Page 78 of Made to Love Ya

THREE WEEKS LATER

“Thankyou for coming to dinner, baby.”

“You’ve been a hard woman to track down lately. Any time you answer your phone, or if I find you on the other end of mine, I’m definitely not missing that call.”

She laughed that husky, beautiful laugh that I always adored.

“Talia, it’s good to see you, too, and on my baby’s arm no less.”

“Thank you, Ms. Amanda. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you,” Talia stated as she hugged my mother.

“Oh, I’ve been busy, honey. Traveling the world and enjoying life.”

“You deserve it. You’ve worked hard all your life,” I stated.

She smiled up at me and patted my cheek.

“Your brother and Celina are already in the backyard on the patio,” she stated.

My mama was a beautiful, dark-skinned woman who stood at five foot three and weighed roughly 130 pounds with long, wavy hair that fell to the middle of her back that she usually wore in a bun and dark brown eyes that sparkled like diamonds in a pool of black gold. Her beauty was breathtaking.

We followed her out to the back patio, where Rashad and his wife sat. My brother hopped up when he saw us, dapped me up, and gave me a side hug, and then he turned to Talia and pulled her into his embrace.

“Always good to see you again, beautiful. Glad the two of you got it together,” Rashad stated with a smirk at me and a wink at Talia.

“Thank you, Shad,” Talia stated.

We all turned to Celina, who appeared to be extremely engrossed in something on her phone.

“Celina,” I greeted with a nod.

“Oh, hey, Zae. Hi, Talia,” she greeted.

She barely looked at either of us before she turned her attention back to the phone. I couldn’t lie. I didn’t much care for Celina, but she loved my brother and took good care of him, so although she could come off as rude and condescending, for his sake, I tolerated her. Celina wasn’t a bad person; she just thought she was better than us. She had been raised that way—to look down on other people who hadn’t grown up in the comfortable, luxurious lifestyle that she had.

“Dinner will be served shortly. How have you all been?” Mama asked when she took her seat at the patio table with the rest of us.

“Life’s been good. I can’t complain,” I stated.

There were other murmurs around the table of similar outlooks. My mother checked her phone and smiled.

“Looks like dinner has arrived and my announcement as well.”

“Announcement?” I asked.

She nodded and patted my shoulder as she stood. “I’ll be right back. Be patient.”

I looked at Rashad. “Shad, what’s she talking about?”

“I don’t even know, man. She just invited us over to dinner. She said she missed us and had something she wanted to tell me.”

“Damn, I hope everything is okay with her.”

“Don’t think bad, baby. Your mother’s fine. Based on her expression, I can tell it must be good news,” Talia stated and grabbed my hand to give it a little reassuring squeeze.

I leaned forward and kissed her lips. “Thank you, babe.”

We sat around the table and made small talk before my mama reappeared with a man behind her. He was a light-skinned man who stood an inch or two over six feet with light eyes and curly hair. His ass kind of reminded me of my pops but without the rough edge, one of them pretty boy niggas. I wondered who the hell he was, but before I could ask, Mama made it clear.

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