Chapter 16
“Word on the street is you’re dating someone,” my mother said.
“Ha! Word on the street, or Indy?” I questioned because my youngest sister couldn’t keep a secret to save her life.
“Wow, Sis. You really think I told Mama your business?” Indira asked as if she was offended.
“It’s not really a question. It’s a fact I’d bet my life on.”
My mother hosted Sunday dinner at least once a month, more if the mood struck her.
It was late September and still hot outside, so my father was on the grill.
Our family had grown over the past couple of years, so each household had to contribute something to help lighten my parents’ load.
If cooking wasn’t their ministry, they brought drinks, paper goods, or plasticware.
“You’ve been seeing him for over a month. Why are you keeping him a secret from Mama anyway?” Indira asked, trying to justify her big mouth.
All of us were close to our parents, and it was very little we kept from them.
“If I wanted him to be a secret, you wouldn’t know anything about him. I’ve been busy since school started and haven’t had time to talk to Ma.”
“You’ve been busy because you spend all your free time with him.” Talia chimed in.
“Not you too, Lia,” I fussed. “You usually back me up.”
She laughed. “Not this time. I’m ready to officially meet this man because I think you like him, like him.”
“Call him and invite him over,” Ma said.
“Call who and invite who over?” my brother asked when he entered the kitchen.
“Nobody, Sonny,” I quickly responded.
“Your sister is seeing someone, and we want to meet him,” Ma said.
“Oh my God. I’m going home. I’ll pick up something to eat on the way.”
Talia was right, I liked Rowdy . . . a lot, and we were moving fast, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready for him to meet my family. There were a lot of us, and they could be . . . intimidating.
“Nah, call that nigga and tell him to bring his ass,” Shyne demanded.
“Boy, watch your damn mouth,” Ma reprimanded Shyne.
"My bad, Ma.”
“It’s Sunday, and it’s short notice. It’s just him, his mom, and his younger sister. They might be spending the day together,” I said.
“Invite them too. You know, the more the merrier,” Ma said.
My entire immediate family, except for my father, who was outside on the deck, stared me down, waiting for me to call Rowdy. I knew there was no way around it, so I took my phone from my back pocket and called him.
“Put it on speaker,” Shyne’s meddling ass said.
The phone only rang once before Rowdy picked up.
“Hey, beautiful,” he greeted, making me blush as my family watched and listened.
“Hey! Umm, what are you eating for dinner?”
“It’s not important as long as I can have you for dessert.”
“Hold on, bruh! That’s my sister you talking about,” Shyne shouted.
“Hello?” Rowdy said, clearly confused.
I took him off speaker and went to the family room. Thankfully, no one followed me, but I knew they were still listening.
“That was my brother.”
“You had me on speaker? My bad.”
“It’s fine. Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to come to my parents’ house for Sunday dinner. Your mom and sister can come too.”
“I’ll see if they wanna come through, but I’ll come either way.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you. My whole family and extended family will be here. If you’re not ready to meet—”
“It’s cool, baby. Should I bring anything?”
“No. We have plenty.”
“I don’t want to come empty-handed, so I’ll think of something. Send me the time and location.”
“Okay. Sending now.”
I ended the call and turned around to see my family looking at me expectantly.
“Is he coming?” Ma asked.
“Yes. Please don’t give him a hard time when he gets here. I actually like him, and I don’t want y’all to scare him away.”
“If he likes you, ain’t nothing we can do to scare him away, Lani,” Shyne said.
“Whatever. Where’s my nephew and niece?”
“RJ is outside running around with his PawPaw, and Sunni was cranky on the way here, so Raine went right upstairs to put her down for a nap.”
“And her spoiled behind is finally asleep,” Raine announced as she came down the stairs. “What’s going on down here?”
“Lani’s been hiding a man,” Indira shared.
“I have not.”
“Nobody’s met him,” Talia added.
“You and Indy saw him at the mall.”
“But you didn’t introduce us,” she countered.
“Everyone will meet him today. Get off my case.”
“Tell us about him. What’s his name? Where’d you meet him? What does he do?” Raine pressed.
I sighed, slightly annoyed because I wasn’t mentally prepared for any of this.
“His name is Rowdy. He—”
“Rowdy? That’s on his birth certificate,” Shyne asked.
“I know you not talking, Sonshyne, spelled with an ‘o’ and a ‘y’,” I teased my brother.
“You right, but still. Rowdy sounds like his parents were asking for trouble,” he said.
I rolled my eyes even though I thought the same thing when Rowdy told me his name.
“Anyway . . . He was the tow truck driver when I got those flat tires. He moved here from Savannah about three months ago to work in his uncle’s auto shop. He’ll be taking over when his uncle retires.”
“Oh, I see we have something in common. I can’t wait to meet him,” Raine said.
Raine and Melodie had moved to Onyx City from Chicago to take over her aunt’s salon before they opened Black Reign.
“We’re all excited to meet him,” Ma added.
Over the next two hours, the rest of my family arrived.
Breeze and Melodie were the first to make their appearance with their twin girls, Kadence and Sky.
Melodie’s younger sister, Harmonee, arrived with our cousin Adan, which was only a little surprising because I’d noticed them flirting with each other on a few occasions.
Melodie’s parents moved from Savannah to Onyx City when Melodie had the twins.
They arrived right before Zayn and his flavor of the week.
As many times as we’d told him to stop bringing random women to our family events, he repeatedly ignored us.
He and Adan were identical twins but had very different personalities.
Mari and Yvonne, who worked at the spa and had become like family, arrived together, along with Yvonne’s boyfriend, Kayce.
He rarely came around, so I was surprised to see him.
Once everyone had arrived, I began to wonder if Rowdy had changed his mind.
I checked my phone and didn’t have any missed calls or texts from him.
As soon as I was about to call him, he entered the backyard, holding two bouquets of flowers and a bottle of liquor with Ramina and a woman, I assumed to be his mother, behind him.
The giddiness I felt when our eyes met could be bottled up and sold for thousands of dollars per bottle.
I got up to greet him, and when he wrapped his arms around me, it felt like home.
“I’m sorry I’m late, baby. My mother refused to come empty-handed and decided to bake a cake, and I had to stop at the store on the way here,” he whispered in my ear after kissing my cheek.
“It’s fine.”
“I’m glad you called. I missed you,” he confessed before stealing a quick kiss.
“I missed you too, but we should probably do the introductions.”
“Yeah, we should.” He turned to his mother. “Ma, this is Noelani. Baby, this is my mother, Dawn.”
His mother didn’t hesitate to embrace me. “It’s nice to meet you. I can see why my son has been spending most of his nights with you. You’re absolutely gorgeous.”
“Thank you. It’s nice to meet you too. Hey, Ramina. I see where you get your beauty.”
“Hey,” she returned with a smile. I couldn’t hug her because she was holding the cake that her mother had made.
“I’m glad all of you could come. Let me introduce you to my parents and the rest of my family.”
“Hold up. These flowers are for you. Thank you for inviting us to meet your family.”
“Thank you, baby. They’re beautiful.”
I took the flowers, looped my arm through his, and headed to the deck where my parents were prepping the food to be served. His mother and sister followed us.
“Ma, Daddy, this is Rowdy, his mother, Ms. Dawn, and his sister, Ramina. These are my parents, Jacob and Natavia Townsend.”
Greetings, handshakes, and hugs were exchanged.
“Mrs. Townsend, these are for you,” Rowdy said, giving her the other bouquet of flowers.
“Thank you. How thoughtful. Come with me, Dawn, so I can put these in water, and bring that caramel cake I just know you made from scratch.”
“Oh, Ma. Can you put mine in water too?”
“Of course,” she responded as I gave her the bouquet.
“Mr. Townsend, I hope you like a good bourbon.”
Rowdy gave my father the bottle of Uncle Nearest, and the grin on my father’s face said it all.
“I definitely enjoy a good bourbon. I appreciate the gesture, young man. Is it safe to assume you’re dating my daughter?”
“Yes, sir, I am.”
“That’s interesting because she hadn’t mentioned she was dating anyone,” my father said, looking at me suspiciously.
“I knew Indy would tell you before I had a chance,” I defended.
“That’s true, and if you told Indy, you expected her to tell us anyway. I’m glad you invited him over. Rowdy, we’re getting ready to eat, but I’m sure we’ll have time to talk later.”
“Sounds good, sir.”
We left him on the deck to finish prepping the food. Shyne stood at the bottom of the stairs and didn’t wait for me to introduce him to Rowdy.
“I’m Noelani’s big brother, Shyne. You are?”
“Wassup. I’m Rowdy, and this is my little sister, Ramina. I’m not sure if you saw the woman who arrived with us, but that’s our mother, Dawn.”
“What’s your intentions—” Shyne began.
“Sonny! Cut it out! He’s only been here for five minutes!” I shouted, pulling Rowdy away from my brother. “Let me introduce you to everyone else.”
A few feet away, my sisters were looking at us with wide grins.
“These have got to be your sisters because the resemblance is undeniable,” Rowdy said when we reached them.
“You guessed it. This is Rowdy and his sister, Ramina. Y’all might remember them from the mall.”
Surprisingly, my sisters were on their best behavior.
By the time I’d introduced Rowdy and Ramina to the whole crew, my father was ready to bless the food.
A few minutes after the blessing, music played in the background, plates were being made, and conversations were being held all over the backyard.
“You ready to eat?” I asked Rowdy.
He looked at me with seductive eyes as he licked his lips.
“It depends on what’s on the menu,” he whispered.
I looked around because it felt like all eyes were on us, but thankfully, everyone was making their plates or already eating.
“Now is not the time or the place to be nasty.”
“I’ll stop if you promise to be my dessert later.”
“I promise. Now let’s go get food. I’m starving.”
“It looks like Mina and my mother have made themselves at home.”
They were seated with my parents, along with Melodie’s parents, already enjoying the food. We climbed the stairs to the deck for the second time in twenty minutes and piled our plates with a variety of food.
“Give me your plate while you go down the stairs, baby,” Rowdy said.
“I can—”
“I gotchu. Why don’t you get us something to drink?”
“Okay. What do you want?” I asked as I handed him my plate.
“Whatever you get is fine.”
He went back to the yard while I got us some drinks. When I got back to the table, he was being grilled by my people.
“Did Lani say you weren’t from around here?” Shyne asked.
“I’m from Savannah.”
“You got people here?”
“Just my uncle.”
“How long you been here? You look familiar as hell,” Shyne continued.
“I thought the same thing,” Breeze added.
“I’ve been here a few months and that’s not the first time I’ve heard that. Maybe you’ve seen me around.”
Breeze shook his head while Shyne responded. “Nah, I don’t think so, but you know they say everyone has a twin out there somewhere. Maybe yours is in Onyx City.”
“Anything is possible, I guess.”
“Can y’all let my man eat in peace, please?” I asked.
“Hell nah. I’m interrogating him just like you and your sisters did Raine.”
“We didn’t interrogate you, did we, Raine?”
She pretended to be giving my question a lot of thought before saying, “It was low-key an interrogation, but I didn’t mind it.”
“It’s cool, baby, because I’m gon’ give every lil nigga who steps to Mina hell,” Rowdy said.
I shrugged and let them do their thing. Rowdy handled everyone, especially the men in my family, well.
When my father joined in, I got nervous, but Rowdy held his own.
Even though I wasn’t ready to introduce him to my family, I thought he’d fit right into our crew if our relationship continued to move in the right direction.