I was about to get up and start on dinner when I heard keys in the front door. I frowned, looking at the time. Sosa said he'd be a while still, so who the fuck….
The door swung open and in walked Miss Shaunie, Sosa's mama, carrying two big ass turkeys in her arms. She was dressed in some tight ass Fashion Nova jeans and a tight ass top to match it. her burgundy lace front was laid to the gods, fresh white AirForces on her feet. A cigarette was dangling from her lips, and she had on big ass gold hoops that swung when she walked. She looked good for her age, she was forty-something but could pass for thirty, and she knew it.
"Wassup," she said, barely glancing at me as she kicked the door closed behind her with her foot.
"Hey, Miss Shaunie." I sat up, already feeling my mood shift. Me and Sosa's mama... we ain't never clicked. And it wasn't 'cause she was proper or uptight. nah, it was the opposite. She was too much like me, or like I used to be. And I think that's why we ain't get along.
"Mmhmm." She walked past me toward the kitchen, the turkeys looking heavy as hell, but she carried them like they wasn't nothing. The smell of her cigarette smoke trailed behind her.
“Sosa here?"
"No, he still at the restaurant. He should be home soon though." I got up and followed her to the kitchen, trying to be cordial even though she never gave me the same energy.
"You need some help?"
"Girl, I been carrying turkeys since before you was born. I'm good." She plopped them down on the counter and took a long drag of her cigarette, then looked around for somewhere to ash it. I slid her an ashtray from the windowsill and she nodded.
"Thanksgiving in three days. I figured I'd bring these by so Sosa could get 'em ready."
"Oh, we was actually gon' handle everything at the restaurant."
"The restaurant?" She turned and looked at me, her perfectly arched eyebrow raised. "Baby, you don't do Thanksgiving at no restaurant. That's family time. Home cooked meal type shit." She took another drag, blowing the smoke to the side. "But I guess you ain't used to that type of family time, huh?"
There it was. The shade. Always disguised as something innocent but it never was.
"I know about family, Miss Shaunie," I said, keeping my voice level. "Me, Yatta, and Ya'Mya,"
"Yeah, yeah, your brother and sister." She waved her hand dismissively, her long acrylics catching the light. "Y'all was out here doing whatever y'all was doing. I heard about it. The whole city talk."
My jaw clenched. "That was before—"
"Before Sosa saved you?" She looked me dead in my eyes, and I saw something flash there. Something like jealousy mixed with resentment. "Yeah, my son good at that. Saving these lil' girls who don't know what they doing. Giving them a come up."
"It ain't like that,"
"Baby, don't play with me. I was out here before you. Way before you." She ashed her cigarette, leaning back against the counter all casual. "I know the game. I was running shit when you was still in pampers. I had niggas lined up around the block wanting to wife me, trick on me, all that. I chose this life. I did what I had to do to survive and take care of my kids."
I knew about Miss Shaunie's past. Sosa had told me some of it, about how she used to hustle, used to be out here in these streets making money however she could. How she raised Sosa and Zurie by herself when their father got locked up. Plus, she took in Trigg and his sister Tasha when they was kids. How she was tough as nails and didn't take shit from nobody.
"I respect what you did for your kids," I said carefully. "Sosa told me how you held it down,"
"Respect?" She laughed, but it wasn't a happy sound. "Girl, you don't respect me. You probably think I'm just some ghetto ass mammy who got lucky. But let me tell you something, I ain't need no nigga to give me nothing. I got everything I got on my own. My house, my cars, my money. All me."
"I never said—"
"You ain't have to say it. I see how you look at me." She pointed at me with the hand holding her cigarette. "Like you better than me now 'cause my son cleaned you up. Like you different. But baby, you ain't. You just got a nigga taking care of you now. That's all."
I felt my face get hot. My hands balled into fists at my sides. "That ain't fair Ms. Shaunie and you know it."
"Life ain't fair, sweetheart." She took one last drag and put her cigarette out in the ashtray. "And let me keep it a buck with you, my son could have any bitch in this city. He fine, he got money, he got status. These hoes throw themselves at him daily. So I don't know what you did to lock him down, but just know it's other bitches waiting for you to fuck up."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me." She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes hard. "Sosa is my baby boy. My only son. Zurie a whole different story. she grown, got her own shit, but Sontae, he’s my heart. And I ain't about to let no little girl come in here and play with his heart or his pockets. I’ve seen too many bitches try to come up off my kid. So if you here for the wrong reasons, if you using him, if you gon' hurt him, trust me, I will find out. And belive me. You don’t wanna be on my bad side.”
I stared at her, feeling all types of emotions running through me.
Anger, hurt, disrespect. But also... I understood. In a fucked up way, I got it. She was protecting her son. The same way Yatta protected me and Mya. The same way I'd protect my little sister from any nigga I thought was using her. But that didn't mean I had to stand here and take her shit.
