Chapter 7 #2
“Because it’s in New York.”
“Oh, wow.”
“Yeah, and they said they’d pay for my relocation fees as long as I do so in the next ninety days.”
“As much as I don’t want you to be going all the way across the country, I do think this new job will be good to put some distance between you and that ball player that had your face all over the blogs. Who knows, maybe you’ll meet my future son-in-law in New York.”
My forehead creased. “Why are we even discussing Hendrix right now? This is about me. Besides, he’s all the way in Kansas City and I’m here in Cali. I think we have enough distance between us as is.”
“A little more wouldn’t help,” she suggested.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m just saying, never put all your eggs in one basket, and when I say basket, I’m talking about Hendrix, so there’s no confusion. I mean, his mother is a prime example.”
“His mother? Why are you talking about his mom?”
“It’s the truth! She stuck by his drug dealing daddy all those years, and where did it get her? She’s lucky her offspring can dribble a ball or else she would’ve been pushing cans on the side of the freeway years ago, mark my word.” She snorted.
My mother was the type to think she was better than most of the people around her because she could put doctor before her name, and she’d never operated on anything or anyone in her life.
Little did she know, I welcomed the distance the job would put between me and her the most. Her years of judgment and constant criticism were part of the reason I was so emotionally fucked-up in the first place.
My face scrunched up in disgust. “That’s a horrible thing to say, Mom.”
“Be that as it may, it’s the God-honest truth. You are your priority, Cass. No man should come before that.”
I glanced down at my watch. “You know what, Mom. I’ve got a meeting to get to, so I’ve gotta go.”
“Wait, there’s still something I need to tell you.”
“Can we talk about it some other time, Mom? I really do have to go,” I repeated.
She drove out a harsh sigh. “Yeah, sure. I’ll talk to you about it some other time.”
“Okay, thanks. Bye!” I barked before snappishly ending the call.
The weekend rolled around, and somehow, I’d still managed to be in a good mood.
I’d even started looking at available rentals in the big city in my down time.
The more I toyed with the idea of accepting the job and all that came with it, the more I saw myself spreading my wings in NYC.
To ensure the day was all about making sure my best friend had everything she needed, I put my thoughts to the side and focused only on celebrating the new life that was created in nothing but authentic Black love.
I pulled up to Lauryn’s house bright and early, happy to see that the weather was cooperating for her Pretty in Pink baby shower brunch.
And trust, she’d gone all out for the special occasion as only she would.
Various vendors had come in and transformed her backyard into a lavish pink oasis.
From the phenomenal balloon décor to the flower wall filled with various shades of pink roses, and the beautiful pink cabana, everyone invited was sure to have a great time.
Both Lauryn and Donovan had successful careers and could afford to blow a bag on their baby girl, and I wasn’t mad at it.
“Oh my God, this is so beautiful!” I cheered as I pulled Lauryn into a warm hug. “How are you feeling? Are you excited?”
Lauryn beamed as she grinned from ear to ear. Between the glow pregnancy had blessed her with and the utter happiness in her voice, I’d never seen her look more beautiful.
“I’m so in love with how everything turned out. Like, we’re going to have a blast. The food truck should be here soon.”
“What’s on the menu again?” I asked.
“There will be chicken and waffles, French toast, shrimp and grits, uh—fried mac and cheese bites, and—”
“Damn, girl. It’s cool. I get it, we gon’ be eatin’ good. And trust, I will be stuffing my plate with all the comfort food I can get my hands on. So, what do you need me to do? I’m here to work!”
“Brielle just got here like two seconds before you did, and Shauna is on her way, so you can go in the kitchen and help her with whatever,” she instructed.
“I’m on it!”
I spent the rest of the morning tying pink bows around the mini rosé champagne bottles as to-go gifts for her guests. Once everything was perfect, the four of us did our makeup and got dressed.
“Okay, ladies. I must say, the coordination between the outfits is fire, okay!” I bellowed as I swooped my hair and edges up into a top knot bun and poked my oversized gold hoop earrings into my ears.
The four of us were all dressed in different shades of pink.
Brielle wore a fuchsia pink off-the-shoulder top and matching wide leg pants set that complemented the fresh, honey blonde box braids she rocked.
Shauna had on a blush lantern-sleeved dress that accentuated her mocha-colored curves in all the right places and stopped right past her knees.
Adorning my body was a Christian Dior off-the-shoulder puff sleeve jumpsuit in the shade of baby pink, and the mommy-to-be rounded out our quartet with a hot pink pants suit with matching heels.
“Hell yeah! We look too good not to take a million pictures today,” Shauna agreed.
“I’m so happy you all are here to celebrate my baby girl,” Lauryn stated before instinctively rubbing her stomach.
Brielle jerked her chin in agreement. “Of course. You know there’s no place else we’d rather be.”
“Yeah, girl. We wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
“Exactly. That’s what your girls are for, right?” I spoke up again. “Now, let’s go enjoy this brunch!”
Since it was a co-ed baby shower, Lauryn and Donovan decided they didn’t want to play any of the traditional baby shower games. Instead, we all spent the sunny afternoon dancing to good music, eating, and radiating good vibes only throughout the pink atmosphere.
“Um, can I have everyone’s attention before y’all start heading out? Real quick, we just want to thank you all for coming to help us celebrate Bleu, who will be arriving soon,” Donovan announced before reaching down to rub Lauryn’s protruding belly.
“Some days my due date can’t come fast enough,” Lauryn interjected with a chuckle.
“Um, I think Lauryn and I have also decided to make a little announcement.”
“Damn, you pregnant too, D?” Brielle blurted out before everyone broke up in a roar of laughter.
“Nah, I’ma leave the baby carrying to my wife. I just focus on making them,” he replied with a chuckle.
We all fell silent for a few seconds before Lauryn spoke up to confirm that his mention of her being his wife wasn’t a slip of the tongue. “That’s right, y’all. Surprise, we got married!” she broadcasted before swiping happy tears out of her chestnut brown eyes.
My mouth dropped open, and I quickly sought out Brielle and Shauna’s faces to see if they knew something I didn’t. They looked just as dumbfounded as I did, so I turned my attention back to Lauryn, who refused to make eye contact with me for more than a couple seconds at a time.
“Surprise is right! Oh my God! Congratulations!” Brielle cheered.
Everyone else followed suit and soon the entire backyard was filled with cheering and clapping.
“Thank you everyone for coming. Thank you all so much. We really do appreciate each one of you for taking some time out of your busy lives to be here with us. We hope you had an amazing time, and we will be sure to keep you posted on baby girl’s arrival,” Donovan said, wrapping up their speech.
Once people started to shuffle out, we each started taking gifts into the living room, stacking them mountain-high in the corner to be opened later. Then, the four of us were finally able to kick off our heels and huddle under the cabana to catch up.
“Okay, so when were you gon’ tell any of us that you got married, bitch?” I asked, the first to speak up.
“I told all of you today.”
“What made y’all want to go off and elope like that?” Brielle asked.
“Yeah, I thought you were excited about planning a big wedding,” Shauna added.
Lauryn shook her head before swiping her long curls behind her ears.
“I was until I got pregnant and realized how much work goes into planning a wedding. I didn’t have the mental bandwidth to deal with that shit.
So, we talked about it and we decided that we wanted to be married, period.
So, we flew out to Vegas when I was about five months pregnant and eloped. ”
“You mean to tell me you’ve been secretly married to this man for months and didn’t slip up once?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest in shock.
“Oh my God it was so hard, y’all. Like, you don’t understand how bad I wanted to just blurt it out!”
“What did your parents say?” Shauna asked.
“You already know Mama and his mama were pissed when they found out, but, hey, we did what we felt was best for us.”
“And fuck the rest!” Brielle chimed in before turning her mini champagne bottle up to her lips.
“Exactly. I’ve always hated that whole outdated ideology that we have to do things in a certain order or a certain way, like that first comes love, then comes marriage shit.
Real love isn’t a boardgame. I don’t think any one thing has to happen first or last. If two people form a dope connection and have a mutual understanding of what it is, then that’s all that matters.
No matter how fast or slow that happens,” I agreed, letting my thoughts wander back to Hendrix.
Shauna let out a deep, heavy negro spiritual sigh before waving her hand to the sky. “Well! Preach on!”
“Shit, well I’m happy for you, girl,” Brielle chirped.
“Yeah, me too. If you both are happy and you feel like you made the moves you needed to make for your relationship, then there’s nothing else to be said,” I assured Lauryn.
“Yassss! Congratulations, Mrs. Mackey!” Shauna shouted before displaying a wide-gapped grin.