by Taylor Love
“Well, I stood up for myself. Honestly though I wasn’t messed with that often about stuff like that. I was quirky by our bougie school standards, but folks seemed to accept it. Maybe I was just lucky.”
“Luck, my ass.” Misha snorted. “Michaelle and I wouldn’t allow anyone to talk about you. We were fairly popular so that helped and for those that it didn’t, we kicked their ass. We had your back all throughout school.”
“What!” Mika sat in disbelief. “Come on you guys did not. You never got kicked out for fighting.”
“Of course not that wouldn’t have been proper now would it?” Michaelle slyly proclaimed. “Do you remember Stacey Higgins? You were in ninth grade, Misha was in tenth and I was a senior. Stacey was a year below me and she had always been a snot, you could tell she had a problem with black people. Anyway, you started school and she took to calling you the N-word. Saying how you didn’t fit in because of your hair, and how you dressed more urban. You never told your parents and only told me because I found you crying in the bathroom. You told me she had been harassing you for months!”
Michaelle paused as indignation flooded her even after all these years. It had hurt her heart to see her cousin—who had always been bold, outgoing, and sure of herself, broken by an ugly racist word.
“I gave you that pep talk about rising above it, to ignore her and that you betta never let her see you cry. Never let her see her words affected you. That you were a queen and she was a peasant. For the next week I stalked her skinny ass and one day she went in the bathroom alone. I waited ‘til she was washing her hands and hit her with a hard punch to her right kidney!”
They all gasped around the table, though Lissa’s surprise quickly turned into a quiet chuckle.
“The little bitch dropped to one knee and I grabbed her ponytail. Told her if she ever called you or any other black person in that school the N-word again, I would beat her ass.”
Michaelle had a reminiscing smile on her face. “I added that after I beat her ass, I’d have my ghetto cousins find her and they’d kick it again. Told her she betta not tell anyone either.”
“But we don’t have any hood cousins, at least none that live here,” Lissa stated.
Michaelle rolled her eyes. “I know that, but she didn’t. She probably thought all black families had thugs willing to beat people up. It must have worked as Mika never said she messed with her again.”
Mika stared in awe at learning all this and had a new appreciation for her oldest cousin, who she had always thought was the stiffest of the bunch. “No, she never said another word to me. I kept hoping she would. I had newfound courage after you talked to me. Thank you...I didn’t know.”
“Good, and you’re welcome. It’s what family does.”
“Yeah, the same way you did for me when I got to high school. We’re family,” Lissa said simply.
“We are, aren’t we?” Mika started to cry. Everything with Robert and now this. It was all too much.
“Please stop, you're embarrassing yourself and us. Or at least do a pretty cry, you looking ugly,” Misha quipped.
“Oh shut up!” Mika said but she was grinning and got her tears under control. “I’m sorry I didn’t appreciate you guys more. I’ll do better, I promise. You annoy me, but I love you all.”
“We love you too, Mikala,” Misha teased, as the waiter came over.
“Can we get a round of mimosas?” Michaelle addressed the server. “We just had a boatload of emotional family crap, and we need to fortify our nerves.”
The cousins shared a laugh, but then Milissa turned to Mika. “Back to your original problem. You don’t want to make him pay, so it sounds like you want to make up?”
Mika hesitated, but finally said. “Yeah, I guess. I definitely want to have a real conversation with him. I really thought we were in a good place before all this.”
“Well what are you waiting on? He overreacted as well but only after you did. You know men and their egos,” Misha reminded her.
“I know. Thanks for listening. It did help.” Especially since she hadn’t updated Andrea about the last argument or sought her advice. She still didn’t feel right putting her in the middle of it.
Their drinks arrived and when everyone had a glass, Lissa asked. “What should we drink to?”
“To our dysfunctional and misunderstood family and hoping stupid men come to their senses,” Mika warily said.
They all laughed and toasted though Mika noticed Milissa didn’t actually take a sip. “What's with you? If you don’t want yours I’ll take it. I feel like I earned it, since I just found out I’m a major bitch.”
Milissa eyes lit up and she flushed.
“I was looking forward to this meeting, for a reason of my own. I wanted to talk to you all about something.”
“Well, spill it,” Misha said,
“Okay. Brian and I are trying to get pregnant! We’ve only been trying for a month. It’s early but I’d rather be cautious with the drinking. We don’t know when it might take.”
Amidst the congratulations and well wishes for Lissa to conceive soon, Mika saw the joy on her cousin’s face at the hope of expanding her family. She felt her heart melt. Right then she came to the conclusion that she did in fact want kids. She wanted to plan having kids with a husband, anticipating a new life to love. Not right away, but one day.
Chapter Twenty-Two
AS THE FIRST WEDNESDAY in March rolled in, nothing much had changed. Lunch with her cousins may have enlightened her about her family, but it hadn’t done anything to clarify her love life. She wanted to fix things with Robert or at least try. She just didn’t know how to go about it. He could be so obstinate. When she thought back to their confrontation in his office, it was like she hadn’t known the man in front of her. Had they been at a strong enough place in their budding relationship to overcome this? She had decided she wanted to try, but did he?
Now to make matters worse, Robert’s sister had emailed wanting to meet for lunch. Why she had agreed was the real question. Probably because she liked Brihanna, and felt they shouldn’t be deprived of getting to know each other. Had he even told any of his family they were dating? She had no clue, and that was a problem in itself. Up until recently their relationship had been so casual, they had barely gotten serious before this stupid fight.
Mika supposed it didn’t matter if Brihanna knew about them or not, seeing as technically they were over. She looked at her wall clock and saw it was ten minutes to noon. They were supposed to be meeting in the lobby soon. Imagine her disbelief as she watched a co-worker bring a grimacing Brihanna to her office.
Brihanna thanked the woman for her help, before walking in and shutting the door. Mika took note that she was in a pair of faded jeans. The bottom of a blue plaid shirt showed from under her short leather coat, which was trimmed at the neck and wrists with black fur. Mika liked that she pulled it all together with some heeled ankle boots that were also fur lined. The only other color Brihanna had on was some blue stud earrings which were only visible because she had her long hair pulled into a ponytail.
“I thought we were meeting downstairs.”
“Yeah.” Brihanna dropped down in a chair. “About that, I figured I’d save some time and just come up here. Hopefully this won’t take up much time for either of us.”
Mika sighed, it looked like her March was going to be just as confrontational as her February. “Say what you got to say.”
Brihanna narrowed her eyes leaning forward, before flopping back. “What did you do to my brother?” Brihanna said sullenly.
“How do you know your brother didn’t do something to me?”
“Okay, fair point. What happened?”
“You should ask your brother,” Mika deflected. “I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t want me telling his business.”
“I did ask. He’s been in such a foul mood for the last few weeks, snapping my head off left and right. I asked if something happened between you two and he told me to
‘mind my own damn business’, then basically threw me out his house.”
Shocked Mika asked the younger woman, “You know about us?”
Brihanna rolled her eyes. “Don’t be naive. I grilled him a couple of days after Thanksgiving and found out you guys were hooking-up. He even told me you entered a more real relationship at the start of the year.”
Mika’s eyebrows rose. “He said we were in a real relationship?”
“Of course he didn’t use those words.” Brihanna rolled her eyes in the other direction. “He said you guys were officially dating instead of merely doing the bump and grind.”
“He did not say that to you!” Mika laughed despite the situation.
Brihanna let a small smile curve her lips. “Okay, I added that last part.” Losing her smile as quickly as it had come she suddenly popped up and started pacing the office. “What happened? He’s been super happy since January. In general he’s been more laid back ever since you started bumping nasties way back when—though I guess anyone getting sex on the regular would be.”
Mika waved her hand to stop the other woman's rambling. “Please sit down. You making my head hurt between your pacing and talking a million miles an hour.”
Mika watched as Brihanna suddenly stopped, dropping back down as if her strings had been cut. The girl looked so dejected that it made Mika feel worse. “Look, I just don’t feel right talking to you about this if he won’t.”
Brihanna waved her hand dismissively. “Come on you know men. They clam up when they get hurt, and I think he’s really hurting right now. Look whatever he did, unless it was cheating which I don’t think he’d do. My brother is brutally honest. He would just break up with you before banging someone else.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you have a way with words when it comes to describing sex?”
“I was raised with boys so I’m a little blunt and crass. It drives my mother and aunt crazy.” Brihanna smirked before frowning. “I was saying unless it was really bad you should give him another chance. I think he really likes you. I’ve never seen him like this...well not since he was a teenager. Men are stupid and stubborn. Maybe if you went to him...reached out first.”
“I did.” Mika was suddenly tired. “I apologized for my part of it, but he wasn't trying to hear it. When that didn’t work I went to him in person...tried to talk. The only thing that accomplished was us having a bigger and nastier fight.”
Mika voice cracked on the next words. “I don’t know what else to do! Your brother can be cold as ice. Sometimes...I don't even know if I want to be with someone capable of acting that way.”
Brihanna sighed. “He’s only like that when he feels threatened. I swear he’s really a teddy bear. He’s the best brother I could ever ask for, he practically raised me. It’s because of him we’re all stable and thriving. He takes care of everyone emotionally too. Like a mother hen making sure all his little “chicks” are in place and where they should be. We’re five years apart but we’re super close if you couldn’t tell.”
Mika cracked a smile, rapidly blinking to keep her eyes from leaking. “Yeah, I got a clue when you walked in here to confront me.”
“I’m not sorry I did. My brother has taken care of me my whole life. I know firsthand how much love he has to give. When he accepts someone into his circle he protects them, cares for them.” Brihanna shrugged. “But he’s also slow to trust, slow to open up. He reacts badly when he’s hurt or deeply disappointed. I was so excited he’d found a woman who shook him up a bit. That he actually seemed to like, you know on a deeper level.”
“It’s sweet that you care so much. I just don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know if we can fix it.” Mika bit her lip but said it anyway, “I’ll admit, I want to give it a try. It’s just...we can both be a little closed-off. It takes two people to want to make up.”
“I know. He’s used to being a ‘when he’s done, he’s done’ type person.”
“So am I,” Mika said. “Ironic huh?”
“Well this time I don’t think he can be. He normally just moves on. Right now he’s mopey, moody and restless, all at the same time. You got under his skin.”
Brihanna stood up and pulled her gloves out of her pockets. “I’ll push him some more on being less pigheaded, if you’ll hang in there a little bit longer until he comes to his senses. Do we have a deal?”
Brihanna held out her hand and after a moment of hesitation, Mika stood up and shook it. “You have a deal.”
“Good! I think you’ll both regret it if you don’t give this another shot. You seem just as miserable as he is.”
“Well that’s comforting,” Mika mumbled sarcastically as she went and opened the door.
“It should be. It means you both care about the other. Thanks for the time. I really hope I’ll be seeing you around.”
Mika watched as Brihanna took quick, confident strides down the hall towards the elevators. While Robert was high-class business fashion, his sister was more casual with a chic punk lean to her style. Still, the two had a lot in common. Both had no regrets when they took bold or impulsive actions. And they both seemed to like making deals as well. She liked Brihanna, and hoped she would get to know the woman better.
ROBERT WAS PISSED AT himself for still being in a funk over that woman. He couldn’t bring himself to think of her directly. To many memories assaulted him and made it all worse. Even the best liquor in his house couldn’t quiet his mind when it came to her. Though he made sure not to hit the bottle too hard, he needed to be clear-headed. He’d already made a number of bad decisions, starting from when he’d gone to her house way back in October. He’d known then she would be trouble, following his dick instead of his head, now look at him.
While he wasn’t snapping at anyone at work, they were avoiding him like the angry black man he currently was. He didn’t speak unless he had to, and when he did his communication was short and curt. Antonio had been the only one with enough balls to ask him if he was okay. He’d replied with the universal statement that all men around the world understood, “Women, who needs them right?” His friend had looked at him in barely concealed pity, readily agreeing before taking him out for a lunchtime drink.
Outside of work was a different story, no one was safe. He’d been avoiding his mother for a good two weeks. She had that mother’s intuition when things were going south. He couldn’t stand to be around his cousins for long either. Even Cam had tried to talk to him twice about the situation and promptly got checked to stay out of it. The man had eased off in the last week, maybe he’d realized there was nothing to talk about when it came to Mika.
Dealing with Brihanna was a whole other matter. His sister was a bit too much like him sometimes, and she wasn’t afraid of pushing him like everyone else was. She and Mika had that in common. Brihanna usually dropped by once a week or called, and he’d been lashing out at her since this whole thing started. Three days ago, when she'd brought him some take-out he tried brushing off her company.
When she had connected his bad mood to Mika he’d lost his shit. He’d told her to get the hell out if she couldn’t stay out of his business and respect his privacy. The look of shock and hurt on her face had made him feel like crap. Before he could work his mouth around to apologizing, she had packed up the food and left. Shouting that he would end up a shriveled, old lonely man if he kept pushing people away.
Was he doing that? Pushing people away? Probably. Just like he was brutally honest with others, he tried to be just as honest with himself. He knew he was acting like a wounded animal that wanted to hide in a cave until it was healed. He admitted—at least to himself that he was hurting. More than he thought was possible for a woman he’d only known for roughly six months.
She had struck a hard blow to his ego, and more importantly to his honor. The latter was something that was dear to him going back to his childhood. He had grown up quick after his father left his mother with a newborn. At five his carefree childhood had changed, a
s he tried his best to help his stressed out mother and comfort a fussy baby. Being so young himself he couldn't help much, but he’d fetched bags, bottles, diapers, or sung to entertain Brihanna.
What he had been able to do was change his behavior. Almost overnight he’d become a quiet watchful child. A little boy’s natural wildness, tempered by his natural empathy for the two women in his life. By the time he was eight his mother was working two jobs and he learned to cook. Simple things like sandwiches, oatmeal, spaghetti, and a number of other easy dishes. His mother was often tired but she spent what little time she had left helping him with homework, filling in the educational gaps of the Detroit public school system. She was a big part of why he’d taken education so seriously and why he’d gotten several scholarships. Those had allowed him to go to the expensive University of Michigan.
Of course his mom had help from Aunt Dolores. Robert spent half his time at her house when he was young, surrounded by his cousins. It was there he could relax, let go and just be a kid. He loved spending time at Aunt D’s house, horsing around with Devon and Darrell, the three of them following behind Thomas and Edward. While the two older boys alternately ignored them or got them in trouble with their schemes.
When he turned twelve his mom allowed them to stay home by themselves more often. Some years she had three jobs, picking up part-time holiday work. All to keep a roof over their heads, clothes on their backs, and food in their mouths. He’d decided then that he wanted a stable life when he was an adult. Excitement wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. He preferred having money so he wouldn’t have to cry and pray about how to pay the bills like his mother had.
That sparked his interest to learn everything about money he could. How to get it, how to keep it, and all the ways to make it. He’d wanted to be able to take care of his mother and aunt as soon as he could. Even before he attended college he was great at saving and had started some tentative investments with the help of a teacher. By the time he had reached his sophomore year in college he was passing on his knowledge to the rest of his immediate family. He taught them how to budget better and save. How to do more long-term planning and invest.