I snicker.
Baka looks over her shoulder. “You don’t have to eat it if it’s not good.”
I quickly lift my spoon to my lips again. “Oh, it’s good. It’s amazing.”
“So much talking.”
“We’re getting to know one another, Ma.”
“It’s gonna get cold.”
“It’s not. We’re eating. You come eat, too.”
“In a minute,” she says and starts scrubbing the front of my fridge.
A cell phone rings from somewhere, not my ringtone, and I’m wishing I could get to my phone and send Jude a text to tell him that a) I hate his guts and b) he needs to get his professional dick ass back here and deal with his family, but I’m too afraid to stop eating and court Baka’s ire again so I keep shoveling food into my face while Ana is on the phone talking to someone about a leaky faucet.
***
Two Hours Later
“Two hours!” I shout in his face.
He smiles wide.
“Two! What the fuck?”
“Had to deal with something.”
“Explain yourself. Now!”
“Naw. I’d rather not. They save me some grah?”
Grah?
“There’s nothing for you. You’re going to go to bed hungry,” I grumble.
He laughs, leans forward, and drops a kiss on my mouth before he sets his wallet and keys down on the table by the door and heads to the stove where the pot of the ‘grah’ is simmering.
I ate two bowls of it to make his grandmother happy. And three giant hunks of the delicious bread. And I did this while Ana asked about my job, my family, my life in general. I kept the answers safe and generic while trying to not appear rude. Baka dropped a bunch of hints that leave no doubt she thinks women belong at home looking after men unless their men die on them, which made me feel awful remembering that Jude’s dad was murdered much like mine.
But they eventually left, leaving not only enough food for a week, but also two bottles of that awesome wine, and Baka told me to come over for dinner on Sunday if I wanted more. I told her I had plans already and tried to be polite about it. The look of disappointment on her wrinkled face made my heart skip a beat.
Ana looked highly amused throughout the evening. Baka wanted to wait for Jude to come back, worried he’d go hungry and wither before night’s end if she wasn’t there to serve him I guess, but Ana pushed her to leave and I saw them to the door and grabbed my phone from my bag, ready to call him, when I saw the missed alerts for the nanny cam.
I looked at video of my door opening (which trips the cam with the motion) and Baka setting my stuff inside my room from the living room. She gave the room a sweeping inspection from the doorway, and then left, calling out in whatever language she speaks after shouting, “Ana!”. She returned again with more stuff, but didn’t open the closet door or any of my drawers or touch anything else, so I found that to be a relief.
And then she came back a third time, rolling my ride-on tiger suitcase. And once inside the room, she climbed on and sat on the saddle for a minute.
I barked out a laugh as I watched her wheel it back and forth a few inches, balancing on the balls of her feet, before getting off, looking at it, scratching her head, and then leaving.
I headed into my room and found my suitcase and all my crafts stuff packed up in zippered sandwich bags set on my dresser neatly. My clean clothes were piled neatly on the end of my bed.
I then had a bit of a temper tantrum at Jude doing this to me tonight, so I took three containers of glitter, walked into Jude’s room, and let it fly. Yep. Silver glitter all over his bed and red glitter all over his duffle bag of clothes. Gold glitter tossed up in the air just before I left. It basically rained sparkles on most of the surfaces of his room.
***
“What was the point of that?” I demand.
“It wasn’t intentional, but it was fun,” Jude muses, heading to the kitchen and lifting a bowl down from the cupboard.
“For who? Your grandmother thinks I’m your girlfriend.”
His mouth splits into a wide smile.
“Not your mom, though. I set her straight.”
His smile disappears.
“I told on you,” I inform him on a sneer.
“Yeah?” He reaches for his phone. “Right back.”
“Where are you going? I’m not finished giving you a piece of my mind!”
“Hold that thought, I’ll take a piece of anything you wanna give me but give me two secs. Ma? Hey.” He holds the phone. And he listens as he walks down the hall.
Maybe she’ll be giving him shit for being a liar. Good. I’m glad I told on him.