. “This ain’t the time or place to be putting your sister out there like that.”

  “Ha!” she snorted. “You can say something to me, but you ain’t say a word to your mother for disrespecting my mother all night?”

  Red chuckled, like she got a kick out of pissing Sierra off.

  “What are you laughing at, old friend?” Ms. Felicia snapped at Red.

  Things were starting to get out of control. I looked at Javon and Mr. Daniel to help me put the lid on this. We had three angry black women – Sierra, her mother and her sister – sitting around our table. It would get worse before it got better if we didn’t calm them down.

  Only they didn’t seem like they wanted to stop anything. Mr. Daniel still looked infatuated with Red and Javon seemed amused.

  “Nothing,” Red answered flatly, but that one word spoke volumes and we all heard it.

  “Red, chill,” I warned her.

  She had already taken Sierra’s mom past her limit though. Before I could stop her, Ms. Felicia blessed Red with her glass of red wine.

  And that’s when all hell broke loose.

  Red looked down at the wine stain spreading across her dress, then at Ms. Felicia in complete anger. Before I could stop her, she had reached across the table and drug Sierra’s mom clear across it before tossing her on the floor. Sierra and her sisters jumped on Red’s back before I could blink. It was a harder than a mouthafucka to pull four women off of Red without wanting to do something to them. Granted they were females but she was my mom! Nobody liked to see anyone jump on their mother, no matter how much she may have antagonized her victim into fighting her.

  Me, Mr. Daniel and Javon had our work cut out for us breaking up that girl fight. Even though they hadn’t been fighting for but a second before Sierra and her sisters jumped in, once we got them separated I could see Red had done some damage to Ms. Felicia. Her lip was busted and her face was bruised. In her hand Ms. Felicia held a patch of Red’s curly hair.

  “How old are you, pulling hair!” Red said with a laugh as she straightened herself out. She shook her head and all of her red curls bounced right back into place. “That’s some shit little girls do. I see why your husband was so eager to make conversation with me tonight. He probably ain’t been around a real bitch like me in years.”

  “Red, shut up!” I spat at her. She was only making shit worse.

  “No Prince, you shut up!” Sierra yelled at me. “You could have stopped all this at the table! I knew she would ruin our dinner but you just had to fucking invite her!”

  “Whoa,” I said with my hand up. “Chill with talking about Red like that, for real. We wasn’t gone keep having family functions without her.”

  “She doesn’t want to be apart of our family, Prince! Look at what she did!” Sierra gestured around our dining room. Broken dishes, glasses and food was everywhere. “She only came here to start trouble! I bet money she came to break us up cause she knew we planned on getting married!”

  I shook my head and looked around at everyone. Javon was standing off to the side with Red that amused look still plastered across his face. Sierra’s sisters were talking to their parents. And me and my woman were arguing. Again. This was not how I pictured Christmas turning out. “So this is all her fault, Sierra? Your dad wasn’t flirting with her all night? Your mom didn’t throw her drink on her? Everything is on her?”

  Sierra refused to hear any of that. “She never does wrong in your eyes Prince. And now you’ve let her ruin our holiday. This should have never happened. But it did, and I blame you for it.”

  I chuckled a little and looked around again. My dining room, ruined. Mr. Daniel and Ms. Felicia were arguing. Red was shaking her head as she stared down at her dress. Kiana and Briana were glaring at me with the same accusing look as their sister. Trina was staring at Sierra with a look so full of hate it shocked me.

  “You weren’t wrong at all huh? Calling Trina out like that wasn’t wrong? Don’t try to blame Red for ruining this dinner, Sierra. You and your father did that all on your own.”

  She smirked. “You would say that.”

  “Yeah I would.” I looked at her. I loved my Honey to death but right now, at this very moment, I was sick of her ass always playing victim. Nothing was ever her fault, even though it was plain as day that her and her father that caused this whole situation. Yeah Red shouldn’t have been flirting with her dad but shit, it took two! Mr. Daniel should have fell back. He was the one there with his wife. And Sierra calling her sister out the way she had was dead wrong. I refused to take the blame for this one.

  “Look, why don’t you get your mom on outta here, make sure she gets home. I’ll see you whenever.”

  Sierra raised her eyebrow. “You’ll see me whenever?”

  “Yeah man,�
� I said shortly as I looked around my dining room for the third time. The sight of it was pissing me off. “Whenever. It don’t really matter to me at this point when you make it back since we ain’t seeing eye to eye about this anyway.”

  “Prince are you serious right now?” she snapped. “It’s Christmas!”

  “Do it feel like Christmas to you?” I snapped back at her. “Do it? Hell naw! And I don’t wanna spend the rest of the night arguing with you about this shit so I’ll see you whenever!”

  She nodded again. “You got it,” she said quietly. “Come on y’all,” she snapped to her little sisters. I watched as she walked up to her mom and grabbed her hand. Her mother glared at Mr. Daniel like she hated him, then walked out with Sierra. Trina followed them.

  I stood off to the side as Sierra left. For once I didn’t feel bad about her leaving and I didn’t want to chase after her. She acted like this whole incident was Red’s fault when it was a combination of Red and her parents that ruined Christmas. No way was I about to chase after her when she was acting like a spoiled brat, and I wasn’t gone let her place all the blame on Red. So I let her go.

  I expected Mr. Daniel to go after his wife but to my complete surprise, he walked over to Red and began talking to her. Something was definitely going on with them and I was determined to find out what it was.

  Javon came and stood next to me. “Damn cousin,” he said with a shake of his head as he looked around my dining room. It was a mess, and that was putting it nicely. “They turned up in here.”

  “Didn’t they?” I sighed.

  “Man hell yeah! And you know I was feeling shorty till I found out she rock her little sister’s clothes. I don’t know about all that. That shit ain’t sexy,” he joked.

  I laughed but still felt sorry for Trina for the way Sierra put her business out there. “She good peoples man. Don’t do her like that.”

  “We’ll see… So you thought about that other thing yet?”