27. Lawton
Lawton
“Not the Plaza, huh?” Talitha joked.
“It’s got a bed and hot water. That’s all I need love,” I shared.
She had been quiet since we left from by her people house. The way she released a deep breath when we got back in the car from visiting Gema, I could tell she was relieved. I myself was scared of what I was going to walk into.
The way she talked about her folks, I didn’t know if I needed to come in guns blazing or what. Speaking of guns, I’d tucked mine in the back of my joggers before we left Atlanta and now that we were inside of the hotel, I felt secure enough to put it down.
Reaching my hand under the Nike hoodie, I pulled it out and placed it on the nightstand next to my wallet and phone.
“You had that on you the whole time?” Talitha quizzed.
“Hell yeah. I don’t visit unknown places without it. Especially without Baker being by my side.”
“You lucky I didn’t know you had it. I would’ve used it to clock the shit out of my Mama.” She laughed and tossed her body down on the bed. Grabbing a pillow, she put it over her face and let out a muffle scream.
When she pulled it down, she said, “I’ve been holding that in since we got here.”
Kneeling, I untied her sneakers and tossed them to the side before pulling her socks off. “Your aunt, the one who house we just left. What’s her deal?” I asked and sat beside her on the bed. Grabbing her by the legs, I swung her around and draped her legs over my lap so I could massage her feet.
“She’s a follower. Bitch ain’t got much of a mind of her own. Stupid ass let my Mama convince her to divorce her husband and she been miserable ever since.”
“Divorce her husband?”
“Ummh...” Talitha hummed, closing her eyes she clarified.
“He was the pastor at the church here in town. She found out he was sleeping with his assistant. She let Jalitha get in her head about the rumors swirling around town. Mmmm,” she moaned and bit her lip when I applied pressure to the middle of her foot.
“Finish your story.” I chuckled.
“I am. Sssss… That feels so good,” she cooed then recovered. “But yeah, Jalitha was all in her ear telling her how he wasn’t shit and she didn’t want to be the towns spectacle, so she filed for a divorce. Whole time my Mama husband a pedophile and got kids he don’t even see off in Cordele.”
“Oh really?”
“Yep. My Mama the type that don’t want nobody to have more than her. She only married Joe Lee cause he had money. It couldn’t be cause of his looks. He fat, got bad skin, and black as hell. She was in it for the money.”
“These small ass towns have the most drama.”
“Law, you ain’t seen or heard the damn worst. Just wait until you meet Betty Jo aka Jill Scott.”
“The fuck!” I chortled. “Now, why you call that lady Jill Scott?”
“Don’t get me wrong… I fuck with Betty Jo but the bitch all into that holistic shit, walking around here talking ‘bout peace, peace. Wearing them fucking crystals and shit around her neck. And I mean whatever floats your boat, but bitch be for real.
You was raised in the same house I was raised in, and Gema and Papa Joe raised us to believe in the Bible and not all of that other shit.”
“I learned a long time ago you’ve gotta let people have their vices and move the way that’s most comfortable for them.”
“I hear ya’. Just know my family is something else. You are surely in for a treat.” She laughed.
“You ready to shower?”
“I am but I need to find something for us to eat.”
Her mentioning food had my ass remembering we hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast this morning. “You go shower, I’ll see what I can find.”
“It won’t be much, but I’ll eat whatever you settle on.”
“Okay.” Releasing her feet, I leaned over and sucked her bottom lip into my mouth. Talitha moaned and tried to climb into my lap. “Get yo’ ass up and go shower.”
“You lucky I’m tired anyway.” She laughed. Sliding out of my lap, Talitha stood in front of me and undressed. If today had been a better day, I wouldn’t have a problem taking her down.
However, I knew what she really needed was for me to be there. Today had been emotional and I felt like tomorrow would have the exact same outcome.
Once she was done with her little strip show, she sauntered into the bathroom. While she showered, I scoured the internet in search of something that looked appealing enough to eat for the night.
* * *
“Love,” I called out when my phone chimed from Uber Eats alerting me that they were pulling up.
“Huh?”
“You gotta let me up. The food is here.”
“Okay,” she sighed. When she sat up, she had the cutest little mug on her face. Just like I thought, her ass was exhausted. After she finished her shower, she got dressed and climbed into my lap. She had been sitting here the entire time with her head laid on my chest half sleep.
Halfway through my search for food, Supreme called to check in. I’d spent majority of Talitha’s shower on the phone with him. I ended up hitting the shower before placing the order, giving her plenty of time to fall asleep.
Tapping her on the leg, I slid her out of my lap and stood. “Give me a second.” After swiping the room key off the counter, I left the room.
Once the bag of food was in my hand, I tipped the driver and headed back upstairs. Slipping the card out of my pocket, I waved it across the lock and pushed the door opened.
Reaching her arms out of the cover Talitha yawned and stretched. “I can smell the food through the bag.”
“You’re hungry and that’s my fault. I should’ve made sure you ate something before we jumped on the road.”
“I was in a hurry so I probably wouldn’t have been able to eat anything.”
“Come on.” Placing the bag down on the table, I pulled out the contents and laid everything out.
“Why didn’t you get me steak?” she pouted, looking over at my plate.
“I specifically asked if you wanted steak or fish, and you said fish.”
“I didn’t know it was going to look that good,” she lied and picked up her plasticware.
I took a seat at the table and pushed my takeout container over to her so she could get a piece of my food. For someone who didn’t like medium rare steak, she ate it enough.
“Gema said if a man shares his food with you that means he loves you.” She smirked while cutting into my steak.
“Gema is full of analogies, I see.”
“Yep,” she popped. I watched her fork the piece of meat in her mouth and groan. “This is so good,” she sang and did a little dance in her seat.
After she passed the plate back, I sparked up a conversation. “Tell me more about your family.”
“Who you wanna hear about now?” She laughed.
“Doesn’t matter. What was the dynamic like with you and your grandfather? I see how close you and Gema are. What was it like when he was alive?”
“The three of us were the ultimate trio.” She giggled. “Papa Joe was the best father a girl could ever ask for. He never missed anything.
He worked at a plant most of my life, well until he retired, but even with the early mornings and late nights, he made sure he attended every event.
I remember I was the eighth-grade prom queen. Papa Joe took me to Macy’s in Atlanta to go find the perfect dress. Gema couldn’t take me cause she had to work.
We spent all day in Atlanta, he and I did. He took me to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner and took me for ice cream afterwards.
He did all of that and in the back of his mind, he just knew I was going to ask my daddy to be my escort. My absent father who was never around. The same father that didn’t hesitate to sign over his rights so Gema and Papa Joe could take me in.” She laughed.
“Yeah... No, I remember we had hopped back on the highway and was headed back home. I looked over at him and asked why he didn’t get something to wear for himself and his response was ‘I didn’t know you wanted me to go.’ I’m like… Papa Joe who else would I ask?”
“Did you ever have a relationship with your biological father?”
“Hell no. When my Mama got pregnant, his ass was married. He didn’t want anything to do with me cause he didn’t wanna lose his family. That’s why it was so easy for him to give me away.”
“That’s tragic.”
“His absence wasn’t felt. Papa Joe was my daddy and that was all that mattered to me. When I won homecoming queen, he escorted me on the field. All of my important moments… he was there for them.”
“What about your mom?”
“In the beginning, she was the best mommy ever. We used to do everything together. Hell, I don’t know when Joe Lee came around but as far back as I can remember, he was there. We had pictures with him from when I was a baby, so I guess he’d been there from the beginning.
Up until he touched me, Joe Lee and I never had any issues. He used to take me to the park to play. We traveled as a unit and everything. When the switch up happened, Gema said Joe Lee brain was poisoned and that’s what made him do those things.”
“Poisoned how?”
“Joe Lee got bipolar disorder.”
“’Oh…” I hummed. “Wow… Yeah I wouldn’t have known that.”
“Nobody does. He takes medicine for it. So yeah, Gema said his mind was poisoned and that caused him to flip the way he did.”
“I don’t think that’s one of the characteristics of bipolar disorder, Talitha.”
“I know that,” she tittered. “Another one of Gema’s analogies.
Joe Lee just rotten at the core. His mental condition has nothing to do with him sneaking into my bedroom at night, putting his hands on me.
His ass had been around me for years, ain’t no telling how long he’d been watching me. ” She shrugged.
“Your uncle that lives out of town?”
“Meat? What about him?”
“Why isn’t he more involved?”
“The fat muthafucka don’t come home. Lowkey, I think he’s embarrassed of all of this.
” Her hand waved through the air. “Meat act like he had a bad life. Gema and Papa Joe worked they ass off to provide all of us with stability. Granted they might not have had much but they made do with what they did have. Meat went off to college and never looked back.”
“Your family is uh–” I paused to try and figure out how I wanted to put it without unintentionally offending her.