“But I would,” she declares. “I don’t care about your money. I mean… if I was that bride, not that I think I’m gonna be or anything, but-”
I cover her mouth with my hand. She looks mortified.
“What did he say to you, exactly?”
“Mmf mmmf,” she tries.
I take my hand away from her mouth.
“Are you gonna go beat him up?” she asks.
“Maybe.”
She bites her lip.
“And because he already pissed me off, saying shit to me tonight, too. The guy’s a dick.”
“He is. What did he say?”
“Just being a dick and then threatened to say something to you about whatever Sienna said to him. I knew he let her up without buzzing up intentionally that night. Told him you know everything there is to know. Anyway, we’ll be out of here soon. I got a real estate agent lined up to meet us at your dad’s house this weekend.”
“Oh good.” She relaxes. “You know what? Let’s go have some dinner and forget about Andrew. I thought he was my friend, but clearly he wasn’t, so forget about him. I’m going to.”
“Fine. As long as he doesn’t utter another negative thing or give you any dirty looks.”
“Fine.”
“But I still wanna know what he said.”
60
Jada
It’s Sunday night and Austin and I are just leaving from dinner with Suki and her sister Aurora. Suki is the lady who raised Austin. His nanny. And I love her to death.
A sweet older black lady with a slight Caribbean accent, she was not only sweet and welcoming, but she was also bossy with Austin in a way that was endearing. And he was as doting with her as I suspect he’d be if she was his grandmother.
She had pictures of Adele’s kids on the wall as well as framed pictures of Adele, Aiden, and Austin on the dresser in her bedroom, which she showed me. Adele’s wedding picture was on her wall, too, and she proudly showed me a beautiful watch and necklace she got from them for her last birthday. For dinner, she cooked a dish called Callaloo soup, fresh rolls, and then we ate a delicious and rather potent rum cake for dessert.
I brought her flowers and a box of chocolate truffles that Austin said were her favorites.
“Did I pass a test?” I ask, getting into the car.
He’s looking at me with a huge grin, so I suspect I did.
“She doesn’t hug people she just met, so I’d say you fuckin’ did.”
I smile proudly. Suki hugged me goodbye, grabbing my face with both hands and smiling big at me.
“Brought at least three girls around her and they got nothin’. Carly didn’t even get a hug her first visit.”
I gasp. “Don’t tell her. I don’t want her to feel bad.”
“Carly got one on her second, though.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Now you’ve met Dad, Suki, my siblings, my sister-in-law, my niece and nephew. All that’s left is Dirk and Dirk’s a good guy, so you’ll hit it off, no problem, and … you’ve met Mom, but…”
I laugh. “I don’t think your mom is a fan.”
“Ignore her. Everyone else does. She’s only a fan of herself.”
I snicker.
“She’s gonna act like you have no class, no taste, and she’ll roll her eyes a lot as well as do the typical future mother-in-law thing. Just do you. You’ll be fine. We do semi-monthly dinners with the family - usually at Adele’s or sometimes at Aiden and Carly’s. My mother only comes half the time. And we always serve a lot of alcohol so we can better tolerate her.”
“Future mother-in-law?” I ask. “That’s a bold statement.” It’s not the first one of that type either.
He smiles big and winks.
“But she’s a recovering alcoholic,” I say. “It’s not nice to flaunt booze in front of her.”
I note he says nothing about my question. I let it go because the wink says a lot.
“She told us from the start she didn’t want to be treated strangely because she’d quit drinking.” He shrugs.
“I still think it’s kinda rude.”
“Life goes on, Jada.”
“Is she alcohol-free though? When she was here she asked for booze.”
“She slipped and I’m just hoping she’s back on the wagon. She tried to make it seem like my sitch with Sienna was driving her to drink. It’s a game with her. It usually is. I don’t bite when she dangles these things.”
I shake my head. “I get it.”
“You think you do, but you’ll still have an Audra learning curve. You’ve got the rest of us to help you muddle through.”
I laugh.
He looks at me like I have no idea what I’m in for.
“I’m sure I can handle it. I handled you, didn’t I?”
We’re stopped at a red light, so he grabs me and kisses me.
“We’ll see if you can handle me when I get you to that bedroom tonight.”
***
“Are you my good girl?” he asks.
I’m naked, on the bed, and he’s still fully dressed, looking down at me with a drink in his hand.