Page 60 of A Little Kissing Between Friends

“Last I checked, wasn’t no mathematics degree needed to dance on stage with your jugs hanging out, so I don’t know why you thought you needed to do all that figuring!”

The way my jaw unhinged and my mandible hung loose had to have looked as ridiculous as I felt. Nana stared at me, waiting. My mouth was drying up, so I gasped and then immediately yelped.

She burst into giggles, her thin shoulders shaking.

“That was funny.” I stated the obvious.

“Mmhm. Not as funny as you thinking you were going to take my baby from me without a fight.” Her hands were hanging by her side after she finished laughing, and I watched as one of them curled into a fist.

Holding my hands up, I took a step backward. “Hey there, slugger. I wasn’t trying to take your baby from you.”

Eyes once again narrowed, she glared at me. “Whatchu call it?”

“I—” My eyes bounced around the kitchen in search of something to help me give her an answer that didn’t sound ridiculous. There was none, and after a moment I gave her a pathetic look. “Self-preservation,” I offered pathetically.

The expectant look she wore morphed into one of recognition and her lips formed an O. On instinct, I started to shake my head, but then stopped when I realized I had no idea what she was about to say. The recognition turned into sympathy; I became fairly certain that I didn’t want to hear what was about to come out of her mouth. I didn’t want sympathy; I wanted to get my baby and skedaddle. But I should’ve known that was easier said than done with this family.

The Thomases were good people. They were close-knit and deeply enmeshed in each other’s lives but had a lot of love to give to outsiders. When they brought someone into the fold, they treated them like one of their own. They’d taken in me and my baby, and even Samir to an extent. In them I had something that I’d been missing since before I made it to double digits, and as I tried to avoid Nana Cherry’s knowing gaze, I at least had the wherewithal to admit the truth to myself.

My sudden need to dig myself out of their family plot was because I wanted to cut them off before they did it to me. It would hurt less if I lost them because I chose to, instead of the other way around.

At least that’s what I told myself.

“It is because of my knucklehead granddaughter, ain’t it?”

Choking out a dry laugh, I shook my head.

“Why she gotta be a knucklehead, Nana?”

Pursing her lips, Cyn’s grandmother quirked an eyebrow at me.

“Well, is she the reason that you’re trying to take my baby from me?”

I didn’t want to heap all of the blame onto Cyn’s shoulders, nor did I want to throw her under the bus, so I rolled my lips into my mouth and shook my head.

It kind of wasn’t a lie.

Not really.

“Did she make a pass at you?”

Nana’s question roughly jerked me out of my thoughts.

“What?! No! Not at all!”

Jerking back, Nana frowned. Finger pointed at me, she leaned forward, her small frame intimidating the hell out of me despite her being half my size.

“Now, wait just a doggone minute! Don’t sound so offended. My granddaughter is a wonderful woman. She’s loving, and makes her own money, and she has a good head on her shoulders. Any woman would be lucky to call her their girlfriend.”

“Except Poppa doesn’t do girlfriends,” I chuckled morosely. Or maybe she did, but she just didn’t do me as a girlfriend.

Unaware that I was having a complete meltdown in my head, Nana grabbed my hand and led me to the dining room, pulling out a chair and motioning for me to have a seat. She returned to the kitchen and was back in a few moments handing me a glass of what looked like red juice. I waited for her to sit before sipping from the glass, only for my eyes to pop wide open as I gave her an appreciative look.

“Ooh, this is good!”

Her smile was proud as she dipped her head. “Ain’t it?”

“Mmhm!”