Page 8 of Make Me Remember

I got in my car as he stood there watching, looking like he wanted to say more. I couldn’t handle any more of today. I was done.

CHAPTER 3

JACOB

“She gon’ be a handful. You sure you wanna pursue her ass? You don’t need another Jameka on your hands.”

I glanced at Uncle Storm. “I don’t think she’s like Jameka. Her demeanor shifted when I was talking about what got me here. I told her I killed somebody and why. Although she was trying to hide it, I saw a tear fall from one of her eyes. She wiped that shit with her shoulder and kept working, ceasing all communication. I think our conversation triggered something in her.”

He nodded. “Maybe so. I don’t know her, so I probably shouldn’t have fucked with her yet. As much as you talk about her, I feel like I know her ass.”

I chuckled. “She gon’ be mine, eventually. I’m gon’ end up being a whole ass stepdaddy. Watch.”

“Nigga, shut the fuck up,” he said then laughed. “That woman is about her business and her mental. Just by the way she said for you to call her if you want her to come back lets me know she ain’t finna deal with no bullshit for the sake of a job. I don’t know if I should be pissed or impressed.”

I laughed. She surely wasn’t intimidated by Uncle Storm. I liked that shit. It was tough not calling her Mekayla though. Ever since she introduced herself to me, I had been calling her that in my thoughts and whenever I talked about her to Uncle Storm, KJ, Rylan, or Christian. There was no way I would let her move on and not call her back. I needed her.

She was a damn good therapist, but it was something in her soul that I bonded with spiritually. Whatever hurt she had experienced in life was speaking loudly today, especially when I talked about Jameka. I wondered if me calling her a ho or a bitch had bothered her. It seemed that was when she retreated and stopped talking.

I heard the door open and close. Uncle Storm and I turned to see who would walk around the corner. When I saw KJ, I lowered my head. Although he didn’t say it, I felt like he blamed me for what happened to Kane. That was his little brother, so I understood. Uncle Storm stood and shook his hand, then he came to me and shook mine.

“Well, since KJ here, I’m gonna head out. We got shit to figure out with the people we actually give a fuck about.”

I slowly shook my head. Uncle WJ couldn’t just completely throw Big City Nome in the trash. He started talking about repairing the infrastructure, especially for the elderly people who were still living in the “city” part of town. When he walked out, KJ sat on the chair across from me. I hadn’t seen him since the other night at the hospital.

“What’s up, man? How you feeling?”

“I’m okay, I guess.”

His head tilted slightly. “You know Kane is fine. He’s going home tomorrow.”

I nodded. “I just feel like…” I stopped and slowly shook my head. “Never mind.”

“Naw. You feel like what?”

I looked back at him. “That this shit is all my fault. Despite the past issues the family had with them niggas, they weren’t fucking with the Hendersons until this bullshit with Jameka.”

“Man, chill out. I mean… honestly, I felt a way about the shit at first. I’m sorry. But I had time on the flight back to think things through. We have all fucked around. None of us expected shit to go sideways after sleeping with a female. It could have been any of us. The only reason they taking that shit out on the whole family is because of their history with us. From what I was told, this goes back to our great grandparents. They weren’t getting along way back then.”

I frowned. “Why they didn’t tell us that shit? Karima just told me about the shit with Aunt Tiff and Jameka’s mama the night it happened.”

“That’s a good question. I guess they thought the shit was an individual thing and not an entire family thing. Whatever the reason, that shit ain’t on you. A’ight? Everybody knows that. So carry yo’ ass to the diner and get to moving around instead of being cooped up in here, looking depressed as hell.”

I chuckled slightly. Having him here made me feel a lot better about that shit, but the ultimate test would come from Kane. If he didn’t see it that way, then I knew I wouldn’t be able to get over it. It took me forever to forgive myself for not doing shit about Joseph Monroe beating on my mama.

“If you say so, man,” I responded. “How are things with you and Cassie?”

“Good. We gon’ be leaving again in a couple of days. We’re headed to Dubai. Then when I come back, it’s back to work. I got the national competition in a couple of months.”

“Hell yeah. We gon’ all be in the stands, acting like fools and letting those people know who the Hendersons are.”

He chuckled. “Yep! They better get their minds right for that shit. You had therapy today?”

“Yeah. Mekayla left about thirty minutes before you got here.”

“So how did it go? You still tryna wear her down?”

“Hell yeah. I’m trying hard. I just feel like she’s everything I need. She got a lil in her feelings today when I was telling her about what happened and why I missed my last session. Then Uncle Storm had her fucked up. She called that nigga my guard dog and told him respect was earned. Nigga, I just knew the winds was about to howl.”

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