She left it at that. She didn’t want to go into detail about how her mom hadn’t worked a job since Teonny was little and Jerome wasn’t about shit. Teonny took care of them, and she had no problem doing so. She had more than enough money and nothing else to spend it on.
As soon as she opened the door, her mother stood there looking like she was about to leave.
“Teo, there you are,” she exclaimed before she flung her arms around her daughter.
“Mommy.” Teonny whimpered. She suddenly wanted to break down and cry, but she clamped her eyes shut and gathered herself. She couldn’t let her mom know anything was wrong.
Tameka pulled away from her daughter and grabbed Teonny by her arms so she could check her out. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Teonny managed to giggle. She had to put on a show because her mama knew her better than anyone. Really, if she wasn’t so upset by everything that happened, she would have laughed for real.
Looking at Tameka felt like looking in a mirror. She had the same peanut butter colored skin, the same freckles, the same heart-shaped lips, and the same long curly hair. The major difference between them was Tameka was a solid four inches taller than Teonny.
“I’m fine, Mommy. I came to surprise you.”
Tameka took another step back, her heels clicking against the tiled floor. “Surprise me?” Her eyes traveled behind Teonny and landed on Prosper. A crooked smile graced her face. “My apologies. I’ve been rude. You are?” She held her hand out, and Prosper took it.
“Prosper. Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
Tameka looked between her daughter and Prosper with a wide smile. “Prosper, I’m Tameka.” Her gaze landed back on her daughter. “Is he the surprise?”
Teonny shook her head. “What? No, Mommy. We’re taking you on a staycation. Prosper has this beautiful house, and we’re going to spend some time there, relaxing, watching movies . . . that kind of thing.”
Teonny did her best to make it sound convincing. It wasn’t odd for her to whisk her mother away on vacations. SinceAngel died, she hadn’t worked. Her photography business was long forgotten about, and she filled her days with anything she wanted. Oftentimes, that meant traveling or spending nights in luxurious hotels with her mother in tow. She’d never had a strange man joining them, though, so that part was where she had to tread lightly.
Tameka’s eyes found Prosper again. “You’re inviting us to stay at your house?”
Prosper took a step forward and placed a hand around Teonny’s waist. Her legs instantly felt like jelly.
“If I know anything about Peanut, it’s that you mean a lot to her. I wanted the chance to get to know you and for you and her to have some time to bond. I have everything set up for you ladies. All you have to do is pack a bag.”
Oh, he’s good,Teonny thought.Way better at this than me.
Tameka glanced at them one last time before putting her purse down on the table next to the closet where they kept their coats. “Peanut, huh?” She eyed her daughter with her brows raised. “I guess the mall can wait.” She grinned. “Teo, you need to pack anything?”
Teonny thought about it. “Actually, yeah.” She looked up at Prosper. “You want to come?”
“With you to your bedroom? Is that a question?”
His smirk made her entire body heat up. She tried to ignore it as she followed her mother up the stairs. When they got to the top, Jerome came out of their room in a robe and boxers. Teonny’s face instantly turned up as she looked away.
“Aye, Teo,” Jerome said. “My bad. I ain’t know you was home.”
“Ain’t that always the case?” Teonny muttered as she grabbed Prosper’s hand and brushed by them. Jerome knew she hated when he walked around half naked. He never seemed tocare what she thought though. “Mommy, if you can hurry, that would be great.”
“Hurry what? Where y’all goin’, and who is that nigga?—”
When they got to her room, she closed the door. She felt Prosper pull against her when Jerome asked about him. She had no doubt he was going to address her mother’s boyfriend, but she wanted to avoid that. The quicker they could get out of there, the better she would feel.
She walked toward her large walk-in closet while Prosper looked around.
“You got the master bedroom?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she called out. “This is my house.”
Prosper appeared inside the closet with a puzzled look on his face just as she opened her suitcase and started throwing things in.
“See, this what I mean. I don’t know shit about you. You been all up in my business. What do you do for work to afford this big ass house?”
