“I’ll order a waffle for you.”
Hosea raised his hand and the waitress came back. Jasmine pressed her lips together, willing herself to say nothing. But she kept her eyes on the woman, glaring as hard as she could, hoping to burn a hole that would go right through to her soul.
“Thank you, sir,” she said to Hosea as she gathered the menus. Once again she rolled her eyes at Jasmine before she turned from them. But she’d taken only two steps before she looked back over her shoulder. “And for your information, I am the supervisor!” Then she swished away.
“Mama,” Jacqueline said, before Jasmine could give the waitress another piece of her mind. “You should’ve been there yesterday with us and Auntie Rachel.”
“Miss Rachel,” Jasmine corrected, ignoring Hosea’s glare.
“Auntie Rachel’s cousin took us fishing!” Jacqueline kept on as if Jasmine’s words didn’t matter.
Jasmine stiffened and now she glared at Hosea. “Really?”
“Uh-huh, and it was fun,” Jacqueline said, oblivious to the storm that was brewing.
“Except Jacquie was scared of the worms,” Zaya added.
“No I wasn’t!”
“Yes you were. That’s why I had to put the worms on the hook for you.” Then, with pride on his face, he turned to Jasmine. “Grandpa taught me how to do it before we got in the boat!”
“Grandpa?”
“Yeah,” Zaya kept on. “Auntie Rachel’s dad told us we could call him Grandpa like all the other kids.”
“Don’t call him that,” Jasmine snapped. “He is not your grandfather.”
“But Auntie Rachel’s kids call him that,” Jacqueline said.
“And she is not your aunt!” Jasmine shouted, turning heads in the eatery. “She is nothing to you. Call her Miss Rachel or don’t call her anything at all.”
For a moment, her children sat there with wide eyes, then they both fell back in their seats. While Zaya looked like he was about to burst into tears if his mother said anything else, Jacqueline folded her arms, pouted, and glared at her.
Then Jacqueline added, “Daddy, I’m not hungry anymore.” She spoke to Hosea, but she didn’t stop staring at her mother. “I want to go back to the hotel.”
“You have to eat something.”
“I want to go back, too,” Zaya added in a whisper.
It was Zaya’s words that made Jasmine regret her outburst. Jacqueline was always over-the-top, the drama queen who sometimes tested Jasmine’s black-mama card membership. But Zaya rarely did. Her sensitive son was so much like her husband, just calm, always cool.
Right now, though, Jasmine could see he was just seconds away from tears and she wanted to put her arms around him, but she couldn’t. If she did, then the children might believe that it was really all right to accept the Jacksons as family. And she would never.
“Okay, let’s get out of here,” Hosea said.
“But . . .”
It was the way Hosea looked at her that made Jasmine stop speaking. Jacqueline and Zaya slipped out of the booth, and scurried as fast as they could to get as far away as they could from Jasmine.
Jasmine stood between Hosea and the children as he signaled the waitress, then whispered something to her. The woman nodded, glanced over Hosea’s shoulder, and shook her head as she stared at Jasmine. When Hosea handed the waitress a twenty, she grinned. “Guess I just got a raise. Ain’t did nothing and made more than two dollars an hour.” She laughed. “Y’all have a great day.”
Jasmine wanted to snatch the money from the woman’s hand, but she knew she’d pushed her husband just about as far as he could go today. Once outside, the four walked to the street corner in silence and once they crossed, the children dashed to the hotel. Silence stayed with them as they rode to the third floor, and then when the elevator doors parted, the children dashed down the hall, passing by their hotel room as well as their parents’.
Jacqueline banged on Mae Frances’s door as if she’d just made a prison break. “Nama! Nama! Let us in.”
A second later the door opened and the two ran inside. Jasmine stood in the hall, debating whether she should get the children. She needed to talk to them. Yes, she’d upset them, but she needed to explain to them her good reasons.
Before she could go after them, though, Hosea said, “Can I talk to you for a minute?” He unlocked their hotel room, opening the door wide for her to enter.
She took another glance at Mae Frances’s room and then followed Hosea inside. He had barely closed the door when he started in: “What is wrong with you?”
She held up her hands. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have talked to the children that way.”
“Damn straight.”
His words made her take two steps back. In all the years that she’d known her husband, had he ever used the word damn in her presence?
He kept on: “Jasmine, I have had just about enough of you.”
“What?”
“This has gone beyond ridiculous. We all know that you’re upset and miserable, but why are you trying to make the rest of us miserable, too?”
“I’m not . . .”
“You are and I’m tired of it. I get that this is upsetting for you; it would be upsetting for anyone. But you know what? It is what it is. Simon Jackson is your father and now you have only two choices—you either accept it or you don’t. That’s it. You either say, ‘I’m going to be part of this family,’ or you say, ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with them.’ But this thing that you’re doing . . . this way that you’re playing the middle . . .”
“I’m not doing that.”
“Then why are you even here in Smackover?”
Jasmine frowned. “Because of Jacqueline’s Hope. I wanted another center.”
“You could’ve opened another one anywhere.”
“Not for what this is costing us. This is almost free.”
He paused, and then brought his voice and his attitude down. “It’s not free at all, Jasmine. This is costing us a lot. Because now you’re taking your hurt out on your children. You’re taking it out on me. And I don’t know what to do about it anymore. But I know I’m not going to take this. So you need to find a way to get it together.”
“What do you expect me to do?” she cried.
“I don’t know; you figure it out. But you need to give it some serious thought and work it out.”
When he turned away from her, she asked, “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get the kids and call Simon or Rachel or one of the other many wonderful people we met yesterday to come and get us.”
“I’m not going over there.”
“I didn’t ask you to,” he said.
And that made tears spring to Jasmine’s eyes.
“Mae Frances may want to rest up some more, so she’ll be here, but the kids and I will hang out over there before it’s time to go to the ribbon cutting.” He paused and added, “Look, I’m not trying to hurt you any more than you’re already hurting. But I’ve tried to help you figure this out. Now you’ve got to do the rest, you’ve got to take the next steps on your own.”
He walked out of the door before she could tell him all that she was thinking. That she couldn’t do this on her own. That she needed him because she was so confused and so scared.
But she didn’t get to tell Hosea any of that. Because he had walked out.
And once again, she was all alone.
• • •
An hour passed, and then another, and another.
And Jasmine still sat, on the edge of the bed, her eyes on the door that Hosea had closed. What was she supposed to do?
She knew what Hosea wanted—for her to suck it up, go to Rachel’s family, and accept them as her own. But didn’t he understand that if she did that, it would wipe away who she was? It would negate all that she knew and believed for the forty-something (or maybe fifty-something) years of her life? It would erase everything that Charles Cox meant to her.
/> Hosea was right . . . maybe she had come to Smackover to at least meet them under the guise of Jacqueline’s Hope. Yes, she’d wanted to see the place that Aunt Virginia said her mother loved so much. She did want to know if she’d feel any connection with this newfound side of her family.
But, except for the few minutes when they were on the road to Smackover yesterday, she didn’t feel anything. And not only did she not feel a thing, she didn’t want to.
Truly this had been a mistake and all she wanted was to go home, put this behind her, and pretend that she’d never heard this news. Hosea would just have to understand. And in time, he would. She’d just have to keep reminding him of how he would feel.
But it did hurt that right now, while she was sitting alone, her family was bonding with the Jacksons. She needed to get them all out of Smackover and that’s what she would do. They would definitely leave tomorrow and not the day after like they’d planned.
She grabbed her iPad. She’d change their reservations now and explain it to Hosea later.
But the moment she powered up, there was a knock on her door. She smiled with relief. Hosea had come back for her.
She ran toward the door, swung it open, and stood staring there for a moment without saying a word.
“Aren’t you going to say hello to your favorite person in the world?” Serena asked.
Jasmine scooped her sister into her arms and squeezed her so tightly that Serena gasped for air.
“I can’t breathe,” Serena kidded.
Jasmine loosened her grip and pulled her sister into the room. “Thank God, Hosea called you,” she said. “How did you get here so quickly?”
“We’re sisters, Jasmine. I’d move Heaven and earth for you.” Serena sat on the bed and Jasmine lowered herself next to her. “So, what is going on? I thought you were coming to Smackover to meet your family?”
“I never said that.”
“I know, but I thought since they would all be here . . .”
“I just wanted to do Jacqueline’s Hope. But now there’s so much pressure for me to embrace these people I don’t even know.”
“I think maybe you’re making this bigger than it has to be. It’s not like you have to make a commitment to anyone here. Just meet them. Free yourself a little bit.”
Jasmine thought about her sister’s words. “Free myself? If I do that, I’ll be freeing myself from you and Mama and . . . and especially . . . Daddy.”
Serena took her sister’s hand and squeezed it. “Is that what’s stopping you? What was in your past will always be there. Mama was your mama, I will always be your sister, and Daddy died as your daddy. Nothing will ever change that. But now you get a chance to meet another man who loves you.”
Jasmine stood, folded her arms, and paced in front of her sister.
“Seriously, Jasmine. You’re all tied up emotionally. The best thing you can do for yourself is at least talk to Simon. Really. Free yourself.”
Before Jasmine could tell her sister all the reasons why Simon didn’t deserve and would never get a chance with her, there was another knock on the door and Serena jumped up.
She placed her hand on the doorknob, but then paused. “Jas, I know you can’t do this alone. That’s why I’m here. But I’m not by myself. There’s someone else who really cares about you, who really wants to help you.” She opened the door and added, “It’s your other sister.”
And there stood Rachel.
“She’s the one who called me,” Serena said. “She bought my ticket and made sure I got here. Because she knew that you needed me.”
Rachel stepped over the threshold, but didn’t move any farther into the room.
Serena kept on: “And you need her. To figure this out, Jas. We’re both here to help you.”
Jasmine looked at the women standing side by side. My sisters.
“I really do want to help,” Rachel said. “It’s not easy for me, either, because I’m no longer the only girl. And I don’t even know . . .” She paused and then took a deep breath. “I don’t even know if I’m the apple of my father’s eye anymore. But even though I hurt, I love him. And sometimes, I kinda, sorta like you, too. So, anything that I can do to help get the two of you together . . .” She stopped and then glanced at Serena.
Serena smiled, nodded, then finished for Rachel: “Anything that we can do to help, we’re gonna do. Right here, right now, we’re gonna work this out.” She took Rachel’s hand and then reached for Jasmine’s. “We’re gonna figure this out like the sisters we are.”
Jasmine stared at her sister’s outstretched hand and then she looked at how Rachel was holding on to Serena. Her lips trembled, but Jasmine finally took hold of Serena and then the three of them sat down in that hotel room, together.
Chapter
24
Rachel
Never in a million years did Rachel think she’d be sitting here doing this—holding hands with her sister. And her sister’s sister. It had been easy enough to get Serena’s number (she was listed), but Rachel hadn’t been so sure that she’d be able to get Serena to hear her out, let alone jump on the first flight to Arkansas to help Rachel get through to Jasmine.
Rachel smiled as she replayed that conversation. She’d been bracing herself for a full-scale pitch.
“So, you want me to come to Smackover and convince my sister to meet your father?” Serena asked after Rachel had introduced herself and explained why she was calling.
“Meet our father,” Rachel corrected.
“So she hasn’t seen him?” Serena asked.
“She won’t leave the hotel room, so she hasn’t seen anyone.”
That elicited a chuckle. “That is so my sister.”
“Serena, this is really hard on her. I mean, I see it tearing her up.” Rachel took a deep breath and braced herself. “Serena, I hate to ask this, but I think Jasmine could really benefit from having you here. There’s a six a.m. flight out in the morning. I know it’s short notice, but—”
“I’ll be on it,” Serena said, cutting her off.
“What?” Rachel was surprised that she hadn’t had to deliver her long spiel on why Serena just had to come.
“I said I’m coming,” Serena said. “I knew my sister was struggling with this and if I had been thinking, I would’ve come with her from the jump. But if you can just text me the address, I’ll be there.”
“Well, you’d have to fly into Little Rock. You’d get in about nine. Then you’d have to rent a car and drive about two hours to Smackover.” Rachel paused, waiting for Serena to say “forget it.”
“Okay,” Serena said.
Wow, Rachel thought. Is that what a sister bond was all about?
“Well, of course, I’m paying for your ticket,” Rachel continued. “It’ll be booked, so you just pick it up at the airport.”
“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Rachel held the phone for a moment then said, “Serena, thank you.”
“No, thank you for calling me,” Serena replied.
And just like that, she was here.
“So, we really need to get moving,” Rachel finally said. She’d been pretty quiet as Serena talked to Jasmine and finally, it seemed like she’d made some progress. “The ribbon cutting is at two.” Rachel didn’t tell Jasmine about the family reunion program at six. She’d have to find a way to work that in between now and then.
Serena flashed a reassuring smile and Jasmine seemed to gather up enough strength to stand.
“Okay, fine,” Jasmine said. “We’ll do this, and then we’ll . . .” She let her words trail off. As if part of her wanted to say, we’ll get out of town . . . but the other part wouldn’t let her.
“We’ll play it by ear,” Serena said, finishing her sentence for her. Serena turned to face Rachel. “Well, now that you have me in this quaint little town, you’ll have to show me around.”
“Look out the window there,” Jasmine said, pointing to the dusty windowpane. “What you see is what y
ou get.”
“And you would know this how?” Rachel said, with a smile. She wanted to be careful not to agitate Jasmine. She was smiling for the first time since getting to Smackover. Rachel wanted to keep it that way. “You haven’t left this hotel room. There’s so much to see here. You’d be amazed. This used to be an oil town.”
“I saw the sign when we went to that disgusting Waffle House. Eighteen hundred people? We have more than that in my apartment building in New York,” Jasmine said.
“I keep telling you, it’s the quality that counts, not the quantity.” Rachel wagged a finger at her. “And we produce world-famous people.”
“Like whom?” Jasmine asked.
“Sleepy LaBeef.”
Serena and Jasmine looked at each other and busted out laughing.
“Oh, I guess y’all never heard of Sleepy?”
“Isn’t he related to Happy and Grumpy?” Jasmine asked.
“Oh, y’all got jokes. He’s a musician. And the most famous person to ever come out of Smackover. Next to me, of course.”
“See,” Jasmine said to Serena, “I told you she was delusional.”
Rachel waved her off as she picked up her keys and headed to the door. “Serena, I’ll show you around on the way to the center. Lester got in early this morning. He will come get Hosea and the children. You two and Mae Frances can ride with me.”
Rachel said her good-byes and raced to her cousin’s to change. Thirty minutes later she was back at the Super 8, parked out front, waiting and praying that Jasmine hadn’t changed her mind. But Rachel felt a sense of peace now that Serena was here. Serena wouldn’t let Jasmine leave. But whether she’d be able to get Jasmine to open up was the question of the decade.
“All right, let’s get this shindig started,” Mae Frances said, making her way out of the hotel first. She still had her mink, but the Arkansas heat must’ve gotten to her, because it was draped across her arm this time.
“Nice dress, Jasmine,” Rachel said as Jasmine walked to the SUV in a plum wrap dress with puffy sleeves. “Is that Diane von Furstenberg?”
“I’m impressed,” Jasmine said.
“Don’t be,” Mae Frances called out from the front seat. “She only knows that because they started selling Diane’s stuff at T.J.Maxx.”
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