Page 74 of Fever: Love In Scrubs
Jamari smiled as she turned to Tikayla, still holding on to Wynter. “Hi.”
“Hi, beautiful. You must be Jamari. I’m Tikayla. My cousin has told me so much about you.”
“It’s nice to meet you. She’s told me a lot about you too.”
“All good things, I hope.”
“They were. She said you were her best friend.”
Tikayla smiled. “She’s my bestie too.”
I clasped my hands together. “Why don’t we head inside?”
“Oh!” Wynter released my daughter and went to the back seat of her car, returning with a covered dish. “I didn’t want to show up empty handed, so I made a cheesecake.”
“My granny loves cheesecake,” Jamari informed her.
“Lucky me!”
I grabbed her hand and we headed into the house. Just as we made it over the threshold, my father was walking downstairs, finally up from his nap. He smiled as he reached the bottom step.
“Well, who do we have here?” he asked.
“Pops, this is Wynter and her cousin, Tikayla. Ladies, this is my father, Jaxson Pierre Sr.”
“It’s so nice to meet you, Mr. Pierre,” Wynter said nervously.
“Thank you for having us in your home,” Tikayla added.
“It’s nice to meet you all too. Ms. Driscoll, you have my son and my granddaughter smitten.”
Wynter blushed. “I’m pretty smitten myself. They are a great pair.”
He gave a cheeky smile. “They a’ight.”
I gave him a playful jab as my mother came around the corner. When she saw Wynter, she stopped in her tracks. Her hand flew to her mouth.
“Oh, my Lord,” she whispered.
Wynter looked around nervously. We were all trying to figure out what was going on with my mother. She had tears in her eyes as she walked over to Wynter. With a small smile, she cupped her face.
“You look just like Lianna,” she whispered.
Wynter’s eyes widened. “You—you knew my mother?”
Mom nodded. “She was my best friend from elementary all the way through high school.”
She grabbed Wynter’s hand and led her over to one of the bookshelves in the living room. We all watched as she pulled down one of her old photo albums and flipped it open.
“We used to be thick as thieves,” Mom said.
Wynter took the book from her, and I walked over to look over her shoulder. The album was filled with pictures of my mother and a woman that could have been Wynter’s twin. It was like staring into a mirror when it came to them. My mother had pictures of them as kids and teenagers. There were pictures with their parents, prom photos, and random photos of them being goofy together.
“Wow…” Wynter whispered. “My father only had pictures from the time they started dating up until I was born. I’ve never seen pictures from her childhood like this.”
“You aunt didn’t have any?” I asked.
“Our grandparent’s old house burned down when Wynter was five,” Tikayla chimed in as she walked over. “They literally lost everything. Years worth of memories gone.” She looked down at the pictures. “Auntie was a baddie back in the day,” she said, smiling. “You too, Mrs. Pierre.”
