Chapter 7 #3
I stepped up to the front door and punched in the code to unlock the door.
Inside was an open concept living room. It was spacious, with windows on all three walls that framed the quiet views of the lake and a high exposed-wood-beam ceiling.
Three deep couches with lots of throw pillows and fur blankets surrounded the wooden coffee table, with an oversized game of Connect Four in the center and stacks of old family photo albums underneath.
There was an oversized flat-screen TV above the wooden mantel over the stone fireplace, playing the football game.
If nobody’s here, why the hell is the TV on?
“Hello?” I called out with hesitance laced in my voice.
“Yo,” a familiar baritone voice replied from the guest bedroom down the hall from the kitchen.
I spun on my heels to see Oak walking toward me, and my heart nearly fell out of my ass.
Suddenly, my gaze wouldn’t settle, pinging from the gold chain around his neck and the crisp white T-shirt effortlessly hugging his tatted, chocolate biceps, down to the slim fit beige joggers that hugged his waist. I clutched my chest, feeling my heart thumping rapidly through my clothes.
“Shit! You scared the fuck out of me. What the hell are you doing here?”
“It’s my parents’ cabin, Lex,” he replied, stating the obvious.
“I know that,” I acknowledged with my hand still covering my racing heart while the other sifted nervously through my hair. “I just meant I didn’t see any cars here, so I thought I was the first to get here. Where’s Liv?”
“She ran to the store to get some stuff for dinner. She’s making my dad’s favorite.”
“Let me guess, chili?”
“Exactly. You need help with your bag?” he quizzed, acknowledging the overnight bag slung over my shoulder.
I quickly shook my head. “No. I’m good. I take it we’ll do our traditional sleeping arrangements, right? Your parents in the master bedroom on the first floor, you in the guest bedroom, and Liv and I in the bunk beds in the loft upstairs.”
He bobbed his head in agreement. “Yeah. That works.”
“Okay then,” I said, hurrying away before his presence knocked me even further off my square.
We hadn’t talked about the kissing, licking, sucking, .
. . nothing. It was a small mistake, right?
I wouldn’t let it go down like that again.
Between the liquor, my jaded heart, and the feeling of nostalgia, we got wrapped up in the heat of the moment.
So why did my spine tingle when I knew he was watching me walk away?
“Lex?” he called out to me.
I twisted my neck to look at him over my shoulder. “Yeah?”
“We good?”
“Mm-hmm,” I replied quicker than I should’ve. “Why wouldn’t we be?”
“Just checking.”
I continued up the stairs when I heard a knock at the door. I put my bag down and came back down to see Oak opening the door for Liv, who was carrying four reusable grocery bags—two on her shoulders and one in each hand.
“You gon’ stare, or you gon’ help me with this heavy ass shit?” she barked at her brother, but still flashed a bright smile when she saw me coming down the stairs.
I couldn’t do anything but laugh. “Hey, girl.”
I grabbed one of her bags while Oak took the other three. We all walked into the kitchen to put the bags on the counter.
“Yo, bighead, are there any snacks in these bags? A nigga is starvin’,” Oak stated.
Liv screwed up her face. “Nigga, Mama and Daddy will be here in two hours. You think I’ve got time to tend to you? You got a car. Take yo’ ass to McDonald’s. I saw one about ten miles down the road on my way back here.”
“Yo, go brush your teeth again with all that shit you talkin’. You drove us here, dummy. Remember?”
She rolled her eyes while washing her hands at the sink. “Oops, too bad, so sad then.”
“Oh, so that’s how you treat your family, bighead? I come all the way here, and you send me packing to McDonald’s as soon as you come through the door?”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “You’re the only brother I got, and I don’t even know if I like you forreal. Besides, ain’t nobody tell yo’ black ass to show up hungry. We could’ve stopped on the way up here. But closed mouths don’t get fed, negro.”
Listening to their banter made me chuckle. It was like old times again.
“I’m always hungry,” he replied to her, but his eyes were stationed on me.
I clenched my thighs and tried to hurry up and busy myself by putting away the groceries.
“Really?” she asked sarcastically. “Fine. Take my car then. Since yo’ hungry ass can’t wait until dinner in a couple more hours.”
“Bet.”
“And grab me a Happy Meal or something while you out,” Liv stated.
His brows heightened. “Hol’ up, hol’ up. First, you go all the way to the store and don’t buy no goddamn snacks. Then, you tell me to get my own food, and now you want me to buy food for yo’ ass too? You can’t be serious.”
“Pleaseeeeee,” Liv begged. “I mean, it’s only right. You are using my gas, and last time I checked, it don’t grow on trees.”
“Whatever. You want anything, Lex?”
I swung my head. “No. I’m good.”
“Aight. I’ll be back,” he announced.
Once he left, Liv and I got to work with prepping for her parents’ arrival.
We were so busy that we didn’t immediately acknowledge Oak when he returned about half an hour later with a crumpled fast-food bag clutched in his grasp.
He sauntered into the kitchen, making his presence known as he sat at the dining room table still topped with bags.
“It’s about time! Damn,” Liv complained.
“What y’all was doin’ all this time?” he inquired while opening the bag to pull out a small handful of fries.
“Just talking, y’know, reminiscing about our summers here,” I answered.
“Nigga, damn all that. I see one bag in your black ass hand. Where is my Happy Meal?”
He snapped his fingers. “Damn. I know I was forgetting something,” he answered while chomping down on some fries.
Her brows heightened as she rolled her brown orbs skyward. “Niggggaaaaaaaa.”
He laughed. “I’m joking, girl. Chill out. Here,” he said, passing her the bag. “I got you a four-piece nugget and a small fry. Yo’ ass don’t need no toy.”
She rolled her eyes for a second time while smacking her lips together. “Fine. Thanks.”
I chuckled to myself.
“What’s so funny?” Oak inquired, drawing me back into their conversation.
“I was just thinking about that one Halloween when the three of us hopped over the fence to your next-door neighbor’s house, Mrs. Blackwell, and tee-peed her doghouse, along with her flower garden and her precious lawn gnomes.”
Liv immediately burst out laughing. “What can I say? That old bitch deserved it. She was always getting us in trouble. And her lil ass dog was a menace!”
Oak laughed. “But that ass whuppin’ was no joke! And Mama made me give her my allowance for three weeks for all the toilet paper we wasted.”
“Those were definitely the days,” I added, leaning against the counter.
“They sure were, but c’mon, y’all. I’ve got the chili on. Now, we gotta finish setting up before Mama and Daddy get here.”
Of course, Liv was the event organizer, giving Oak and me tasks to complete. Liv had put me in charge of putting together a playlist of old-school R&B love songs to set the mood for her parents’ special dinner and had him hanging decorations in the living room to liven up the cabin.
A couple of hours later, the cabin smelled of hearty chili and spices, which was exactly what Lex had bubbling in the cast-iron skillet.
The long wooden dining room table was set for five, with a bouquet of fresh red roses in the center, flanked by the necessary dinner sides—cornbread, tortilla chips for dipping, a side salad, and peach cobbler for dessert.
Their parents arrived holding hands, smiling at the setup. Mr. Gray was the lightest in the family, with a butterscotch complexion and full gray beard, while Mama Gray had the same rich chocolate complexion as her kids and salt and pepper sister locs that lay at the middle of her back.
Oak popped the cork on the champagne bottle and gave them both glasses as they took their seats at the table.
Over dinner, laughter flowed around the table as they shared stories from our childhood and their relationship before having kids.
I felt like I had a permanent grin on all night, soaking up all the love.
The Grays epitomized Black love. I loved the way they still got at each other like newlyweds.
If Pat and I could only have a fraction of the happiness they’d had over the years, I’d be happy.
The highlight was after dinner when Liv and Oak presented them with a slideshow in the living room titled From Forty to Forever, filled with photos that took us all down memory lane.
I was in more of the photos than I thought I’d be, which almost brought a tear to my eye.
I didn’t realize until then how deeply woven into the Gray family I was.
Since both my parents were gone, I’d been looking forward to starting my own family with Pat, not truly realizing I’d had one all along.
Nothing felt like home for me more than being with the Grays did.
They were my chosen family, and I couldn’t have asked for a better one.
For the very first time, I realized that true family didn’t have to be biological.
Sure, blood was thicker than water, but not in our case.
When it came to my relationship with Liv’s family, it didn’t get any thicker.
“I always knew we left a baby at the hospital the day we brought Liv home,” her father joked.
Everyone laughed as Oak grabbed the champagne bottle and refilled everyone’s glasses. We all raised them in unison.
“To forty more,” Oak said simply.
“To forty more,” everyone repeated.