CHAPTER 49HUGH
CHAPTER 49
HUGH
When the news dropped about Curtis, it was through that podcast he’d gone on. True to all of his whimpering and crying, Curtis’s social media accounts were gone. Poof. With a little help from the marketing genius herself, the video comments turned from destroying Denise and Cleo to talking about how unsafe the streets of Oakland were.
With him out of the picture, we’d all found a new rhythm. And things started to look a little different in other places too. Ty and I had been chatting every Sunday since that night. Only a few minutes here and there, but we were finding our groove again. We’d agreed upon one thing when I’d called him from my favor: to give his dad a chance. So, I did.
Mr. Parker joined our Sunday dinners. Grams and him would hold hands and he would pull out her seat and push her aside to do the dishes or clean the stove. The way her face lit up when he was around, the easy way they moved around each other. Grams had done so much for me, sacrificed so much raising me when I had no one…
And here I was keeping her from her happily ever after.
When they went into the kitchen to write down Denise’s recipe for baked oatmeal, I pulled Mr. Parker out onto the porch and shut the door.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
He frowned at me, “I’m confused,” he said with a laugh.
“You love my Grams, she loves you. I can’t stand in the way of that. It’s not my place,” I said, speaking quickly. “It’s her choice, not mine. So, you should ask her.” I looked through the window and didn’t see her.
Mr. Parker’s face lit up and his eyes started to water. “Okay,” he said, opening the front door, marching over to Grams and Denise, dropping to his knee so hard, I was sure he’d bruised it.
“Marry me.”
Grams’s hand covered her mouth as she watched him pull a ring from his pocket. My smart-mouthed Grandmother was at a loss for words. She just kept nodding her head over and over as he slid the ring on her finger. It was the happiest I’d seen her in a long time.
Mr. Parker and Denny were taking a walk around the block. It was an obvious ploy that we all saw through, they wanted to give me and Grams a little time to talk and I appreciated it. I’d been avoiding her, and it was time to come clean. The second the door closed, she was standing next to me, and her hand went upside my head.
“Boy. Who am I to you?” she asked, her new ring glinted as she placed her fist on her hip.
“Ow, Grams, you have a ring on!”
She raised her other hand, and I threw mine up in defeat.
“You’re my grandmother,” I said.
Pushing past me, she sat on her sofa and straightened her sweater.
“Exactly. And you’ve been treating me like a damn stranger for weeks.” She sniffed and my throat tightened. If she started crying...
“Grams—”
“I’m gonna say my piece and this will be the last time I say it,” she said, shaking her head. “Now sit your ass down and listen.”
I sat. Her hand came to my face.
“You are my flesh and blood, and you always will be. You are a good man, and you always will be. Nothing you say or do is gonna make me feel different.”
My heart fell to my ass, and I nodded.
“You did whatever you had to do, and it’s done.” She gave me a pointed look as she placed her hand on my chest. “You’re still my baby. Now stop this tiptoeing around me shit.”
The heaviness in the air dissolved as she smiled up at me. My hand covered hers, something we’d been doing since I was young.
“Thanks, Grams.” I could hear the emotion in my voice, so I cleared my throat.
“It’s all over?” she asked again.
“Yes, Grams,” I replied quickly.
“And she knows?” she raised an eyebrow at me.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Now. Six months.” She tapped my thigh and stood as she examined the ring on her finger.
“Six months?” I asked, confused.
“She strikes me as the Spring wedding type,” she said, turning towards her cabinet and pulling out a box.
“Grams, you’re the one that just got engaged,” I said as she sorted through it and made a sound of triumph.
“Now you know we goin’ on down to the church and eloping. I’m talking about you and Denise,” Grams smiled at me as she handed me a jewelry box.
“Since your mama can’t be here, this may help.”
My eyes got hot, and I stared down at the box.
“Grams. I—”
“Here,” she said, opening the box.
Inside there were two gold rings and a chain. Turning the case over, I felt the rings, smiling at the memory of her little jewelry dish. Mama would always put the small one on her pinky and the bigger one on her thumb. Tears I’d been holding fell past my cheeks as I traced the metal, remembering how it felt to trace them when I held her hand.
“Thanks, Grams,” I said, sniffling and placing them in the box and into my pocket. These were perfect.
“Shit.” She gazed out towards the driveway and turned to me. “It takes months to plan a wedding so the sooner you propose, the sooner we can start,” she said hurriedly as the door opened and Denise appeared.
“You will never guess what we saw!” Denny said, walking right past me to Grams.
“What?” Grams asked, looking toward the door.
“The raccoons! Your neighbor is out there feeding them!” Denise cackled as Grams’s eyes looked up to the ceiling.
“Again? Lord. You just ain’t give Patrice good sense, did you?” Grams shook her head.
Mr. Parker poked his head inside the house. “Charles just came out his house,” he fake-whispered before moving back outside.
“Come on, baby, watch this shit.” Grams grabbed Denny’s hand and dragged her towards the door.
“You too, handsome,” Denny said, grabbing my hand, and dragging me towards the already brewing chaos.