Chapter 9
CRESCENT
“How she doin’ today?” I asked pops, with my phone pressed against my ear, as I moved around the kitchen.
It was a mess. Hadn’t cleaned up in a nice minute.
Needed to get the cleaners back over at the crib, but I hadn’t been in the mood for company.
I didn’t trust them to be in my house while I was away.
Didn’t feel like cleaning though so I needed to find a good midpoint.
Luna. She’d enjoy it. It’d give her something to do.
“Good. Sleeping mostly,” he said before clearing his throat. “Listen, I need you to come to the house before you get to handling your business. That’s why I called.”
“For what?” I asked with the corner of my top lip curled up.
I knew what for. He wanted me to come by to talk about arrangements for ma.
She was sleeping a lot and had been since the hospital stay.
Sleeping a lot meant she was tired. And if she was tired…
I didn’t like to think about it. For damn sure didn’t like to talk about it.
What God was doing. What God had done. Taking someone special from me.
Again. Shit ate at me viciously. Damn near drove me to the bottle, for real.
I hadn’t wanted to drown in my sorrows in a minute.
It was a vice I didn’t want to be driven back to.
However, with every day that passed with moms doing worse than the day before, I felt myself slipping.
Because the weight of what I was dealing with was heavy enough I hadn’t even been down to sit with Nova.
Couldn’t.
Between moms and grief, a nigga was fucked up, and I didn’t want to get to that point of feeling hopeless which shit, I really was.
I talked to her doctor. Asked if switching care teams would help.
Already went down that route, figured, shit it wouldn’t hurt to ask again.
She was honest. Said moms was at the backend of her illness and that it was a blessing that she’d held up so long.
That fucked with me tough. It hadn’t even been that long since her party.
Then she was vibrant, smiling, full of energy, walking on her own, dancing and shit.
Fucked with me a lot how that could change so quick.
But then I was reminded… one second my daughter was breathing, the next, she wasn’t.
So shit, anything could happen. Literally. In a New York minute.
“You know what for,” Pops responded.
I sighed and roughly ran my hand over the top of my head. “And it gotta be me? Lu can’t handle it?”
“Lu can’t handle it because Lu can’t handle it. Don’t even mention O to me, Cres.” He paused. “It's gotta be you.”
“Because I can handle it?” I asked with a snort.
“Because you can handle it,” he stressed.
He thought I could handle it. I would handle it because I wouldn’t have a choice.
They looked to me. All of them did. Didn’t matter what the situation was, I was the one sought after.
The pilar, right up under pops. Should’ve been Lu.
Could’ve been O. I was the youngest remember?
Didn’t give a fuck that we were born the same day…
there should’ve been some sort of unwritten rule.
Something that said we went in order. That wasn’t how life was though.
Not for us. For as long as I could remember, things were this way.
With my free arm crossed over my chest, I looked up at the clock on the wall and sighed. “Give me a couple hours.”
With that, we hung up and I went back to cleaning. While I was cleaning, a call from Nina came through.
“Hey, you busy?” Nina asked.
I shook my head as if she could see me. “Nah, not for real. What’s good?”
“The meeting with Couture Interiors for Wednesday… It’s been moved to virtual.”
I drew back with a frown. “What?”
“Yeah, the change just came in about uhhhh… fifteen minutes ago. I waited because I was trying to see if you would see the change in your schedule yourself. When you didn’t verify—
“Decline it. Call and let them know a virtual meeting won’t work for me.”
“You sure? Your schedule is pretty packed. I think it would be convenient. Your meeting with Silas is all the way in Bloomfield Hills. You’d have to travel all the way Downtown instead of just hopping on your—”
“I’m not looking for convenience right now, Nina,” I interrupted.
I didn’t want convenience. Fuck convenience. Her ass thought she was slick. Mahogany… she thought she was fuckin’ slick.
“Mrs. Mills-Morris can’t accommodate an in-person meeting, Crescent. The notes said something about a conflict in her scheduling. I think we should keep the virtual meeting, considering the pace of the project. It would be beneficial—”
“Hit her people. Let them know that a virtual meeting is a conflict with my schedule. Tell them the last-minute change is highly unprofessional and I don’t appreciate it. Pretty it up and shit. Do your thing, Nina.”
With that I hung up and shook my head. Mahogany was fucking with me.
The last time I saw her, she left my office with an attitude.
Slammed the door and shit because she was pouting about the complaint I filed.
Hell, yeah I filed the complaint. I wasn’t playing about that shit.
It might’ve been a little personal, but I filed it and got what I wanted.
Her back on the team with me. However, she was trying to play dirty, talking about virtual meetings.
Which would have been perfectly fine if she was someone else.
I was being difficult on purpose. I didn’t want to talk to her over a computer screen.
I wanted the full Mahogany Experience, and I wouldn’t stop until I got that.
Before I could get dressed and head out, my phone went off with an email notification. It was from her. Mmmh. She said fuck communicating through our assistants and came at me directly.
Good morning, Mr. Carter. I’ve been notified about the conflict you have with moving things virtual for our upcoming meeting.
And while I understand your concerns completely, I’d like to keep the meeting over Zoom or Google Meet—whichever works best for you.
If you take a thorough look at the contract, it states that if necessary, meetings that are off site could potentially be virtual, as it is not a requirement to meet face-to-face.
And under the current circumstances, a virtual meeting works best. During our last meeting, you raised concerns about the progress of The House of Nova Ray.
And in an effort not to delay things further, I believe that the best course of action would be to accommodate by keeping the meeting virtual.
I hope to hear from you soon. Thank you for being in partnership with Couture Interiors. We truly value your trust.
Leaning up against the dresser, I thought about calling her. But nah, we were on some professional shit, so I replied to the email instead.
Good morning, Ms. Mills, I hope you’re having a fantastic day.
I had a good look at the contract when I signed it, thank you.
I’m aware of what it states about virtual meetings.
But since Couture has been thorough and accommodating with every project but The House of Nova Ray, I’d like to request in person meetings for those that are off site as well to ensure that the job gets done proficiently.
Which shouldn’t be a problem, considering the last designer left me very unsatisfied.
I have high expectations and hope they will be met.
It didn’t take long for her to reply. This time the email was lengthy.
I skimmed through it and didn’t see anything about her accommodating me.
Just shit about why the meeting would work virtually.
She talked shit about my lack of participation by failing to review emails in a timely fashion, too.
Instead of responding to her, I just planned on being at Couture the day of our meeting regardless.
About an hour or so later, I was at my parents’ house.
When I got there, I headed straight up to the bedroom to speak to ma.
The walk was unhurried. My stride, a little heavy.
I wasn’t excited about seeing her in bed.
Wasn’t thrilled about seeing her strength stripped away from her.
It wouldn’t be the first time I saw her down.
Chemo did that to her often, but this time was different.
The doctors said she was at the backend of her illness.
Pops had called me over here to go over the will and burial plans.
She was getting a mausoleum too. You think I wanted to be involved with this shit?
I tapped the door a couple of times before I heard her soft voice call for me to come inside.
Swallowing, I pushed the door open and walked in.
I was surprised to see that she wasn’t lying down at all.
Not for real, anyway. She was propped up against the headboard, TV remote in her lap, eyes on her stories.
“Hey little lady, what’s going on?” I said, surprised.
She looked over at me. “Hey son. What you doin here?”
I walked over and gave her a hug. “Came to see y’all a bit before I have to head to this meeting.”
With twisted lips, she doubted me. “Mmhmm. You came to see us. I bet that man downstairs called you over here for some unnecessary shit, didn’t he?”
I turned my mouth down and shook my head, “Nah. He didn’t.”