Chapter 21
“Mama, I’ve asked you to let me know you’re coming over before just dropping by.”
Janae’s mother pushed past her, entering the house and heading for the open living room.
“Why? So you could hide your company?”
Janae took a deep breath, trying to keep a civil tongue in her head. Adam was still present, and she didn’t want to have an ugly fight with her mother in front of him. More important, she didn’t want to lose the tiny bit of euphoria she and Adam had created during their time together.
“Mama, you remember Adam Henderson?”
“Hey, Mrs. Tate.” Adam walked over to her to extend his hand, only to be met with Evelyn’s death glare.
“And just what are you doing here in my son-in-law’s house? Is he even here?”
The petite, slender woman with golden skin stood in the center of Janae’s living room, looking as regal and elegant as she always did.
Her hair was pulled back in a neat, slick high bun.
She was dressed in a smart collared shirt paired with a pencil skirt and a thin chain of pearls around her slim neck.
If beautiful on the outside and ugly on the inside was a person, that person would be Evelyn Tate. Even though she spoke in a soft and genteel voice, her words were sharper than any scalpel Janae had encountered.
“Actually, this isn’t Marq’s house anymore. It never was, since we both contributed to the down payment and purchase of the home.”
“Don’t sass me, young lady. You know doggone well it ain’t proper to have a man in your house in the middle of the day where all these nosy folks in town can see.”
Janae shook her head and took a deep breath.
She turned to Adam, sharing a weak smile with him.
“Let me walk you out.” When they reached the door, she saw his concern sculpted into the lines of his face.
Knowing he cared enough to worry about her warmed her insides, taking away the awkwardness her mother had brought into her home.
“Maybe I should hang around.”
Something bright burned in her chest at his offer. Not that she couldn’t handle her mother; they’d been having the same fight for as long as Janae could remember. Knowing he would offer to stay with her when her mother was obviously on the warpath, it just showed her how deep his sweetness ran.
“I’ll be fine. You don’t need to stay.”
“But I want to.”
She shook her head. Her mother would only perform more if Adam were present, and her nerves couldn’t take that.
“Adam, I’m a big girl. I know how to take care of myself.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but at the last minute, whatever it was, he swallowed it and gave her a nod.
“See you tonight?”
A chill ran through her. She hated that just a few moments ago, Adam would’ve phrased that question as a statement.
He would’ve known she had every intention of keeping their plans.
Regrettably, a few minutes in her mother’s presence and the obvious tension filling the room, and all that had changed.
“Yes, you most definitely will.” She squeezed his hand to reassure him, and he gifted her with a delicate kiss to her hand before he took his leave down the porch.
She closed the door, placing her forehead against the cool wood and trying to allow some of the heat she felt building from the anger she’d tried so hard to swallow while Adam was still here.
“Janae, how are you ever going to get your husband back if you’re conducting yourself like this?”
Janae walked back to the living room, taking a seat in the armchair across from where her mother sat on the couch. She needed the physical distance to try to keep hold of her emotions that threatened to spill out of control in her mother’s presence.
That was exactly what Evelyn wanted. She wanted to make Janae blow her top so she could play the victim in yet another argument between them.
Hip to her game, Janae refused to take the bait.
“You know very well I don’t have a husband.”
“Only because you threw yours away. All these Black men abandoning their wives and children, and you see fit to throw one away who wants to be in the home?”
Janae raised her hand to stop her mother.
“You’re not gonna come up in my house spewing that lie about Black fathers not being present.
Some of them aren’t, but a whole lot of them are.
And to those who are you’re gonna give them credit in my presence.
And for the record, I didn’t throw my marriage away.
I left it because my husband’s control issues had reached an unacceptable peak that would’ve harmed me if I’d stayed. ”
Her mother pursed her lips, crossing her arms and leaning back as she looked down from her high and mighty perch on the couch. She’d served Janae this very same “I am displeased with you” look time and time again for every infraction, real or imagined, Janae had committed throughout her lifetime.
Determined not to take the bait, Janae repositioned herself against the cushions to settle the nerves her mother had made a career of rubbing raw since Janae was a kid.
“So,” Janae huffed, trying to move past the building irritation feeding the slight throb at her temples. “How are you, Mother? What brings you by?”
Her mother glared at her, tilting her head as if she was trying to figure out if Janae was serious or just making polite conversation.
“I’m fine.” Her mother’s words were terse, letting Janae know she wasn’t fine at all. “I had dinner with my son-in-law this weekend, and from what I can tell, he’s single. I can only assume that’s because he’s still waiting for you to get your act together and ask him back home.”
Janae’s jaw dropped. Shocked as she was by Evelyn’s admission, Janae shouldn’t have been surprised. This was quintessential behavior for busybody extraordinaire Evelyn Tate.
Janae closed her eyes and lifted a pointed finger into the air.
“First of all, why are you still talking to my ex beyond ‘hi’ and ‘bye’ at gatherings revolving around my son?”
Her mother shrugged and lasered all of her focus onto Janae.
“You still talk to my ex.” Her mother’s answer was laced with all the sass and venom reserved for when she talked about John Tate.
“Ma’am,” Janae said, giving her back just as much sass, “your ex is my father. I am entitled to talk to him. Marq has no connection to you other than as your former son-in-law and the father of your only grandson. You getting cozy with him is only about you attempting to meddle in my business.”
Janae marveled at the blatant admission sitting on Evelyn’s face. She didn’t even have the decency to be ashamed of her behavior.
“Mama, stay out of my business. If you’re so concerned about reuniting with an ex-husband, worry about yours, not mine.”
“Your father is a no-count good-for-nothing who abandoned us without a second thought.”
“He did not abandon us. He left you. There’s a difference. My father was present in my life regardless of his separation from you.”
A brief flash of anger mixed with something akin to regret slid across Evelyn’s stark features, and Janae wondered if for once, in her never-ending battle of wills with her mother, she’d gone too far.
But then the same disapproving glare Evelyn had leveled at her since she’d realized Adam was in Janae’s house caused Janae to stand her ground and remember to protect herself at all times.
“That’s your whole problem right there.”
Evelyn pointed her finger at Janae, causing her to nearly flinch at the blow she expected her mother to throw.
“You think you know so much and don’t know a damn thing.
After everything your daddy put us through, I just don’t understand what’s going on in your head where your marriage is concerned.
You get a good man, employed, faithful, does right by you and your son, and you toss him away for some imagined slight?
A woman like you ought to be grateful you had it so good. ”
There it was, the hit Janae knew was coming from the moment Evelyn crossed her threshold. The metaphorical closed-fist sucker punch Evelyn always saved for when Janae was winning. It was her way of bringing her down a peg or five.
“Exactly what type of woman am I, Mother?” Janae had played this game enough with people who she refused to give an out. If they were going to insult her, she would at least make them own it, and that included her mother.
Aware that she’d been put on the spot, Evelyn shifted in her seat, softening the angles of her face.
“Janae, I am your mother, and I love you. But you know I have to tell you the truth. You can’t be loud, bossy, and big and expect to get or keep a man.”
Bile burned in the back of her throat as Janae chewed on the same insult her mother had been slinging at her since Janae was a child.
“You have such a pretty face, if you’d just lose a few pounds and learn to not be so argumentative all the time, men would line up at your door. If you got some act right, I’m sure Marques would come home.”
That was it, the thin straw that caved in the tired, overburdened camel’s back.
Over the years she’d learned to spot it in an instant.
But this wasn’t displeasure or disappointment.
This was something more somber. If Janae didn’t know that her mother wasn’t the type to regret the decisions she made, she’d wonder if Evelyn was showing some kind of concern for her daughter.
Then Janae remembered the cruel words that had just slipped so easily from her mother’s lips and realized she didn’t deserve Janae’s compassion.
“Mother”—the words fell from Janae’s lips like sharp daggers hitting a metal floor. “Let’s get a few things straight. First of all, I don’t want Marq. If I had wanted him, I would’ve never let him go.”