Chapter 29 TONI MENSAH #2
I nodded, feelin’ that more than I let on. “We was already married, so I wasn’t trippin’ before, but this different.”
Out the corner of my eye, I kept clockin’ Reni.
She wasn’t sayin’ much, but just noddin’ here and there, givin’ lil’ smiles when it made sense, but she wasn’t really in it with us. It felt like she was watchin’ everything instead of bein’ a part of it, like she wasn’t fully comfortable but wasn’t about to show it either.
And I ain’t like that energy, but I kept it to myself.
Pluto moved after a minute, grabbin’ plates like it was second nature. “I’m about to make plates,” she said, already reachin’ for her phone.
She called Pressure and put it on speaker. “Baby, you hungry?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Ask if Kay’Lo, Renza, and Kelli want food too.”
“A’ight.”
We heard him in the background, then he came back. “Yeah, they all said yeah.”
Pluto nodded and asked, “What Renza want on his plate?”
And right there, I saw it…
Reni’s face shifted just enough for me to catch it. Her expression tightened for a second like that question ain’t sit right with her at all.
I ain’t say nothin’, but I peeped it.
Pluto hung up and started makin’ plates, movin’ smooth, not thinkin’ twice about what she just asked.
Then Reni spoke. “You make his plate all the time?”
Her voice was calm, but it had somethin’ behind it.
I raised my brows but stayed quiet, watchin’ how Pluto was gon’ handle it.
Pluto looked at her, confused. “Who? Renza?”
Reni nodded.
Pluto shrugged. “If they all together doing something, yeah. I make whoever want me to make their plates. It’s just easier.”
She said it regular, like it wasn’t deep.
Then she added, “I can make yours too if you want.”
Reni ain’t smile. “I’m not hungry,” she said, her tone still polite but tighter now. “I’d rather finish makin’ Renza’s plate, though.”
That made me look at Sha’Nelle, and I already knew she was thinkin’ the same thing I was.
Pluto paused just a second, and I saw that shift in her. It was small, but I knew her. She felt that shit.
But she didn’t go off. She just went calm like she always do.
“Okay,” she said, real easy. “You can make it.”
Then she added, without lookin’ up, “But you have to wait a minute while I finish making my husband’s plate.”
It wasn’t loud, but it was clear.
Reni stayed where she was, waitin’, and for a second it felt like everything in the kitchen slowed down.
Sha’Nelle shifted beside me, and I could feel it in her too. We ain’t like it, but for Renza, we was lettin’ it ride.
Pluto finished the plates one by one, not rushin’ or breakin’ her rhythm, and when she was done, she slid Renza’s plate to the side without sayin’ a word.
Reni picked it up like she had somethin’ to prove.
We grabbed the rest of the plates and walked them out to the men, and even though nobody said nothin’, that lil’ moment followed us out that kitchen.
Kay’Lo looked up when I walked over, his whole face changin’, and I handed him his plate.
“Appreciate you, baby,” he said, lookin’ at me.
I bent down and kissed him. Then, I glanced over at Renza and Reni, watchin’ how she handed him his plate like she was claimin’ somethin’, and he ain’t even peep it like that. He just took it and kept talkin’ and laughin’ like everything was normal.
I stood there for a second, lookin’ at Pluto, then at Sha’Nelle, then back at Reni, and I already knew what time it was.
Whatever that was in the kitchen, it wasn’t goin’ nowhere. And as much as I loved Renza, and as much as I was willin’ to keep the peace for him…
I ain’t even know if I wanted this bitch around me like that.
When we finally made it home, my ass couldn’t wait to tell Kay’Lo about the shit that went down between Pluto and Reni.
I ain’t even give myself time to sit down good before I started, followin’ him around the room while he was pickin’ up stuff and foldin’ clothes like he had a whole routine he wasn’t about to break just ’cause I had tea.
“Baby,” I said, already talkin’ fast. “When I tell you that shit got weird in that kitchen…”
Kay’Lo ain’t even look up at first. He just grabbed one of his shirts off the chair and started foldin’ it, noddin’ slow. “Damn…”
“I’m serious,” I kept goin’, walkin’ right behind him while he moved to the dresser. “Pluto ain’t even do nothin’ wrong. She was just makin’ plates like she always do, called Pressure, asked what everybody wanted, and when she asked what Renza wanted…”
He glanced at me real quick, then went back to what he was doin’. “Mm.”
“I’m tellin’ you, soon as she said that, Reni whole face changed,” I said, pointin’ like he had been there to see it. “It wasn’t on no loud dramatic shit, but I caught that shit. I know what that look is.”
Kay’Lo folded another shirt, calm as ever. “That’s crazy.”
I rolled my eyes but kept goin’, ’cause I knew he was listenin’ even if he wasn’t givin’ me all the energy I was givin’ him.
“Then she gon’ ask Pluto, ‘you make his plate all the time?’” I said, mockin’ her tone just a lil’. “And I’m sittin’ there like… bitch, what? Pluto don’t want no damn Renza.”
That made him pause for a second, then he let out a low breath through his nose like he was tryin’ not to laugh. “She said that?”
“Yes!” I said, throwin’ my hands up. “Out the blue, baby. Out the fuckin’ blue. And Pluto looked at her confused, ’cause she wasn’t even thinkin’ like that.”
He shook his head, pickin’ up another piece of clothin’. “Damn…”
I followed him into the bathroom while he grabbed his toothbrush, and I ain’t stop talkin’ not one time.
“I’m tellin’ you, it wasn’t even what she said, it was how she said it,” I continued, leanin’ against the counter while he started brushin’ his teeth. “You could tell she felt some type of way about Pluto even askin’ about Renza’s plate.”
Kay’Lo looked at me in the mirror with his toothbrush hangin’ out his mouth, his brows slightly raised, then went right back to brushin’.
“And Pluto kept it cute,” I said, noddin’ to myself. “She ain’t snap or go off, but when she told her she could make the plate but she had to wait until she finished her husband’s first…”
I sucked my teeth. “Yeah… that was that.”
He spit, rinsed his mouth, then wiped his face, still listenin’. “So what she do?”
“She stood there,” I said. “Waitin’. Quiet, but you could feel it.”
He nodded slow, grabbin’ his shirt to pull it off. “Mm.”
I kept goin’ while he moved around the bathroom, turnin’ the shower on.
“And after that, she stayed under Renza the whole night,” I said, crossin’ my arms. “I’m talkin’ glued. Every time I looked up, she right there. That ain’t normal.”
Kay’Lo shook his head, reachin’ in the shower to adjust the water. “Damn… she locked in like that?”
“Yes,” I said, draggin’ the word out. “Too damn locked in. It ain’t even give comfortable, it gave… somethin’ else.”
He stepped out his shorts, helped me undress, and walked into the shower. I followed right behind him without missin’ a beat, still talkin’ while the water hit us.
“I don’t know what her problem was, but it was somethin’,” I said, reachin’ for the soap. “And I ain’t like the way she came at Pluto. That shit rubbed me wrong.”
Kay’Lo stood there, lettin’ the water hit him while I started washin’ him, his hands comin’ up to my waist outta habit, but his attention was still halfway on what I was sayin’.
“So Pluto ain’t say nothin’ crazy back?” he asked.
“No,” I replied, shakin’ my head. “She kept it cool, but I know her. She felt that shit.”
He nodded, rubbin’ his hands over his face while the water ran down. “Yeah… Pluto don’t play when it comes to certain shit.”
“I know,” I said. “That’s why I was watchin’ her. I ain’t need that shit turnin’ into somethin’ else.”
We finished up in the shower, and I was still talkin’ while we stepped out, dryin’ off and movin’ around the room gettin’ dressed for bed.
“I ain’t even gon’ lie,” I said, pullin’ on one of my gowns. “I don’t think I wanna invite her to the weddin’ no more.”
Kay’Lo paused for a second while he was pullin’ his underwear on, then looked at me like it was simple. “Then don’t.”
I blinked at him. “That’s it?”
He shrugged, like it wasn’t deep to him. “If you don’t want her there, don’t have her there.”
I stared at him for a second, then shook my head with a small laugh. “You so simple, it don’t make no sense.”
He smirked and kept movin’, to check on My’Love.
I followed him halfway, watchin’ as he leaned over the crib, lookin’ down at her while she slept all peaceful, knowin’ nothin’ about what grown folks had goin’ on.
He stood there for a second, makin’ sure she was good, then he kissed my forehead.
We got in bed together, and he pulled me into him without sayin’ nothin’, his arm comin’ around me.
I lay quiet for a second, then tilted my head up to look at him. “Have you even been listenin’ to me this whole time?”
He looked down at me, then let out a low breath.
“Yeah, baby,” he said. “Reni had a lil’ attitude ‘bout Pluto makin’ plates, asked some slick shit, Pluto kept it cute but let her know she gon’ finish her husband plate first, then ol’ girl was stuck under Renza the rest of the night actin’ territorial.”
I stared at him for a second, then busted out laughin’. “You stupid.”
“I’m just sayin’,” he replied with a grin. “That’s what you said.”
I shook my head, still smilin’, then leaned in and kissed his chest. “You be hearin’ more than you let on.”
He rubbed his hand down my back slow, pullin’ me closer. “I be listenin’.”
I looked up at him again. “You ready to walk down the aisle in a couple weeks?”
He kissed my forehead like it was nothin’. “We already married, livin’ together and got a baby. Ain’t no pressure, baby. We just doin’ it right.”
I smiled a lil’ at that, then asked him, softer this time, “So you ready to spend the rest of yo’ life with me?”
He looked at me like that answer ain’t even need thought. “I’m ready to spend my life on earth with you, and when we gone at a hundred and ten, I’mma still be with you after that.”
I laughed under my breath. “What if we don’t end up in the same place?”
He huffed a lil’ like I had said somethin’ dumb. “Then I’m findin’ you anyway. I don’t care who I gotta run up on, who I gotta check, I’m comin’ to get you.”
I laughed harder, shakin’ my head. “You crazy.”
“And you mine,” he said, pullin’ me in tighter.
I settled into him, feelin’ that warmth wrap around me the way it always did.
“I love you,” I murmured.
He kissed my lips slow. “I love you too, mommy.”
And just like that, I lay in my husband’s arms, feelin’ everything fall into place the way it was supposed to. I was ready for that aisle, ready for that life, and ready for whatever came with it as long as I had Kay’Lo.