Page 34 of Make Me Remember

I swallowed hard. This first meeting between her and Jacob was proving to be way more than I expected, but I didn’t regret a single moment. The only thing I could do was pray that this lasted forever. I’d had enough hurt in my life until I was one instance away from giving up on love altogether. I’d put a lot of faith in Jacob, and I could only hope that shit didn’t come back to bite me in the ass.

CHAPTER 13

JACOB

Ace was happy to bale the hay for me. The other day when I’d gone to check on him and he wasn’t there, I found out the nigga had made a pussy run and ended up falling in that shit all damn day. I ended up going to the shop and helping him get the tractor fixed so Uncle WJ wouldn’t be on his ass. Big Dawg didn’t play that shit. He was all for having a good time, but when there was work to do, he expected you to handle your responsibilities in a timely manner.

LaTee surprised the shit out of me. I could understand why Mekayla wanted to wait to introduce her to me. She was so sweet, innocent, and trusting. Even if for some reason Mekayla and I didn’t last, I would never abandon her. She was craving a father. Her sperm donor wasn’t shit for leaving this baby. Then again, if he wasn’t shit, that was probably for the best. He could have caused more harm than good.

When we got to the diner, she looked super excited. Mekayla did too. She’d only visited during the week, so she had never seen it jumping like this. They had the other side open that they normally kept closed during the week. My mama immediately saw us enter and made her way to us with a huge smile on her face.

“Mekayla! Hey, baby. How are you?”

“Hey, Missus Jenahra. I’m great. How are you?”

“I’m good, and extremely happy to have a new guest at Jen and Chrissy’s Diner!” She leaned over to LaTee and said, “Hi, sweetness.”

“Hi! I’m LaTee.”

“Hi, LaTee. I’m Jenahra, Jacob’s mother.”

She lifted her arms and hugged my mama around her neck. “That means you’re my grandmother. Mister Jacob said he would be my daddy.”

My mama glanced up at me with her eyebrows scrunched together in an ‘aww, that’s so sweet’ fashion. “Well, yes I am! My other grandbaby calls me Grandma Jen. You’re welcome to call me that, or if you want to call me something else, you’re more than welcome to.”

“Well… I gotta think of something fabulous for you. I like your hair. It’s so long and pretty.”

I swore my mama was blushing from here to Beaumont. LaTee was going to be the life of the party. I could see now that the crowd wouldn’t bother her in the least bit.

“Thank you, sweetheart! Come on and let me introduce you to everybody!”

My mama winked at Mekayla and me and took off with LaTee. “And here I was worried about her being overwhelmed,” I said to Mekayla.

She giggled. “I knew she would show you differently. She loves the spotlight. It’s how I used to be as a kid.”

I smiled at her as her smile faded a bit. I could tell she was thinking about her childhood and the things she felt she missed out on. Pulling her in my arms to bring her attention back to where it should be, I said, “Well, we’re gonna get that Mekayla back, because a nigga like me gon’ always have a spotlight on your beautiful ass.”

“Well, well, well! See… I knew what I was talking about, niece.”

We turned around to see Uncle Jasper standing there with a mimosa and Aunt Chasity on his arm. Mekayla smiled then glanced at me. “Hi,” she said.

“What’s up, Unc?” I said then slapped his hand.

“Jasper,” he said to Mekayla.

Clearly, she’d forgotten his name. “I’m sorry, Uncle Jasper. It’s a lot of names to remember.”

That nigga grinned so wide. I knew it was because Mekayla called him uncle. He reached in and hugged her. When she pulled away, he introduced her to Aunt Chasity, and they hugged as well. The minute she pulled away from her though, she was looking around for LaTee. I could see her starting to panic. I wrapped my arms around her waist and said in her ear, “Look at the dance floor.”

When she saw LaTee dancing with Angel, she took a deep breath. I wanted to tell her she didn’t have to worry about that shit over here, but Uncle Avery came to mind. That nigga was fucking with Nesha, Chenetra, and Shakayla right under everyone’s noses. I hated that shit, too, because Shakayla and I used to hang sometimes. I rarely heard from them now, although Aunt Sharon was still living in Nome. Whenever they came to town, they would blow in and blow out.

I kissed Mekayla’s neck and said, “I promise to protect you and her with everything in me, baby. You have my word on that. Y’all my babies. I love LaTee already, simply because I…”

I closed my eyes and backed away from her some. She spun around to me, her eyes wide and hopeful… like a child… like LaTee. There was no way I could avoid saying it. I’d only told her I was falling for her, but shit, a nigga was all the way in. The minute she said she would give us a chance I allowed my heart to open up to her completely.

“Simply because I love her mother. Baby, the minute you said yes to me, my heart wanted to do the most for you. I love you, Mekayla. Again, that doesn’t mean I’ll be perfect or that I’ll get it all right. My family have drama going on with another family. I might fuck up. But one thing that will remain constant is how I feel for you. I will always do my best to put you and LaTee first.”

She slid her arms around me and swayed to the zydeco music. I kissed her head as Unc winked at me and headed to their table. She lifted her head after a minute or two and glanced at J. Paul as he sang his heart out. She stared up at me as the lone tear slid down her cheek. “I love you too, Jacob.”

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