Page 51 of Honey Sugar
“Who’s been on your neck, Ivy?” He took a step into the kitchen. She smoothed her hand over the spot in question and pulled her fluffy curls down to attempt hiding it. There was no hiding it. It was a glaring stop sign to anyone with eyes. I definitely left my mark.
“None of your business.” The timer on the cookies went off and it sounded like bombs exploding in church. I took the pan from the oven and set it out to cool.
“You think you can stay under my roof and have some boy all over you doing god knows what? You think I’m raising a slut?”
“Woah, woah.” I shook my head vehemently at his language and pushed him until he was out of the kitchen. “You’re not going to keep talking to her like that. Go upstairs and sleep this shit off.”
“You’re supposed to be keeping an eye on her. She never leaves your side and you let this shit happen?” He tossed his hand toward Ivy.
“She’s almost eighteen. I’m not stopping her from seeing whoever she wants.”
“No daughter of mine is going to be a goddamn slut.” He slurred his words so badly I couldn’t make out what he said until I replayed it in my mind.
“I’m not a daughter of yours. There, problem solved.” Ivy smacked her lips together and I couldn’t help the pride that swelled in my chest. I pushed my chin up a little higher. She was really coming into her own.
“Yeah okay, Ivy Lynn. You better watch what you say to me.”
“Go upstairs, man. I don’t feel like being violent tonight. Everyone is exhausted and sad. Stop this stupid shit before I knock you out worse than the coke hangover you’re about to have.” I shoved him again and he tripped over his own feet on the way to the stairs. I knew we wouldn’t see or hear from him again until morning, possibly.
“I hate him.” Ivy vibrated with anger. It consumed her down to her fingertips. I walked over and shielded her from her own fury with my arms around her shoulders.
“Fuck him. You have to start the process of cutting him out of your life.”
“How? I have to live here. I have to keep the house up. It’s our family land, Titan. If I leave and let Daddy have it…he’ll sell it for coke at the drop of a hat.” She was right and I couldn’t let that happen either. My mother was buried on this land and I had just as much stake in it as Ivy.
“We’ll figure it out, baby girl.” I kissed her forehead and it seemed to be the medicine she needed. She shed the anger toward her father like fall leaves at her feet. She looked at the cookies laid out on the island and shook her head at the sight.
“How much are you going to make from this delivery?” She asked. I let my hands hang on her hips because they were quickly becoming my favorite place to lay idle.
“A couple thousand. Not as much as I’d make for a harvest but it’ll tide me over. It’ll take my plants another ten weeks to mature enough for harvesting and another few weeks for curing.”
Ivy tugged on her ear and I shot her a look. She moved her hand but not before stretching her pointer finger in the air. An idea hit her. It lit her olive green eyes up like fireworks. I already wanted to hear what she was going to say and not a single word had left her mouth yet.
“Titan, have you ever made candy with weed?”
“No. I definitely could though.” My mind was already stitching together recipes and ideas.
“We could sell it the same way we do with the moonshine.”
“Speaking of which…we’re out of moonshine. Uncle Beau is in no condition to start a batch.”
“So…we’ll do it.” Ivy looked at me and I nodded my head in agreement. “I’ve seen him do it enough to know how the process works. I was the one who flavored everything anyway so that part is easy. We can make enough for a month out. You can make cannabis candies to supplement the under the table sales and I can sell my whiskey candies in the store to put on the legit books.”
“You’re sexy as fuck when you’re excited. You know that?” I tucked my bottom lip between my teeth and eyed her. Crimson settled on the smooth apples of her cheeks while she looked at me. I hooked my arm around her waist and held her there. She felt good in my arms. She was a summer day soaking into my bones.
“No, but thank you for telling me.” She laughed a little and rubbed my hands. Her palms were so soft in contrast to mine. “You know Daddy is going to keep pressing me about who my boyfriend is. He’ll never accept that it’s you.”
“Then he’ll never know.” I knew we couldn’t hide forever and I knew we’d have a fight on our hands when it came time to kick Uncle Beau out of the house and keep him away from Honey Sugar but I was ready to fight. It was a fight I knew I’d win.
…
“It’s been so long since I’ve been to New Orleans,” Ivy said as I drove down familiar streets and tried to avoid seeing familiar faces. Her face was busy staring out of the window watching the crowded avenues with stores and shops cloistered together. I smiled at the sight of her soaking in the city’s charm.
Sugar Bayou was its own world and it was rare that Ivy stepped outside of it. She was the Sugar Bayou princess and she ruled over her land like a gentle, loyal monarch never leaving her post. I was going to show her some things in New Orleans before we left though. That was my kingdom. That was where I ruled.
I pulled into the dispensary parking lot and opened the door for Ivy. “Wow, it’s so tiny,” she smiled.
“It is but don’t let that fool you. There’s big business going on in here.” I walked in with a black book bag slung over my shoulder. The place smelled fresh like they had a clean linen plug-in somewhere around. Grass-green paint coated the walls and pictures of fully blossomed marijuana plants hung in frames. Glass counters lined the perimeter of the small store and shelves lined the back walls.
