Chapter 5
“Ouch!” Sweetie rubbed her arm with a frown as if she hadn’t been the one to inflict pain on herself.
She had to pinch herself to make sure this was all real.
It would have been extremely cruel if she woke up from this dream, but she didn’t.
That pain was very real, and so were her surroundings.
She shook her head and yawned and then stretched.
She had just gotten out of the shower after taking the best nap in the comfortable ass bed.
“Boogie really did well for himself.”
His bedroom was huge and looked just like a nigga decorated it with plain walls and black furniture.
“Decorate it however you want. This your space now too,” he’d said before he kissed her and left.
The thought of this damn . . . mansion being hers blew her mind.
“Shit is moving so fast,” she mumbled.
She was naked, fresh from the shower, and rummaging through her suitcases to find something to wear to work.
She also had to pick out her outfits for the night.
When she finished getting ready and packing her duffel bag, she noticed she still had an hour left before she had to leave.
She felt antsy as she sat down on the bed, but then she hopped up just as quickly.
It was way too comfortable. She would for sure end up falling asleep again if she got too comfortable on the monstrosity of a bed.
Sighing, she grabbed her bag and walked through the house.
There were several rooms upstairs that she bypassed to get to the stairs.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t used to such luxury.
It had only been a year since she lived in a home like this.
She just couldn’t believe it was Boogie’s home.
It made her a bit self-conscious because she didn’t have anything to show for her life.
She wasn’t successful, and the only passion she had was dancing, which came from her love for Boogie.
Her phone rang just as she reached the main level of the home.
Halting her steps, she dug her phone out of the deep pockets in her sweats and frowned.
It was her mother. Valarie had tried reaching out over the past year a couple of months, but Sweetie never answered.
It wasn’t that she hated her mom, but her mom was a damn pushover.
She never stood up for Sweetie and always did what her father said. It made Sweetie sick.
Her thumb hovered over the button to answer, but she decided not to. As soon as that decision formed in her mind, the phone stopped vibrating and then immediately started up again. She expelled a long breath before sliding her thumb across the screen.
“Hello?”
“Sweetie, I’m glad you answered. It’s your grandmother.” Her mother’s words were rushed, as if she thought Sweetie might hang up if she didn’t speak fast enough.
Sweetie stilled. Granny Lucille was Sweetie’s whole heart.
She was her maternal grandmother, and growing up, outside of Boogie, Granny Lucille was her best friend.
Shame filled her as she realized it had been about a while since she talked to the old lady.
Sweetie had been doing all she could to survive, and she didn’t want her grandmother to worry.
Lucille wasn’t the biggest fan of her father’s, and her mother seemed to irk her nerves, too, for having no backbone.
They always bonded over that, so it wasn’t that Sweetie couldn’t talk to her grandmother since her family cut her off.
Lucille wouldn’t give a good goddamn about none of that.
But she would worry. She would try to fix Sweetie’s predicament, and Sweetie couldn’t have that.
Her grandmother already had enough on her plate with her health problems and aging. No way would she add to that.
“What about Granny? Is she okay?” Panic set in, and she had to sit down on the bottom step of the grand staircase as she listened to her mother speak.
With a shaky voice, her mother responded. “The doctors say she doesn’t have much longer—”
“No.” Sweetie cut her mother off and shook her head.
“Baby, I know things have been difficult for a while now, but she’s asking for you. She only has weeks . . . maybe a couple of months . . . tops.”
Sweetie still shook her head as her mother spoke. Tears dropped down her face as she digested the news.
“I’m coming. Tell her I’m coming.” Sweetie jumped up and looked around erratically as she tried to remember where she had put her car keys. She had followed Boogie there earlier, and when she came into the house . . .
Her eyes traveled to the coffee table that was just visible inside the living room where her purse was. She sprang into action and ran into the bright room with the large bay window. “I’m coming, Ma.”
“Sweetie, don’t rush. She’s fine for now. She’s comfortable. We moved her in here.”
Sweetie’s face frowned up, but she didn’t slow her pace.
Lucille living with her parents was wild.
She knew her granny wasn’t happy with that arrangement, but she also knew it was where she would get the best care, and it didn’t hurt that she had family around.
She hated that she would have to see said family that day, though, but for her granny, she would do anything.
“I’ll be there in twenty.” Sweetie hung up the phone as soon as she jumped into her raggedy car. Boogie had clearly been displeased with her vehicle earlier, but she was proud of it because she paid for it all on her own.
That twenty-minute drive turned into fifteen minutes filled with nothing but nerves, tears, and silence. When she pulled into the familiar driveway, her heart palpitated. She never thought she would be back at this place. God obviously had other plans for her.
As soon as she cut off her engine, she got out of the car and rushed to the front door. She didn’t bother knocking or ringing the doorbell. She knew the code to get in and didn’t feel like wasting her time with pleasantries. Her granny needed her.
“Sweetie?” Audra said as soon as Sweetie stepped through the door.
Her older sister was walking down the main staircase and slowed when she saw Sweetie.
“Where’s Granny?” Sweetie asked, barely acknowledging her sister as she started for the stairs.
Audra’s features softened. Though the sisters didn’t get along the best, they both had a soft spot for Lucille.
“She’s not up there. We have her in the guest room on the main floor,” Audra said as she gazed at her sister.
Sweetie stopped on the second stair and then crumpled, all her emotions fully catching up to her. With her head buried in her hands, she sobbed right there on the stairs. Being back in that home and the thought of her granny was all too much.
A moment later, she felt arms wrap around her, and she stiffened. When she looked up, she realized Audra had sat down next to her and wrapped her in a hug. She couldn’t remember the last time she and her sister hugged, and that only made her cry harder.
“How is she really?” Sweetie asked in a shaky voice as she hugged her sister back.
They stayed in the embrace for a moment before they pulled away.
Audra looked at her sadly. “She’s still Granny, bossing everyone around and trying to get Mama and Daddy under control, but she’s weak, Sweetie. I can tell it won’t be long . . .”
Audra choked on her words, which made fresh tears fall from Sweetie’s eyes. Suddenly, she felt nervous to lay eyes on her grandmother, knowing it wouldn’t be long before she couldn’t see her anymore.
“What’s wrong with her? What happened?” Sweetie asked as she searched her sister’s eyes for answers.
“Liver failure.”
“I can donate. I can—”
“It’s too late for that. They caught it way too late with everything else she has going on.”
Sweetie knew it was a long list. Her grandmother had been fighting like hell for the past few years while her body slowly just shut down on her.
Shaking her head, Sweetie tried to gather some strength. “I can’t believe this is happening right now.”
Audra stayed quiet for a moment before she whispered, “You look good, Sweetie. I been worried about you.”
Sweetie’s brows hiked. “You have?”
That really shocked her. Audra had always been so busy being up under her dad and soaking in all his knowledge because she was the one that would take over his empire whenever he retired .
. . or died. Her big sister never really seemed to care about Sweetie one way or another. In fact, she seemed to hate her.
Audra shook her head sadly. “I know I haven’t been the best to you.
It wasn’t on purpose. I’ve just always had so much pressure on me since you made it clear you wanted nothing to do with the family business.
I guess I always sort of envied you for doing whatever the hell you wanted while I was stuck under Daddy’s thumb.
I always had to be perfect, and you had all the room in the world to fuck up.
I don’t hate you. I just wished I could be more like you. ”
Only a dying grandmother could have pulled this confession out of Audra, Sweetie was sure of it. Audra hadn’t reached out to her over the past year, so Sweetie assumed she really didn’t care.
“My life wasn’t all that easy, either, being the fuck up. I mean, look at me and look at you. You got designer labels on and you’re in your loungewear. I’m rockin’ Walmart. I should be the jealous one.”
They giggled and wiped their tears.
Audra reached over and squeezed Sweetie’s hand. “Do you know how you got your name?”
“Because I was always such a sweet child, even out the womb, let Mama tell it.” Sweetie’s brows dipped because she didn’t understand why Audra had asked her that.
“That’s true, but really, I named you. They had a whole other name picked out for you, but when I came to see you in the hospital, the first thing I said to you was, ‘Hi, Sweetie.’ I’d heard Granny call Mama that. I thought it was just a nickname or something, but Mama ran with it.”