“You are just as smart, too. Just always easily distracted.” She rested her hand on my arm. It was all that little shit she was doing that if it were another woman, I wouldn’t have second-guessed it. My nerves told me not to read too heavy into it. At least not now.
“I may have been back then, but not now.” I locked eyes with her, and she quickly turned away, but not before I saw hercheeks redden. That small display hit my chest. I cupped my hand under her chin to turn her face to me.
“You heard me. Ain’t shit distracting me now. Let me get your phone.” She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth, and I wanted to free it from that grip desperately. I dropped my hand and stepped forward. She gave me her phone, and I entered my number, texted myself, and handed it back.
“Uh, I should go. They are probably looking for me.” She pointed over her shoulder.
“I got you. But you have my number now. I know you here, so don’t make me run your pretty ass down.”
We hugged, and when we walked into the restaurant, we split in two different directions. My eyes followed her until she disappeared, then I turned to see my son looking straight at me.
“Now that is the type of girl you need to be with. I just know Dyami got her head on straight.” My mom said.
“Who is Dyami?” Junior asked.
“Aht! Lil boy. What I tell you about grown folks' business.” My mom caught Junior before I did.
“She is doing well for herself. Eat your food, baby boy. We're about to leave soon,” I said, coming to my senses. Damn, I just saw Dyami Taylor, and she was more beautiful than I remember.
Chapter 4
Dyami
It was a Saturday morning, and I was following my usual routine, which included visiting my mother and little sister. I hated going there, but like it or not, that was the only family I had. More than anything, I had to be there for my sister, Trina. It was hell growing up with my mother. I didn’t have any good memories. I just knew if I had it hard, Trina would have it worse, so I did what I could for her. My mom was in a constant battle with her addiction to crack. She was in and out of rehab, and sometimes she was perfectly fine, and other times she was a complete mess. Lately, it had been the latter.
Trina was now fifteen years old and in her junior year of high school, so that’s where a lot of my time and attention went. I wanted her to make something out of her life. She had so far maintained her grades, and she was in a great position to be accepted into a reputable college. I tried to keep her focused, but she was getting hot in her ass. She was beautiful and started getting attention from not only boys her age but men a lot older than her. It was a little more than nine years' age difference between us, so she really wasn’t trying to hear me when I was trying to put her up on game about these niggas being no good.
I would talk until I was blue in the face. I didn’t want her ending up like another chick with her name out here for fucking and sucking any nigga that looked her way. The city was small, and all it took was getting tangled up with the wrong crowd one time to change the scope of your life.
I took a deep breath when my Camry came to a stop in front of the run-down two-bedroom house I grew up in. The grass had grown up past my ankles, and trash littered the yard. I made a mental note to visit the boy down the street and clean up the yard. I shook my head, walking through the maze to get to the door. I used my key, and I tried to flick on the light. When nothing happened, I thought I was about to explode. She was on the same shit. The house was a mess and funky as hell, like someone had left expired food out to rot. No one had been here in days.
I pulled out my phone and logged into her residential account. I damn near cried when I saw the reconnection for the lights would be damn near six hundred dollars. That was half the money in my savings. But what was I supposed to do? I couldn’t leave the lights off for Trina. She needed a comfortable place to go to school. I pulled out my debit card, completed the payment, and got confirmation that the lights would be back on in twenty-four hours. I called Trina.
“Hey Mimi.” She answered.
“Where you at?”
“I’m at Stacey’s house. Mom ain’t been home and the lights are off again. I didn’t want to stay there by myself.”
“When that happens, you know to call me. I’m over here now, trying to get things cleaned up.”
“She is getting bad again, sis,” she said quietly. I could tell she walked away and was in the bathroom or far away fromother people. I’m sure she didn’t want anybody to know that our mom was fucked up. I went to great lengths in high school to hide her from everybody. I never messed up in school because I damn sure didn’t want her coming up there showing her ass. The only person who knew anything about it was Marcos. Crazy how I’d just run into him.
“You hear me? She is getting bad again. She hasn’t been home, and there's nothing in there to eat.” Trina whispered.
“You know when that happens all you have to do is come to my house.”
“You are never home either. The bus won’t pick me up for school from there. I would have to go to school almost an hour early if you drop me off before work, so I just stay with Stacey sometimes, and I catch her bus.”
“The lights will be on by tomorrow, and I want you to come to my place if this ever happens again. I will go out and get some dry groceries so you have food to eat.”
“Okay. One more thing, too. Homecoming is coming up, and I really want to go. You think maybe you can get me a dress?”
This was the shit that frustrated me the most. She was still young and wanted to do things with her friends. I wanted her to have those experiences too, but since I was handling most of the bills here and at my own place, I barely had enough for myself. My damn bills were due, and with what I just paid out, I was praying I could make it. I had a degree and a career, but I was spinning my wheels. So, between bills and student loan debt, how the hell was I supposed to keep doing this? Damn, why couldn’t she just get her shit straight for once and be a damn parent? She was on Section 8 and got food stamps. Her rent wasnothing. All she had to do was keep up on the few bills that came in.
“I’ll see what I can do,” was all I could muster up before I disconnected the call. I ordered the groceries online with my credit card and then cleaned the house from top to bottom. I had to open the blinds and let the sunlight help me see. I threw out all the old food and cleaned out the fridge. I walked down the street and spoke to the neighbors about having their son take care of the yard. By the time I made it back, Instacart was pulling into the driveway. All I could order was dry goods, but at least that was something. I unloaded the groceries and ran out of there.
I felt bad about only coming every so often, but mentally, that was starting to become too much. I wanted to hold out hope that my mother would one day get that monkey off her back, but it was looking like she never would. I tried to move my sister in with me, but she was right; I was never home between work, and the way things are going, I’m probably going to have to pick up a second job. I was stretching myself so thin, and it was starting to take its toll on me. I had my own life, and I thought that once I moved out, I would be able to get some peace, but I worried more now than I did when I was still there.
