Page 216 of Taeja

“My family was right about you,” Jerry spat, looking his mother up and down in distaste.

“I’m your family!”

Jerry’s fists tightened. He wanted to say something harsh, like the words he used to get beneath the skin of a witness on the stand. Something harsher than the words his daughter would spew to him. But he didn’t have the strength to.

Teddy wasn’t worth it.

Not giving her a last look, he took long strides out of the house. He ignored her pleas for them to sit and talk like they always did. Jerry reversed out of the yard and went home.

Parking in the garage, he left the vehicle running as he pulled his phone out. Looking at the message that came in a few minutes after he ended the call, his lips trembled as tears blurred his vision.

Body shaking from rage and sadness, he dialed the number, and it answered on the first ring. Jerry’s voice cracked. “I am sorry, Cass.”

36

Cassedi moved the phonefrom her ear, and Taeja didn’t hesitate to go back over there. She sat between her mother’s legs. Cassedi resumed combing her hair, humming a song to herself.

“Are you okay?” Taeja asked hesitantly.

“Yes,” Cassedi said.

Taeja wasn’t moved. She opened her mouth to ask if Jerry said something antagonizing, and if Cassedi wanted her to call him and tell him some colorful words, but Cassedi spoke again.

“Tell me more about your relationship with Damon and Zain.”

Taeja smiled, her heart beating faster. “What about them?”

“Anything. You said you don’t live with Jerry anymore?”

“No.”

“So, you have an apartment? Or a house?”

“I live with Damon,” Taeja said. “Well, both of them. But we’re mostly at Damon’s house.”

“You’re okay with that?”

Taeja slightly bobbed her head, not wanting to disrupt Cassedi’s combing. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Taeja asked, wondering if Cassedi suddenly had a change of heart.

“I thought you would’ve wanted to live by yourself first. I remember you told me about wanting your independence, and now you have a job. Soon you’ll beoff into the world all on your own.”

“Yeah, but I don’t understand why my independence means I can’t live with them. They treat me good, and I love living with them.”

“Hmm…” Cassedi trailed off. “When I met Jerry, within two years, I moved out of my dorm and we rented an apartment together. Mummy told me not to; she said I’d never lived on my own before, and if I wanted to move out of her house, I should live by myself first. I didn’t listen to her, I love…d your father, so I brushed off a lot of things, and it put me here. Of course, I don’t regret any of it, because I’d never have you — my biggest blessing. I’m happy you’re happy, and if you’re sure about this, don’t let me deter you. I just don’t want you to make the same mistakes that I did.”

Taeja pondered her mother’s words, then nodded. “I understand, Cassedi. I live by myself at my college loft, if that makes you feel any better.”

Cassedi stopped combing Taeja’s hair to give her shoulders a gentle squeeze. “It does, baby girl. Now turn around. Let me do the other side.”

“Let me call Miss Charm. You’re going to love her, I promise.”

A few days later,Taeja and her men were back home. She’d met her family on her mom’s side, and they’d warmed up to her after realizing she wasn’t like her father.

On the topic of her father, he’d been calling her nonstop since yesterday, but she refused to answer. Jerry barely gave her attention before Cassedi’s call. Why was he trying now?

Zain looked over his shoulder as Taeja sighed heavily. “You okay?”

“Not really,” she confessed, going back to the salad she was making.

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