Page 25 of Make Me Remember

“It’s okay. It’s a blow to deal with, but Mister Price said the same shit happened with his parents… I mean that they found out they were distant cousins. We’re already married. That’s my baby, man. I can’t let go. Now if we were first or second cousins, it would have to be a done deal. So, we’re both just trying to forget we even know.”

I nodded. “I’m glad y’all are going to work it out. Y’all are too perfect for each other to let go. I mean… that was our great grandmother, but it isn’t Cassie’s great grandmother. What, like her second great aunt or some shit?”

“Something like that. Cassie doesn’t know those people. Karima came down and talked to us. God gave her unfathomable wisdom, man.”

“Oh, I know that shit to be true. I need to schedule a session with her. Mekayla and I are finally talking outside of therapy. She said for us to take things one day at a time, but she wants the same things I do.”

“Congratulations, man. I guess our crew is complete, huh?”

“Yep. Finally. But listen, Mekayla ain’t mine yet, so I don’t wanna jinx the shit.”

“Family, let me get your attention right quick.”

I turned around to see Uncle WJ standing in the middle of the floor. We all turned toward him. “After Shy and Sidney get Jacob squared away, our legal troubles will be done. Thank goodness. We will have another meeting once Nesha and Jakari get shit drawn up. That should be soon. We are gonna have to move fast, though, or the retirement facility won’t have anyone living in it. They’ll be forced to move before we can even start. I’ll go to pull permits in the morning with what they come up with. I’m pretty sure it will be an all-nighter tonight. Y’all are dismissed.”

Just as I was turning to leave, Uncle WJ said, “Jacob, do you mind going to check on Ace? He started working on one of the tractors. I’m trying to give him a chance since he said that was what he wanted to do, but I need someone to check after him and make sure he’s on track.”

“Yes, sir,” I said, glancing at the time.

I still had two hours before Mekayla would make it to the house. The shit I had set up for her was going to blow her mind. My mama had cooked for us and was going to take the food to my house to warm it up after leaving the meeting. Maui and Ashanni told me they would go get flowers and shit and a gift for her. I gave them my card and made them promise not to wild out.

Hopefully, in a week or so, I would be able to go back to work. Kneeling was still a task with my ACL being slightly torn. Driving here was somewhat of a task, but I was able to get here in one piece. Mekayla would probably fuss later, but I would deal with that when the time came.

I turned to my right to see KJ was still standing there, but he was talking to Uncle Storm. I moved closer to them to hear Unc have the audacity to say, “You know there used to be an old fuckboy saying that said ‘the closer the kin, the better the skin.’ You have actually tested that theory.”

I swore KJ looked like he was gonna explode. That nigga just said whatever came to mind sometimes. I grabbed KJ by the arm and pulled him away from that nigga. “That wasn’t cool, Unc,” I said as we walked away.

I knew he was joking, but KJ still wasn’t in a joking space yet. “I swear that muthafucka get on my nerves sometimes,” KJ said as we walked outside.

“I know. He doesn’t think before he speaks. Thankfully, out of all the things I inherited from him, that wasn’t one of them.”

“At least there is no guesswork with his ass. I know he was joking, but it’s too soon, man.”

“I get it.”

“My bad, nephew. I apologize. While most of us aren’t taking the situation that seriously, I know you and Martha are. So, I apologize for not respecting that.”

My eyebrows lifted as I turned to see Uncle Storm standing there with his hand stretched out to KJ. When he shook it, he pulled him in an embrace. I could count on one hand how many times I’d heard that nigga apologize.

“Hopefully y’all can get some closure with that shit. Believe it or not, half these niggas that are married are probably related somewhere down the line. If they all took DNA tests, it would prove me right. As you learned the other night, old people keep a lot of fucking secrets. That shit can destroy families and nearly destroyed ours a couple of times. I promise y’all aren’t the first couple this has happened to, and you won’t be the last.”

“Thanks, Unc. Your apology is accepted. I can’t even believe you apologized,” KJ said.

“Well, Kendrall, if I demanded that of you when you were wrong, I figured I had better do the same since I was wrong.”

They shook hands again as Kingsley joined us. He shook Uncle Storm’s hand then mine. He was the only one out of his siblings who had darker skin like Aunt Keisha. “What that nigga was talking about?” he asked.

“He was apologizing about some insensitive shit he said to me a lil bit ago.”

Kingsley’s eyebrows lifted as mine had done, and we laughed. “Well, it was good catching up, but I have to go check on Ace right quick before my session with Mekayla in two hours. We gon’ have to catch up so I can find out how y’all’s trip to Dubai was.”

“A’ight, nigga. Thanks for having my back earlier too. I was ready to tell that nigga where he could go. His apology wouldn’t have been as satisfying if I would have had to apologize too.”

I chuckled and slapped his hand then Kingsley’s and made my way to check on Ace. When I got to the shop, he wasn’t there. He probably had to leave to get a part or something. I made my way back home. There was no point in me trying to see what he was doing, because I didn’t know what was wrong with the tractor to begin with.

When I got there, Ashanni’s car was still there, and so was my mama’s. I planned to go and take a shower as soon as I walked in, but the smell of the food distracted me. I was smelling the shit outside. She had stray cats sitting on my porch, waiting on scraps. I walked in, and Ashanni and Maui were arranging flowers in various spaces. I had to stop and smile. It looked like something Mekayla would like.

She tried to be hard, but I could clearly see she wanted to be soft. She just hadn’t been with or around anyone she could be soft with. I needed her to be able to feel and be that way with me. She’d already been vulnerable, and I was happy that she felt comfortable enough to be that way. After today, hopefully we would continue to progress to where she was ready to be in a committed relationship soon. I never had a problem being faithful, so she didn’t have that to worry about with me. I only fucked around when I was single.

---