What a long day it had been! Jasmine and I had been at the mall most of the morning looking at bridesmaids’ dresses. After picking out what we thought were the perfect dresses, we went to Applebee’s for lunch and stopped by the party goods shop. I’d always thought my sister was a real square, but after spending the day with her, I had to give her credit. She was actually a hell of a lot of fun to be with. And she had good taste, too. She was taking as much pride in my wedding as I was, and the dresses she helped me pick out were the bomb. We had so much fun, I hated to leave her. And when I pulled into my driveway, I wished I hadn’t.
“What the fuck is he doing here?” I spotted Malek’s car parked in front of our house. He wasn’t in it, which probably meant he was inside talking to Travis. That wasn’t good news at all. Malek had been calling the house more and more frequently in the past few weeks. He was using the excuse that he wanted to find out how Maleka was doing or that he wanted to update me on Nana’s condition, but every conversation ended with him asking for some ass. And me telling him to kiss mine. He must have just gotten sick of the rejection and decided to blow me up to Travis.
I stayed in my car almost twenty minutes, trying to decide if I should go inside. Travis finally made my decision for me. He walked outside with T. J. in his arms. I was so scared to death of what Malek might’ve told him, it felt like my heart had slid down into my stomach. Travis’s facial expression didn’t give me one damn clue of what he knew. It was just blank, and that made me even more nervous.
“Baby,” Travis said, knocking on my window, “you need to come in the house. There’s someone here to see you.” He opened my car door and handed T. J. to me. He didn’t even attempt to give me a kiss, and that worried me. He never forgot to give me a kiss unless he was mad about something. So I just knew I was in trouble.
“Malek’s here, isn’t he?”
“No, but his mother is.” I raised both eyebrows. I was confused but relieved.
“Miss Janet’s here? What’s she doing here?”
“I think it might be best if she told you.” I handed him the baby and walked into the house. Miss Janet was sitting on the sofa, and Maleka was sitting on her lap. They both had Barbies in their hands.
“Mommy! Look what Grandma Janet brought me!” Maleka jumped off of her grandmother’s lap to show me the dolls.
“Wasn’t that nice of her?” I smiled at my daughter, never taking my eyes off of her grandmother. I didn’t even know she knew where I lived, so her presence had me worried. After everything I’d gone through recently, I didn’t need any more drama. It was time for me to leave all that shit behind and concentrate on my upcoming wedding. I just hoped Malek’s mother hadn’t come over and messed up my plans by saying the wrong thing to Travis.
“Hey, Miss Janet. What you doing here?” I hoped she didn’t notice the suspicion in my voice. When she gave me her news, I felt bad for even thinking about myself.
“Momma died last night, Stephanie.”
“Nana? Nana’s dead?”
I knew Nana didn’t have much time, but I at least thought I’d see her before she passed.
“Have you made the arrangements?” My voice was choked up.
“Uh-huh. The funeral’s on Friday.” Miss Janet wiped away a tear from her cheek. “I was hoping you’d do a reading.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that, Miss Janet.”
“Come on, now. You know how much Momma loved you. Least you could do is read at her funeral.”
I glanced at Travis. I felt real bad about Nana dying, but I wasn’t sure if I should be reading at her funeral. Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to read. I wanted to do anything I could for Nana. I just didn’t want Travis getting upset. Things were just starting to get back to normal in our house. After the night he left, I had promised things would change. And once I took care of the problem with the STD, I really had been behaving. I’d been coming home straight from work, acting like the perfect fiancée and mommy. But going to the funeral meant I’d be seeing Malek, and I knew Travis didn’t want that to happen. That’s why I was surprised when he put his hand on my shoulder and told me it was okay for me to go.
“Okay, Miss Janet. I’ll do it. I’ll read.”
Miss Janet smiled. “Good. You gonna bring Maleka, right?”
Travis answered Miss Janet before I could.
“Yeah, Maleka will be there. And I hope you don’t mind if I come, too? I’d like to pay my respects to your mother. I know how much she meant to Stephanie.”
Miss Janet hesitated, but she looked like she was about to agree when I cut in.
“No, Travis. You stay here with T. J.”
“Why?” He took his arm from around my shoulder and frowned at me.
“ ’Cause Nana is Malek’s grandmother, and you two don’t get along. They were very close, and this is gonna be hard enough on him as it is. Things will only be worse if you’re there. You understand, don’t you, boo?”
I knew I was taking a big chance asking him to stay home, but I figured he wouldn’t protest, at least while Miss Janet was there. Sure, we might have an argument about this later, but I had to keep Travis away. I knew why he wanted to be there, and I didn’t blame him for wanting to keep an eye on Malek. But I also knew that if Malek was upset enough, who knew what would come out of his mouth? Shit was already crazy enough between me and Malek. I did not need a scene at Nana’s funeral. I would go and pay my respects, then finally be done with Malek. It was time to get myself back on the straight and narrow.