Page 49 of Happenstance
I shook my head. No, I couldn’t.
“My sweet girl, you have no idea how strong you are.” Nan placed her hands on the sides of my face and rested her forehead on mine. “Your mother would be so proud of you.”
“Would she?”
I didn’t remember much of my parents, but the memories I did have were of a strong, confident, beautiful woman. My mother grew up in the same house I did and she became the first woman of color to earn a spot on the hospital board. Dr. Marian Crawford was one of the leading orthopedic surgeons in the country. How could I ever live up to that?
“She would be so proud,” Nan assured me, while wiping the wet streaks off my face. “Now,” she nodded towards Parker, Logan, and Preston, “Let’s go show those boys how much power us women have.”
I let out a sigh, feeding off Nan’s strength and stepped out of the car. I could do this. Logan’s face immediately lit up.
“Look at you, Lana Banana, getting all fat and shit.”
“I am not fat!” I shrieked, glancing down at my belly.Was I?
“Fuck yeah you are.” He sauntered over, threw his arm around me and added, “You should see Ma. It looks like she swallowed a fucking beach ball.”
I’d have hit him, but Nan beat me to it.
“Young man, watch your mouth around my granddaughter.”
Cocky bastard didn’t seem at all phased by the smack to the back of his head. He tipped his brow at my Nan and smirked.
“Now how am I supposed to do that?” he asked.” Have you ever tried to watch your own mouth? Your nose and shit is in the way. I guess I could make a duck face, but the fuck wants to talk to someone when they’re doing stupid shit like that?”
I’ll admit it, I rolled my eyes down to my mouth, testing his theory.
Nan’s hand flew through the air again. “No cussing.”
“Okay old lady, I’m sensing we got off on the wrong foot.” The wrath in Nan’s eyes when he said ‘old lady’ was strong enough to make me take a step back. “No cussing you say, but where do you draw the line. Fuck?”
Smack.
“Shit?”
Smack.
“Asshole?”
Smack.
“Motherfucker?”
Smack.
“Damn?”
This time Nan didn’t hit him, though I’m not sure if she was giving up, or trying to think of a harsher punishment. My answer came with the next words she spoke.
“I’m getting the wooden spoon.”
“You don’t want to use that. The handle is skinny and fragile. A few good swipes and that shit will break. What you want to use is a flipper.” He took his arm off me and made a whipping motion in the air. “It has a nice wide surface to displace the force.”
Nan and I both stared at him for a second before Nan pointed and said, “There’s something wrong with you, boy.”
“So I’ve been told,” Logan shrugged, while strutting away.
We stood there watching the boys gather in front of the house. Nan had this look on her face, eyes scrunched together and mouth pursed. I’d seen it before when she played bridge with Mrs. Granger and she thought she was cheating. It wasn’t the worst face she could’ve made. She did just meet Logan Hudson after.
