36
“You sure this is good? I mean, you don’t think I should go with the Tom Ford with the pink shirt?” He pulled on his suit jacket as he stared at himself in the mirrored closet door. “I think it fits better.”
“Zo, all your suits fit you perfectly because they’re tailored.”
“Nah, there’s something about the Tom Ford, though. It just fits different.”
I sighed. “If you wanna wear the Tom Ford, then wear the Tom Ford, baby.”
“But this one complements your dress.”
“Then wear that one.”
“You’re right. I should wear this one. Can’t go wrong with Armani.” He crossed the bedroom and opened the closet door. “But this tie…”
“Zo! We’re gonna be late and we’re the guests of honor along with Nicky and Travis.”
“I know. Shit, I’m nervous, baby. I’m meeting your parents.”
“You’re only meeting my mom. I doubt my father will be there, or at least she didn’t mention him coming.”
“Still…” He bent over and picked up two pairs of shoes. “Which ones?”
“Are either of them Tom Ford?”
He held up the pair in his right hand.
“Wear those so you’ll have your Tom Ford fix.”
“Good idea.”
He put his shoes on and then stared at himself in the mirror again. “Let me brush my hair again.”
“Zo! I have been ready for thirty minutes. Let’s go! I swear you’re giving me a headache!”
“Okay, okay. I just wanna make the right impression. I mean, your sister’s fiancé is a lawyer, and I’m—”
“A bestselling author.”
“Who used to sell drugs.”
“My mother doesn’t know that.”
“You gonna tell her?”
“Why would I? It’s not any of her business.”
“You sure?”
“You’re stalling. Let’s go, Lorenzo.”
“Damn, you called me Lorenzo. Guess you mean business.” He flashed me a smile and walked over to me, grabbing my hand and kissing my cheek. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Finally.”
In the backseat of his Maybach, he squeezed my hand, and asked, “Is your head really hurting again?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but not bad. And I already checked my blood pressure while you were in the closet earlier shopping for ties, so it’s not that.”
“But it’s something.”
I shrugged. “Probably just tension or something.”
“You’re worried about tonight?”
I shook my head. “No…maybe it’s work tension.”
“Maybe? I’m paying for the third midwife like I said, and you’re gonna take some time off. You deserve it.”
“Zo, don’t start that again. I’ll be fine. Maybe I haven’t been getting enough sleep.”
“Shiiiiit, I don’t know how you were sleeping while you were gone, but since you came home, your ass has been sleeping like a baby and snoring like a freight train.”
“So you think you don’t snore, Zo?”
“I can’t be snoring like you do, and I haven’t been snoring at all in the last two weeks since you’ve been back. Hell, you’ve been keeping me up!”
I rolled my eyes. “Shut up.”
“But for real, baby, you just gave me two unrelated reasons for your headache, and you’ve been getting them like every day. It might not be your blood pressure, but something is causing them. I’ma need you to go to the doctor.”
I sighed. “I will.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Zo, I don’t know if I can get an appointment for tomorrow.”
“Then go to one of those walk-in clinics.”
“Zo—”
“Please, baby.”
I saw the pleading in his eyes, heard the urgency in his voice, and I acquiesced. Truth be told, my headaches concerned me, too, but I think I was afraid to find out what was going on. I knew it wasn’t my blood pressure, and the thought of it being something more serious scared me to death. But I could see that it scared him even more.
“Hey,” I said softly as Rell pulled into my mother’s driveway, “I love you.”
He leaned in and kissed me, then backed away with this smile on his face. “I got dressed up, left home, and am going to spend the evening in an intimate setting with your family. You know I love your ass.”
I grinned as he climbed out of the car and reached for my hand.
Renee’s mom’s house was nice, neat, screamed money, and made me even more nervous. Just knowing Renee and how articulate and intelligent she was, told me my ass was going to be a serious fish out of water here with these people. Renee had tried to ease my mind by saying her father was just a car salesman and her mother had never worked, but shit, she didn’t come from the world of drugs and crime like I did, from my daddy down to me. But nevertheless, when her mother greeted us at the door, I kissed her hand and thanked her for having me.
“You’re so welcome. I’m just glad to finally meet you, and I am not disappointed.” She turned to Renee and added, “Wow, you outdid yourself, Renee. Vast improvement.”
That made me smile. That plus the fact that Renee and her mom looked a lot alike. I saw where Renee got those curves from, too. Her mama was fine as hell.
She led us into the living room, where Renee’s sister, Angie, and her husband were already waiting, and left to go check on something. Ryan, who I’d met a couple of times before and liked being around because he was funny as hell, got up and met me halfway into the room, dapped me up, and with a grin on his face said, “You done got roped in by a Strickland sister, too, huh?”
I laughed. “Hell, yeah! Renee got my ass!”
“Man, if you’re not careful, you gon’ be midwifing and shit like Angie got me YouTubing.”
“I ain’t got you doing nothing you don’t wanna do, Ryan Boyé!”
“I’m just doing it for the sex, Angie-baby. Only for the sex.”
Angie shot him a look, and he said, “What?”
I chuckled. “I know the feeling, man. Why you think I’m here? Shit, I love being a damn hermit, but I ain’t got time for Renee to cut me off.”
Renee rolled her eyes.
Ryan laughed. “Man, that’s what I’m talking about. They give you that magical Strickland pussy and have you doing all kinds of shit you never thought you’d do.”
“I hope my mother heard you two. She thinks Ryan is a damn saint,” Angie said.
“Well, she looked like she wanted to climb Zo. I really wish my old, un-sex-crazed, unfreaky mother would return,” Renee said, then clutched her stomach.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, with a frown.
“Just remembering something.”
We all sat down, and Ryan said, “Lorenzo, man, you’re in for a treat, because my baby cooked her ass off!”
I raised my eyebrows. “For real? You cook like that, Angie? You know I like to mess around in the kitchen, too.”
She nodded. “Yeah, I love to cook. We’re gonna have to plan a potluck or something. Start having some couples’ dates since we’re all gonna be married.”
“Yeah, sounds good,” I replied. “What’s your best dish? I can burn when it comes to surf and turf.”
“Soul food. But I can work with just about anything.”
“Hey, everyone! Where’s Mama?” Renee’s little sister, Nicky, walked into the living room with her fiancé on her arm. As far as I could tell, he was cool, but Renee was convinced it wouldn’t work between them because she said her little sister was, for lack of a better word, a ho’.
“How’d you get in?” Renee asked.
“Used my key.”
“Mama went to check on something,” Angie said.
“Oh.” Nicky looked kind of lost for a moment, and then an idea seemed to pop into her head. “You guys know, Travis, right?” She turned to her fiancé, who was closer to Ryan’s height than mine. “Travvie, you remember my sisters and their guys?”
As Travis walked over and shook me and Ryan’s hands, Renee muttered, “The white girl is back.” Angie nodded in agreement.
We were all sitting chatting about nothing in particular when Mrs. Strickland returned. “Well, all that’s left is for Angelo to get here. Late as always.”
“Daddy’s coming?” Angie asked.
Her mother nodded as she stepped over to the loveseat and hugged Nicky and Travis. “Of course! He wants to meet Lorenzo and Travis, too.”
Shit.
I had really hoped he wasn’t coming. Mothers are easy to impress when you look like I do. Fathers are a different story. Now my ass was petrified.
Renee grabbed my hand. “Let me show you something while we wait for my dad.”
She led me to a wall of pictures and pointed out herself at various ages. Her with her sisters, with her parents, her mother when she was pregnant with her, her parents’ wedding picture. That wall held the entire Strickland family history.
“This is nice,” I said. “Real nice.”
“We should do this in your house. In the living room. Pictures of us growing up and now. I love your house, Zo, but I’ve always felt it needed a more personal touch.”
My eyes still on the wall, I said, “It’s your home, too, baby. Do it. But you’ll have to get some old pictures of me from my mom. I don’t have any.”
“Really? You’d let me do it?”
I looked at her and smiled. “Yeah. You can add or change whatever you want.”
She leaned against me, and I wrapped my arm around her waist. “Your sisters look like your dad. You’re just like your mom. Big-old pretty eyes and all.”
“I know. Lorenzo, I don’t ever want you to stop reaching out to your kids. Don’t ever give up on trying to be a part of their lives.”
“I won’t. Hey, how are you feeling? Head still hurting?”
“I’m fine. Are you okay? I mean, I know you’d rather be home.”
I kissed her head. “I’m good. This is nice. We should do this more often.”
“Yeah, we should.”
“Honey, I’m home!” a booming voice announced.
I turned to see an older version of the pictures on the wall enter the room. I’d seen him on his commercials. He hadn’t aged quite as well as his wife, but from what Renee told me, he’d been running in behind other women for years. I just didn’t get men like him or Renee’s ex. Why couldn’t they be satisfied with what they had at home? But shit, I’d messed over more than a few women myself. Darwin’s and Jovani’s mom was pretty and loyal to a fault, and I didn’t appreciate her at all. She was bitter as hell about it. I couldn’t blame her, though.
Mr. Strickland approached Travis, shook his hand and exchanged a few nice words with him, then headed my way. “Angelo Strickland,” he said, giving me a firm handshake.
“Lorenzo Higgs. Great to finally meet you. Renee has told me a lot about you.”
“Wish I could say the same, but I know I need to work on communicating with my girls better.”
He leaned in and kissed Renee’s cheek. “Hey, baby girl.”
“Hey, Daddy.”
He shifted his focus back to me. “So my Lisa tells me you’re a writer, but looking at you, I’d swear you were a bodybuilder.”
I smiled. “Used to work out a lot. Stopped a few years back. Just try to get my cardio in when I can now.” I grabbed Renee’s hand and squeezed it and she shot me a glance, but I could tell she wanted to giggle.
“Really? What’d you do back then? Free weights or machine?”
“Free weights. Usually like five sets of thirty. In my best shape, I could lift one-twenty-five easily.
“That’s a lot. Got a new weight machine in my office. Trying to get in shape so I can keep up with my Lisa.”
Renee groaned softly.
“Five sets of thirty, huh?” he said.
I nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“I’ll have to try that tomorrow morning in my office.”
Before I could reply, the doorbell rang and Mrs. Strickland said, “Oh, that’s my surprise guest! Be right back.”
She returned with some guy, and Angie shrieked before rushing to him and hugging him.
Renee smiled and waved at him.
Nicky just stood there with her mouth hanging open for a solid minute before saying, “Damon? I just talked to you like an hour ago. I thought you were in South Korea.”
“Well, Nicky, you aren’t the only one who’s been keeping in touch with Damon since he was last home. He told me a couple of weeks ago, right around the time I started planning this party, that he was moving back. I asked him not to tell you, because I thought it would be a nice surprise for you,” Mrs. Strickland gushed.
Nicky stared at the man for another second. “Um, I can’t believe it. You moved back?”
He smiled and nodded, then moved closer to her and pulled her into a hug that she really laid into. “Yeah, I’m here to stay.”
“What-what about Missy Mae?”
“We broke up.”
Travis cleared his throat, and Nicky snatched away from Damon and began introducing the two men—Damon as her BFF, Travis as her fiancé.
“Well, now that everyone is here, let’s go eat!” Renee’s mom said, and we all headed to the dining room.