Chapter 17 #2
My mother was the guilt-master, which was part of the reason I’d spent years in therapy. She could also be controlling and manipulative and I had to learn how to politely and lovingly shut her down, so she didn’t drive me crazy.
“That’s because Codie works right around the corner. I don’t, Mama.”
“But you live and work in the same city as me, for heaven’s sake. It’s not like you’re living on the other side of the world.” She led me into the small eat-in kitchen Codie and I renovated for her birthday last year. “My friend’s kids visit them—”
“Mama, I’m here now. Can we please just enjoy our lunch without it turning into an argument?” I’d learned a long time ago that the best way to diffuse a situation with Mama, was to shut her down before she could go off on one of her tangents.
“Of course, I was just making conversation.”
About what a terrible daughter I am. Good talk, Mama.
I smiled sweetly, before setting the white deli bag on the table, along with my cell phone.
“So, what’s on the agenda today? Bridge with the ladies?
Book club? Bowling?” Mama had kept busy after retiring from her grocery store job, which thrilled Codie and I.
It meant she had less time to meddle in our lives.
“Knitting circle this evening,” she said, pouring two glasses of lemonade from the fridge. “We’re making hats for premature babies and donating them to local hospitals.”
“That’s nice.” Wait until she found out she was going to be a nana, after years of harassing me and Codie about giving her grandbabies. She’d be over the moon.
I claimed my turkey on rye before passing over Mama’s corned beef sandwich.
“What’s new with you?” she looked at me over the rim of her silver-framed glasses. “I’ve heard rumors.”
Oh, no.
The friends she’d made through her social groups loved to gossip, which meant they spent more time on social media than any women their age should.
“What kind of rumors?” I asked, taking a big bite of my sandwich, in case I needed to take my sweet time chewing while I came up with a plausible reason for not telling her about my new boyfriend.
She narrowed her eyes. “I think you know.”
Mama had used this tactic since we were little girls. She always pretended to know more than she did so we would confess, and she would get the scoop on whatever was going on in our lives.
“No, I really don’t,” I said, when I couldn’t pretend to be chewing any longer.
She reached for her phone on the table and pulled up the picture I’d taken of me and Taz.
I should have known one of her nosy friends would be stalking me on social media and report back to her.
Mama claimed social media was a waste of time, but I couldn’t be sure she wasn’t following us using a handle we’d never guess.
“Who is this, Grace?”
I took another bite of my sandwich, trying to find the words to tread lightly, while maintaining my right to privacy. “Someone I’ve been seeing.”
I didn’t think I should tell Mama that Taz was touring with her son-in-law. That would give her the ammunition she needed to do more digging and find out about his past before I was ready to tell her.
“How did you meet him? What does he do?”
These were standard questions when she found out I was seeing someone new, but for the first time I didn’t know how the hell to answer. I wasn’t ashamed of Taz or his past, but I didn’t want my mama judging him even before she met him, which she would do if she found out he’d done time.
“I met him at…”
Ugh, there was no way to avoid telling her.
If she knew he was a friend of Mav’s, it would only take a few minutes of online searching to find out he was a musician and they were on the road together.
Since Taz had been open about his past with reporters, it was a matter of public record, so to speak.
“Well? Why are you being so secretive? What’s wrong with this guy?”
“He has a past, Mama. Just like we all do.” I sighed. “But his may be a little more colorful than most.” I figured I may as well lead with the bad stuff, get that out of the way, so I could start building him up for the things he was accomplishing in his life now.
“Colorful?” she snapped. “What does that mean?”
There was no easy way to break this to her, so I just had to give it to her straight. “Taz was in prison for twelve years.”
She gasped before setting her sandwich down and clutching her chest. “You’re not serious.”
I continued eating, pretending I hadn’t just dropped a bombshell.
“What did he do?”
“He was a stupid kid. He got thrown out of his house as a teenager, so he got mixed up with gangs, which led to drugs.”
She dropped her head into her hands, moaning dramatically. “Oh, I never imagined my baby would get mixed up with a criminal. How did I let this happen?”
Mama liked to pretend I was still sixteen years old and she had some control over the friends or boyfriends I chose. “That’s who Taz was, Mama. It’s not who he is.”
She was indignant when she said, “Once a criminal, always a criminal.”
I tried hard not to roll my eyes, but she didn’t make it easy. “Not true. He’s paid his debt to society and learned from his mistakes. He was a kid when he was tried and convicted of those crimes. Only nineteen. He’s a grown man now.”
Her voice was dripping with sarcasm when she asked, “Well, what does this grown man do?”
“Right now, he’s touring with your son-in-law.” Ha! That got her attention.
“What do you mean? As a roadie or something? That’s so like Mav to take pity on someone down on their luck, but I hope he’s careful.
You never know what this… ex-con might be capable of.
” She wagged her finger at me. “And that goes double for you, young lady. I certainly hope you’ve had the good sense not to sleep with this man.
Why, you could wake up in the middle of the night and he could be hovering over you with a butcher’s knife, I tell you. ”
I palmed my forehead. “You really need to stop watching those murder mysteries on TV.”
“Don’t get sassy with me, missy. You don’t know what someone like that could be capable of. What is he? Some kind of vagrant, who needs to travel with Mav because he doesn’t have a home of his own?”
“Quit being so dramatic, Mama. He has his own home. He’s travelling with Mav because he’s a musician. He’s opening for him. And he’s become friends with both Mav and Codie. They both like him and trust him, so if he got their stamp of approval, I’m sure he’ll get yours too eventually.”
“A musician?” she asked, looking skeptical. “Is he any good?”
I shook my head before reaching for my phone and pulling up Taz’s video. “You tell me.”
She watched the viral video of the song about his daughter, wide-eyed.
“Oh my, he is good, isn’t he? And handsome too.
” She clucked her tongue. “Well, maybe you should snap him up before someone else does then. These musicians, with record deals, are making millions these days. Millions, I tell you. Look at Mav. Your sister will never want for a thing with that man.”
Mama had never liked Mav, until she realized he’d struck platinum with his music. Now she was his biggest fan.
“Let me get this straight. You went from thinking Taz was an ex-con who might kill me in my sleep, to a guy I should ‘snap up’,” I said, making air quotes around the words. “Before someone else does. How does that work?”
She shook her head, before taking a bite of her sandwich. “Well, when you first told me about him, he was a homeless ex-con without a job.”
“I never said that! You just assumed he was.”
“Now,” she said, gesturing to my phone. “He’s a talented musician, with a record deal, who’s on tour with your very rich brother-in-law. So, I suppose we can look past his criminal history. I just hope he doesn’t talk about it. What would the girls think if they found out?”
The girls were mama’s friends, who were all old enough to collect social security. “Taz isn’t going to keep his past a secret to please anyone. And why should he? Everything he’s been through has helped him to become the songwriter and musician fans and record labels seem to love.”
“Hmm.” She considered that for a minute before she said, “That song he wrote, was it about his daughter?”
“Yes.” I knew she wasn’t going to like this part any more than she’d liked hearing the news he was an ex-con.
“He learned his girlfriend was pregnant just after he’d been incarcerated, and his daughter wants nothing to do with him, but he keeps trying.
And ever since he got out of prison, he’s been working hard to make up for all the child support he missed, which I think speaks to his character. ”
“Well, Lord knows that’s more than your daddy ever did. That man never even tried to give me a dime for you girls. They should have thrown his sorry behind in jail, but he moved around too much. Always stayed one step ahead of the law, so he did.”
This was an old story, but at least if she was focusing on my deadbeat dad, she wasn’t picking on my new boyfriend.
“So?” she demanded. “Where is this going? Is it serious?”
I could tell her we were in love and he’d proposed living in sin, but I’d already shocked her enough for one day. “We’re still figuring things out, Mama. But when we do, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Just see that I am.” She clucked her tongue. “I swear, you girls like to keep me in the dark about everything.”
Maybe learning she had a grandbaby on the way would give her something else to focus on, and she would forget all about me and Taz. Probably wishful thinking, but with Mama, that was often all I had to hold on to.