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“Your cousins are a wee bit upset with some of his recent decisions.”
“Another freaking understatement.”
“Oh. Should I not rent the house? I could still get the apartment above the beauty shop,” I ask, directing my question at Black. I don’t want to jump into a huge mess.
“That’s crazy talk right there. This house is perfect. The master bedroom and bath are so nice and the small nursery will be great for baby Zeus or Eris,” Ida Sue argues. “Plus, Cherry Blossom, look at this yard. Your babies could run and play for days.”
I laugh. For the last few days Ida Sue has tried different “blossom” names for me. She’s asked to adopt me, even though I keep telling her you can’t adopt an adult. Her response was classic Ida Sue. She said she can adopt me, she just has to find the right name. I don’t know what to say to that, other than I love her—which I do, even if she is crazy as hell.
“I don’t think I need to worry about the yard. I probably won’t be here long enough for the baby to be running—and that’s bay--be, singular, definitely not plural,” I laugh.
“Why wouldn’t you be? I thought you liked it here.”
“Well, I do. It’s a great place for a kid to grow up. But I’m renting. I doubt the owner is really looking for any contract to be long term.”
“Exactly the reason I want to smash his face in,” Black growls.
“What?”
“Nothing. Black forgot to take his fiber medication this morning. It makes him grouchy when he can’t poop correctly.”
I cringe. That’s something I really didn’t want to know about my cousin.
“Well, you’re right about one thing, Mom. Someone around here is sure full of shit.”
“Black Heart Lucas! You need to shut it!”
“That’s not my middle name, Mom.”
“It is now! I just changed it!”
I know they’re arguing, and I’m confused as hell, but I listen to them and giggle.
“I’m going to make sure Faith’s water is turned on and her windows are locked,” Black answers, walking away, and it’s clear he’s still angry.
“Wow. He is really upset with your friend.”
“He is, but he’ll get over it. C.T. just needs to prove himself again, and he will.”
“What did he do?”
“That’s not my story to tell, Ginger Blossom. But I think everyone deserves a second chance, don’t you?”
“I never thought about it. I guess so. Unless maybe, murderers and people who harm children and maybe pets. Really, Ida Sue, I can’t answer since I don’t know what this C.T. did.”
“He just made a mistake, Tater Blossom, but it wasn’t illegal. Everyone makes mistakes, even my damn boy. One day he’ll be eating his words.”
“You have that much confidence in your friend?”
“I do, but then there’s a lot on the line for him and I’ve found when a good man is faced with losing everything, he tends to get his head out of his ass pretty quickly.”
“Well, I hope he fixes everything, especially since you seem so fond of him.”
“Me too, Turtle Blossom, me too.”
“Aunt Ida Sue?”
“Yeah?”
“Let’s just call me Blossom...”
She grins really big and I get the feeling she got what she wanted all along. I’ve agreed to be “adopted” and I didn’t even see it coming.
thirty-five
titan
I’m so nervous I feel like I’m about to face the firing squad. I rub the side of my face, frowning. I should have shaved this morning. I came here straight from the airport. I thought about going to Faith’s looney-tunes aunt first, but sadly… this seemed the safer of the two choices.
And if I’m completely honest, I wanted to see Faith again. I haven’t laid eyes on her since that day at the airport and I’ve found the strangest thing happened.
I missed her.
I missed her after she left me with the annulment papers, but she made her choice and it pissed me off at the time, but I decided to move forward. I did that and when it got time to marry Jacey…
I was done. I was going through with the plan, despite knowing I shouldn’t. I was going through with the plan at Jacey’s urgings… at Cora’s urgings. I was going through with the plan because I felt lost and the promise of the general manager position might fill that void. But when it came up to that moment, I couldn’t do it. Was going to call it off, and then Faith showed.
That was not how I wanted her to see me again. That’s all I processed. I didn’t want Faith to see me being a chump, making chump moves—because that’s all that was. A play for a fucking job, doing what I was doing—even with Jacey knowing my motives and her having some of her own—was a chump-ass move and that’s what Faith saw.
Then came her news.
Pregnant.
I haven’t begun to process that. I’m not sure I know how right now. What I do know is I need to make sure Faith is taken care of—preferably by me, but at least so that I’m close enough to know she’s okay.
