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CHAPTER1
STORM
“Who in the hell gets married on Christmas Eve? Nesha got my kids mad as hell. They normally open gifts on Christmas Eve since we’re with their grandparents all day on Christmas day.”
“Uncle Storm, really? You don’t have to be here. You aren’t in the wedding.”
I frowned at Jessica and said, “What’chu mean I ain’t gotta be here? Girl, I might as well be the damn mayor of Nome. Ain’t shit go on in this town without me. Somebody gotta keep shit in line. You must’ve been living in Houston for too long and forgot. Secondly, I ain’t complaining about today. I’m complaining about tomorrow. Nesha better be glad I like her.”
“Don’t you mean love?” she asked.
“Naw. I meant like. Love wouldn’t have me here. I could love her from my house. But because I like her, I’m gon’ be here tomorrow.”
“Lawd have mercy.”
She sounded just like Jen when she said that.Like mother, like daughter.
“I don’t know why you entertaining his sour ass,” Jasper said. “Come dance with me, Jess. Jenahra got Chas busy, and my Ashanni don’t wanna dance with me.”
I shot Jasper the finger as he pulled Jess away. We were at the rehearsal dinner at the family barn for Nesha and Lennox’s wedding. It would be taking place right here in the barn tomorrow. Olivia and WJ had been busy, trying to make sure everything was in order. Evette, Nesha’s biological mother, and Sharon, WJ’s ex-wife, were also here running around, pulling shit together.
I was sitting here doing what I did best: supervising. The kids had left with Mama and Pop, and I was grateful for the break. Remington was almost two, and that lil nigga was the worst out of the five of them. I guess the twins and SJ weren’t bad enough. God had to really test our patience with this nigga. It was like He wanted me to end up in jail for child abuse. Maui was my stress reliever. The older she got, the calmer she seemed to get. Half the time, I forgot she was even there. She definitely inherited that from her mother.
The twins were so much like me it was scary. They were fifteen, almost sixteen years old already, and driving all over Nome. They were pissed because I only bought one car for them, but they would get over it eventually.Spoiled asses.As I watched Jasper dance with Jessica and Marcus dance with Syn, I felt a presence behind me. I turned to see my beautiful wife standing there with a huge smile on her face and a stack of papers.
“The Nome News is finished! Just in time to give people joy on Christmas!”
I frowned. What in the hell was going on in Nome that would give people joy? Shiiid, these days, if it wasn’t run by the Hendersons, the shit wasn’t ran. She handed me the paper, and on the cover was a picture of a black Santa Claus. I glanced up at her, and she said excitedly, “Storm, read it!”
I slightly rolled my eyes and began reading. It was the traditional Christmas time jargon at first until I got to the section that was subtitledNews You Can Use.The first item underneath read:Unfortunately, we have to report that Jerry’s vacation is over. He’s gone back to his home at Liberty County Jail.
I looked up at her and cracked a smile. Everybody knew Jerry stayed in jail. When he was on the streets of Nome, that nigga was just on vacation. He was gonna eventually do something to land his ass back in jail. That shit had been going on for the past thirty years.
Aspen giggled as my smile got bigger. I went back to the paper and read the next item.Please be sure to barely tap your horn to get Sidney out of the street. Last week, a car snuck up on him, and when their horn blared, it almost gave him a heart attack.
I cracked up laughing. Sidney was known to walk in the middle of the street. He needed to get hit. He lived on 3rdStreet, the main street in Nome that turned into Grayburg Road further down. Marcus flew through there all the time and almost hit his ass. I looked up at Aspen. “Baby, this is really good. You right. It will give people something to laugh about. Hopefully, I didn’t land my ass in here.”
She shrugged. “You’ll only find out if you keep reading.”
“Hmph. It better be on the up and up. You should have put Dudley’s ass in here.”
“Dudley? From the post office?”
“Hell yeah. That nigga picture need to be on the front page with the caption,Count your muthafucking days.”
“What did Dudley do to you? I love him! He’s so crazy! And secondly, he’s in China, not Nome. So he can’t be in Nome News.”
“He crazy alright. Crazy for fucking with me. If I wasn’t worried about catching a felony case, I would’ve snatched his ass from behind that counter.”
“Storm! Are you serious? Why didn’t you go to Nome post office and see Kathleen?”
“Me and Kathleen cool. We here,” I said, gesturing my fingers back and forth between me and her. “I forgot Nome closed at four, so I had to run to China because they don’t close until four thirty. When I got there, the nigga had the nerve to roll his eyes. First of all, I was already in a mood because I had to fly to China. So I was like, not today, man. I ain’t got time for yo’ bullshit. This nigga proceeds to take his time. I mean like, went and sat at his desk and got on the fucking phone.”
Aspen hollered with laughter while I frowned. That shit had me hot enough to shoot his ass, and she was standing there laughing. “Storm, you know he was just playing.”
“I told him I wasn’t in the mood for his bullshit.”
“So what happened after that?”
