“You never told me that.”
“Babe, it’s a lot we haven’t talked about.”
Nina looked out the window, thinking about how much of Jio she still didn’t know.
“What was she like?”
He kept driving but she knew he heard her.
“She was soft when she wanted to be,” he said eventually. “Hard when she had to be. Everybody listened when she talked. She demanded so much respect.” Jio purposely didn’t think about his past. It fucked him up too much emotionally. But damn… his grandparents were truly missed. Life hadn’t been the same without them.
“She would’ve loved you,” he co-signed Mr. B’s statement.
“You think so?”
“Yes, without a doubt.” The certainty in his voice did something tender to her.
“She was a woman with a backbone. When I say she didn’t play the radio, I used to think she ran shit and not my granddad.”
Nina burst out laughing. “I know I would’ve loved her.”
Jio beamed. “Yep…”
“I love it here. We should start our own tradition and come every Summer.”
“I’m down with that.”
“Something tells me you own property down here already,” she eyed him.
Jio bit his bottom lip.
“I got a few acres.”
“How did this even come about?”
He sighed. “From what I was told, a group of people got together and decided that they would build their own town. Back in the day, the Hamptons was overworking to try and keep Black folks out of certain places, so them same niggas went and built something better around the corner.”
Nina looked back toward the homes as his words settled over her.
Something better around the corner.
Jio said a mouthful with that statement. It was a sermon in itself.
“There was a time when a lot of Black families with money still couldn’t buy where they wanted. It didn’t matter if you were a doctor, lawyer, judge, whatever. Money didn’t make people see you as equal. It just made them find more polite ways to tell you no.”
Jio and her mama could go back and forth on that subject for hours. Mrs. Marcelle had no problem pushing her way into any room that they didn’t want her in. She was good for waving her checkbook, whereas Jio’s family didn’t want to be anywhere they weren’t welcomed.
Nina had always been the oddball in the family. Growing up, she would tune out of the conversations about their status at the dining room table. But hearing how that type of shit affected people from Jio’s lips as they currently drove through a town that was born out of rejection hit her differently.
“How did they pay for this land?”
“Some families started buying through white attorneys,” he said. “Some used trusts. Some bought land nobody thought was worth much because it wasn’t on the right side or the view wasn’t the best or too far from off the highway. All types of shit… but you know one thing black people gon’ do is turn shit into gold.”
Nina turned toward him. “How did your family get involved?”
His jaw shifted. “My grandfather was one of the initial investors.” He should’ve saidmain investorbut the word didn’t find its way.
“In The Bluff?”
