Page 26 of Make Me Forget

“Uh huh. You ain’t gotta butter my fucking biscuit. That shit got so much butter on it it’s jacking up my blood pressure.”

Kendrall laughed as his uncle pulled him in for a hug. When he released him, he looked over at me. “So this must be the one-hundred-twenty-five-horsepower tractor.”

Kendrall laughed and said, “Unc, this is Cassie. Cassie, this is Uncle Storm.”

He frowned at me. “Cassie as in Price’s daughter?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, I’ll be damned. How you kept this shit under wraps?” he asked, turning to Kendrall. “I can usually sniff out a bell pepper in a barrel of onions. I must be losing my touch.”

I giggled. He seemed to have loosened up over the years. I didn’t remember him being funny. He grabbed my hand and said, “You grew up to be a beautiful woman. I’m glad you put this nigga out his misery.”

“I was miserable, too, so I’m glad everything worked out.”

“Unc, I’m gonna need you Monday.”

“What time? Jacob and I have business to tend to Monday morning.”

“Just whenever you have time.”

I already knew what he needed him for. He would be perfect to take along. He would be able to distract the hell out of Mesani. He’d probably intimidate him even more. Kendrall was about six two, but his uncle was tall as hell… at least six six, maybe taller.

When they finished talking, Kendrall led me to a table where Christian and Rylan were seated. They stood as we approached, along with another guy. “Cassie, what’s up, girl?” Christian said.

“Hey! Long time no see.”

I hugged him, and he introduced me to his wife, Mya, and their baby, Cadence. I did the same with Rylan. He introduced me to his wife, Angel, and their son, Renzo. Their families were beautiful. When the other guy stood, I squinted as I stared up at him. He looked so familiar.

“Cassie, you remember Jakari, right?”

“Oh, yes! You didn’t come around as much as those two.”

“Yeah, I’m older than them. I didn’t want to be tied down to watching them. Whenever they went to Uncle Kenny’s house, I took the break for what it was.”

He chuckled, and I did too as he hugged me. He introduced me to his wife, Yendi, and their son, JJ. That lil boy was barely still enough to speak. When they defined the word rambunctious in the dictionary, his picture had to be right next to it. I thought we would be sitting with them, but Kendrall pulled me toward another table with his parents, Karima, and his brothers. My family was seated there as well.

I noticed Ebony was seated next to King. She was acting like she was uninterested while he was talking, but I knew on the inside, she was hanging on to his every word. That was something I was never able to do. If I was feeling someone, they knew it. It was hard for me to hide it. Without me even saying so, they could tell, because I either wanted to be around them all the time or I stared at them too long.

With Kendrall, I eventually just asked. We’d already kissed… my very first kiss from a boy. I was so hooked after that. To go cold turkey was hard as hell, especially when my parents were always going out there to hang with Mr. Kenny and Mrs. Keisha.

“The two of you make a gorgeous couple, son. I always thought you would,” Mrs. Keisha said.

I smiled and slightly leaned against Kendrall. He smiled too and said, “Thanks, Ma. You should have knocked me over the head when I was a teenager so I could have seen it back then.”

She chuckled as I slid my hand over his. “I told you, it happened when it was supposed to.”

He leaned over and kissed my lips, and I nearly got lost. I couldn’t and refused to get enough. Someone cleared their throat, and I pulled away from him. It wasn’t like we were tongue kissing or anything. We just tended to get lost in each other. I looked up to see my daddy frowning. My face heated up tremendously until he laughed.

“Y’all look like me and Kendall when she finally quit teasing me.”

She shoulder bumped him as he chuckled. Before I could get caught up in the man next to me, Mr. Kenny said, “Karima and KJ, I need y’all up here.”

I turned in my seat. I had never noticed that he’d gotten up. Lawd have mercy. As Kendrall stood, he grabbed my hand, pulling me from my seat. I was not liking this. I wasn’t used to being the center of attention. My face was probably red, and I was trembling. He squeezed my hand and when we got to the small stage with Mr. Kenny and Karima, KJ squeezed my hand again, trying to soothe my nerves, I supposed.

Mr. Kenny smiled, and he said, “Both my babies did the damn thang today! I’m glad y’all have been supporting them, but I didn’t expect anything different. We’re Hendersons, and that’s what we do.”

“You muthafucking right,” one of Kendrall’s uncles said.

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