She hadn’t planned on cooking that night, but she needed something to keep her mind occupied since Prosper left. Something in her gut told her that shit was going down, and her nerves were bad.
“How have I not been chill?” Tameka asked as she scrolled on her phone. She sat at the center island with her face frowned up like being there was the worst thing in the world.
Teonny sighed as she placed the plate of food in front of her mother. This was always how their dynamic looked. Teonny cooked because she loved to do it, and Tameka ate good.
Teonny watched her mom for a minute before she asked, “What’s the problem?”
Tameka sighed and put her fork down. “A real street nigga keeps his shit away from his woman. I don’t like that he has youandme caught up in his bullshit.”
“It’s not even like that. We were at the gun range when some shit went down?—”
“The gun range? What were you doing at the gun range?” Tameka asked as her brows pulled together.
Teonny clamped her mouth shut. She realized she slipped up and currently kicked herself for it. Finally, she expelled a long breath. “Yes, the gun range. I’ve been going there pretty much every day for the past five years. It’s where I met Prosper three years ago.”
She avoided her mother’s eyes. She could feel the questions mounting, and she braced herself for the onslaught.
“And why the hell have you been at the gun range every damn day since my grand baby and son-in-law died? I thought you left every day to practice self-care or find yourself. Never in a million years did I think you were out playing with the very things that killed two people I loved more than anything.”
Her words stung. Teonny flinched as if she had been slapped as tears filled her eyes. Her mom could sometimes be harsh with her. It was why they fought like sisters sometimes and not like mother and daughter, but she had never tossed around Angel’s death like that.
When Angel was alive, Tameka had been the best grandmother. Teonny got to see a nurturing side of her mother that she never got growing up. She loved that for Angel. She wanted Angel to experience the best parts of everyone she encountered, and because her mom did just that, it made them so much closer.
Teonny knew Angel’s death hit her mom hard. Hell, even Kevin’s death hit her hard. But as hard as it was on Tameka, theyseemed to have a mutual understanding that it was harder on Teonny. At least until that moment.
Teonny felt the walls of safety she and her mother built over the years crumple as tears slipped out of her eyes.
“How could you say some shit like that?”
Tameka pointed her manicured nail at her daughter with tears of her own in her eyes. “No, how could you spend so much time at a place that would do nothing to honor your daughter and late husband? And how could you take a man who brings the same kind of violence that killed them seriously?”
Teonny’s jaw dropped. Her feelings were way past hurt at that point, and confusion filled her. With a shaky voice, she said, “I don’t get it. You were so excited that I was dating again?—”
“Dating, Teo. Dating. I was fine with you having fun with a man again. Hell, getting some damn dick. But I see how serious you are about Prosper.” Her mom looked at her and shook her head. “You love him, don’t you?”
Though her mouth could clearly spit venom, nobody could deny the fact that Tameka knew her daughter like the back of her hand.
With her head held high and her shoulder squared, Teonny nodded. “I do. I love him, and I wish you could see how good of a man he is.”
Tameka scoffed. “You know who was a good man? Kevin.Thatwas a good man.”
Teonny stared at her mother with her eyes wide. Something in her snapped. All these years of letting praise of Kevin pass had her fed the fuck up. Hearing her mother try to tell her she was dishonoring her daughter had her feening to go to the gun range so she could blow off some steam. Unfortunately, Tameka had said the wrong thing at the right time because she was about to feel all of Teonny’s wrath.
“Kevin used to beat me, Ma. And he would do it in front of Angel if I didn’t have to constantly beg him not to. He would beat me so bad that sometimes I found it hard to take care ofmydaughter, who I fuckin’ loved with everything in me, by the way. I will always honor her. You know how? By making sure I’m never put in another situation where someone I love is threatened again.
“The gun range helped me to feel safe. To feel like I had my power back, but how could you ever understand that? You weren’t there when it happened, but you sit there and judge me. Fuck you.” Teonny walked toward the hallway. She needed to get away from her mother, but she had to say one last thing first. “Oh, and Prosper is by far a better man than Kevin ever could be. I’m not sorry he’s dead.”
“You’re an ungrateful little girl, you know that?” Tameka said before Teonny could exit the kitchen.
Teonny whirled around with fire in her eyes. If she didn’t leave that kitchen soon, she would go toe to toe with her mama, something she had never done before.
“The fuck you just say?”
Tameka stood. “You think I ain’t ever had a black eye or two before because of a man? At least your husband put a fat ass rock on your finger and took care of you, ofus. You’re ungrateful and hateful. How could you say you’re happy your husband is dead?”
Teonny stood there staring at her mother, wondering how the hell she was supposed to respond to that. It barely registered that the front door had opened and Prosper’s voice rang out.
“Peanut?” Both ladies stayed silent as they stared at each other. When Prosper entered the room, his eyes bounced between the women. “Y’all good?” Neither of them responded. “Okay,” he said slowly. “I need you two to take a ride with me.”
