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“Flower let me in,” I said. “Imagine my surprise when she answered the door.”
That’s when Henry chimed in, grinning from ear to ear. “We were just about to call you and invite you over. I went to pick up Flower yesterday and drove her right back.”
“What about school?” I asked.
“Aw, she can miss a couple of days,” Meredith replied. “Henry thought it was important for her to go ahead and meet me.”
I shifted from one leg to another. I was getting more pissed off by the second. “And why is that important? For Flower to meet you, I mean.”
They both eyed each other uneasily. Then Henry said, “Jonquinette, we have so much to tell you.” He held up a cookie. “Have a cookie, straight out the oven. Your momma made them from scratch.”
I didn’t take the cookie. I looked at Meredith instead. “Since when did you start making cookies from scratch?”
“Oh, Jonquinette, please! You remember when I used to bake you fresh sweets all the time when you were a child,” she lied without missing a beat. She never baked shit when Jon was a child.
“Oh yeah,” I said. “And they were delicious.” If she was going to
stand there and tell bold-faced lies, I might as well join the party. “So, what is it that you have to tell me?”
First Henry sat down at the kitchen table and then Meredith. I thought I was seeing things when they started holding hands.
“This can’t be!” I said loudly. Then I caught myself. “Okay, I take it that the holding of hands means something momentous.”
Meredith sighed. “Um, yes, it does. Henry and I have been doing a lot of talking these past several days. Making up for lost time, so to speak. This has been a complicated time for all of us but something good has come out of it.”
Henry interrupted her. “What your momma is trying to say is that we’ve decided to make another go at it.”
“You’re kidding!” I exclaimed. “You can’t be serious!”
Henry said, “We’ve never been more serious in our entire lives.” He leaned over and kissed Meredith on the cheek. “In fact, we’re going to get remarried sometime in the spring, after we make sure that your therapy is going well and things have settled back down some.” He held on tighter to her hand. “Besides, none of this should have ever happened. We want you to know that we don’t blame you. It was that other person, that Jude wench, that caused all of this trouble and we’re going to make sure we put a stop to that.”
If it was actually physically possible for smoke to come out of someone’s ears, it would have been coming out of mine right that second. No! That motherfucker didn’t call me a wench! I took a few deep breaths before I went off on both of them.
“Does that mean you’ll be moving here to Atlanta?” I finally asked. The thought of him moving closer to Jon was revolting but I had to pose the question.
Meredith replied, “No, I’m planning on relocating to North Carolina.”
I had to refrain from break dancing, I was so damn happy all of a sudden. While I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect of the two of them getting back together, not having to worry about the Queen Bitch stopping by Jon’s place unannounced or worrying the hell out of her did have its appeal. “Really? Cool!”
Meredith seemed staggered. “Wow, we weren’t expecting that reaction. We assumed you would be upset.”
“Upset about what?” I went closer to them with my arms wide open and they both stood so I could hug them. “I’m thrilled for the two of you. After all, what’s meant to be is meant to be.”
“But we feel kind of guilty about leaving you here in Atlanta alone,” Meredith continued. “We were hoping you might consider moving also.”
She had lost her fucking mind!
“That’s impossible, Momma. I have a good job here, my place, and most importantly, Dr. Spencer.” I couldn’t believe those words had just left my mouth but I had to make it sound legitimate. “I’m also kind of seeing someone now and I want to find out where that can go.”
Meredith and Henry both yelled out in unison, “Seeing someone?”
Okay, Jude, I told myself. Make it look good!
“Yes, his name is Mason and he’s one of my neighbors.”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever met him,” Meredith said.
“You’ve never met any of my neighbors, have you?” I asked, thinking back and trying to recall whether or not Jon had ever introduced her to any. “Besides, he hasn’t been living there that long.”
