Page 50 of Make Me Remember

She giggled and slid her night shirt on and left the room. That was wifey right there. Mekayla Jaguar Henderson, coming soon.

CHAPTER 18

MEKAYLA

LaTee’s screams made me laugh. She was sliding down the water slide with Jacey and Seneda. They were having a great time, and so was I. I found myself crying tears of joy when Jacob grabbed my hand earlier and had me running to slide on the Slip ’N Slide. It was everything I knew it would be. I truly felt like a big ass kid. All my childhood dreams were being catered to in this moment, and that had me emotional as hell.

They’d squirted dishwashing liquid on the Slip ’N Slide and had me sliding through the damn grass. I laughed through the entire thing though. My hair was soaking wet, but I was happy as hell, even with all the shit I was dealing with. When I saw the two-piece Maui had bought me from Target, I screamed. Jacob had presented LaTee and me with our bathing suits after the wonderful breakfast Jess had cooked for us.

This entire family had been so good to us, even through their own chaos. I’d overheard Uncle Mayor and Aunt Tiffany talk about the pending investigation. The situation that happened at the diner was still heavily on everyone’s minds, but they took the time to show my baby and me love… hell, my entire family.

All five of my sisters were here, although I wasn’t as close to Jerzey and Anika anymore. I knew it was because they shared a room with me growing up. They saw all the shit no one saw. I snuck boys in through the night with them right there in the room. They heard and sometimes saw me having sex. I was a kid just like they were, but I apologized to them over and over for that shit. I was grateful that none of the boys had taken advantage of either of them.

Zhori had even shown up. We had yet to speak about Dad’s funeral, but I knew it was something we would be talking about before he left. We had to get that shit settled. He was standing over to the side with Jacob, Christian, KJ, and Rylan. He and Rylan had a lot in common. They both played basketball. Zhori had played overseas, and Rylan had been on the practice squad, at one point, for Dallas. Jacob had told me that much when I inquired about him playing.

Everyone in the Henderson family was tall except Maui and Karima, but Rylan just had that basketball player type of build. I didn’t know how to explain it. It was like, the minute the two of them met, they were familiar. I supposed they saw the ball player in each other. The part that tripped me out though was when Nate Guillory showed up. I knew he was a professional player, but Jacob had told me that he and Jess had a thing going before she got married.

That nigga was a good catch. I didn’t see how she didn’t choose him, but whatever floated her boat. Jacob said Nate was fucked up over her for a while. He also told me that Rylan had lived with Nate for a little while. I thought that was cool. The Hendersons were well-connected, especially since Jess was somewhat famous from Noah’s music video.

As I sat, watching everyone have a good time, Jacob sat next to me. “I know yo’ ass ain’t tired.”

I chuckled. “Hell yeah, I am. Although today has made me feel like a kid again, I’m thirty-five, nigga. My heart is elated, but my body quickly reminded me that if I dove on that damn Slip ’N Slide one more time, I wasn’t gon’ be able to get my ass up.”

He laughed hard as hell. I shoved his shoulder. His ass wasn’t that much younger than me, only by two and half years. Plus, he had a bum knee, ankle, and ribs. I was thankful that the swelling had gone down on his ankle. It seemed to be healing nicely. He was no longer wearing a brace on anything, but those ribs would still be a little tender.

He pulled me close and said, “I know you may not wanna talk about it now, but I have to tell you. I don’t have a problem with paying for the funeral. I told you that earlier, and I mean that. I’m gonna keep telling you that until you acknowledge it. I got’chu. It doesn’t matter who isn’t doing what. You will need that closure.”

I slowly nodded as I saw Zhori approaching us. “Let me talk to my brother first, and I’ll let you know what we come up with.”

Jacob followed my line of vision to Zhori. He stood from his seat and slapped his hand then yelled at Uncle Mayor for getting his long ass in the jump house with the kids. I chuckled at the sight. His feet were hanging out of the opening as all the little kids laughed. Jakari’s little boy dove on him, and they looked to really be fighting in there.

Uncle Storm was something else, but I could clearly see that he and Uncle Jasper housed all the fun. The kids loved them, and I had to admit that I did too. I chuckled while watching Jakari and Jacob pull Uncle Mayor by his feet out of the house. The kids were screaming with laughter while Aunt Tiffany and Angel took pictures.

Zhori sat next to me and grabbed my hand. “You were blessed to find a beautiful family to be a part of.”

I smiled as I squeezed his hand. “Yeah. I love them already. You can be a part too. I noticed you and Rylan kind of hit it off.”

“Yeah. We have a lot in common.” He took a deep breath and turned to me. “Listen. The reason I won’t pay for Stacy’s funeral is because I don’t have the money. I fell into gambling and nearly lost everything. I’m just now climbing out of that with the help of my agent. I’m sorry for making you feel you were in this alone and like I was trying to pass the buck. Jacob is a good guy. I didn’t expect anyone else to pay for anything. I was just trying to get the heat off me.”

I stared at him in disbelief. Zhori had always had it together. Basketball was his outlet, so he rarely even saw all the shit we saw and went through. He was always at this camp or that tournament. Somehow, Daddy found the money to help take care of his travel and everything he needed to play. I was the forgotten one.

“I don’t know what to say, Zhori.”

“You don’t have to say anything, sis. I held a lot of guilt for not being there more for y’all. I was so busy trying to avoid the situation, I forgot about my lil sisters. Shay was left alone to take care of y’all, and that shit wasn’t fair to her. Yet, she still encouraged me to chase my dreams. That shit that happened with Mama’s boyfriends, especially the one that tried to rape you that Shay gave herself to… I should have been there. I would have killed that nigga.”

“That’s why you weren’t there. It was in the cards for you to get out of here and make something of yourself. We are all okay. We all made something of ourselves. Keonshay is a calculus teacher. I’m a physical therapist, Anika is a curator, Jerzey is a phlebotomist, Amari is an accountant, and Jivoni is on her way to being a chemist. We are all doing well for ourselves. It’s time for you to let go of that guilt.”

He nodded. “You’re right. I’m sorry, sis, for making you feel like this was all on you. I’m sorry for not being there for you growing up. You didn’t have anybody.”

“I had Shay and Kace, along with Mister and Missus Moses. They nurtured all of us and got us on track. I love you, Zhori. Although you don’t need to apologize, I accept it anyway.”

“I love you too.”

“Now, Shay offered to help us and so did Jacob. I’ll just see if the Hendersons can help with food, and we can borrow money from Shay to get him buried. Okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Now wasn’t that easy? We have support, and I’m just learning that we don’t have to do everything ourselves.”

---