Page 16 of Make Me Remember

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Jacob, you know I’m always here if you need to talk.”

I nodded and stood from my seat, going to where she was. I pulled her into me and hugged her tightly. After kissing her head, I said, “I know, Mama. I love you.”

“I love you too. You’ll always be my baby. I hate what I exposed you and Jessica to. I know that has been hard for the two of you. If that’s what’s bothering you, I can understand why you wouldn’t want to talk to me about it. I completely fucked things up back then.”

I pulled away from her and held her at her shoulders. “Naw. You didn’t fuck anything up. He did. You stayed out of what you thought was obligation and fear. Look what happened when you finally tried to leave. Things happened the way they were supposed to. I’ve been letting this shit fester for far too long. It’s been fifteen years. I shouldn’t be getting triggered like this anymore… not to this magnitude. At the same time, I don’t want to trigger you either.”

She nodded. “Yeah. I wanna see you get better mentally… not just physically. Secondly, I will go to hell if it meant you could have everlasting life, baby. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you. We can go through this together. I’m always available for whatever you need.”

The doorbell rang, and the door opened shortly after. “Jacob! Where you and Jen at?”

Uncle Storm came walking in the kitchen where we were. “I should have known y’all were in the kitchen. Y’all know the meeting is in an hour, right?”

“Yes, baby boy,” my mama said then chuckled.

“What y’all eating?”

“Beef tips. You want some?”

“Naw. That’s what Aspen cooked. If I don’t eat dinner, she gon’ be in her feelings. Seems like the older she gets, the more sensitive she gets. That ain’t a good thing with her being married to a nigga like me. I’m trying to be tender with her, but it’s hard as hell. I can be tender, but not all the damn time.”

“Storm, I think you can handle it. Aspen is probably going through menopause.”

“Aww shit. That means she gon’ be having mood swings and hot flashes and shit? Jacob, prepare my fucking room, because a nigga ain’t built for that shit. She can call me once it calms down.”

I chuckled and shook my head.

“Storm, get away from me with that foolishness,” my mama said as she laughed.

He hugged her and kissed her cheek. The way her smile beamed when he did made me feel good. I loved seeing her happy. Whenever Uncle Storm was affectionate with her, it seemed her smile reached heaven’s gates. I supposed seeing her so unhappy for years did that to me. Knowing what all she endured for the sake of “saving face” made me extremely sensitive to her.

The crazy thing was that I was starting to feel that way with Mekayla. The day she first came in and called me Jacob had me feeling like I was on top of the world, only for me to sink to the pits of hell. I pulled my phone from my pocket and sent her a text message. Hey. Can we talk?

She responded immediately. Hey. You wanna talk about your sessions?

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I wanna talk about my behavior.

I’m not that type of therapist. So you should find someone else, Mr. Henderson.

That let me know I would have to wait until she came for my session tomorrow. My behavior had caused her to pull all the way back, and now, I would have to work even harder to get us back to where we had progressed to.

“He must be texting his therapist. He lose all hearing when he talking to that woman.”

I glanced up at Uncle Storm and shot him the finger. His eyebrows went up. “Naw, nigga. I suggest you find somebody else. I got somebody to fuck. Plus, this dick only get acquainted with ovaries.”

I swore that nigga made me sick. I slowly shook my head, knowing that I wouldn’t have it any other way. I was the only one that could have probably gotten away with shooting him the finger. Christian may have been able to get away with it too. We had each other’s backs, though, to the death of us.

“If you quit being a sucka, you’ll have some ovaries to fuck up too.”

“Storm, that’s enough. I don’t want to hear about my son having sex. It’s obvious he is, but I don’t want to be a part of a discussion about it. It’s getting close to time to go the family barn anyway. I still need to go to the diner and get some food.”

“Jen, you know we don’t have to eat every time we’re together.”

Her eyebrows lifted as Uncle Storm continued. “I mean, I’m not mad about it. With all these meetings coming up, a nigga gon’ have to be in Brix’s gym every morning.”

“Good. Then we can all take advantage of the memberships we’re already paying for.”

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