Talk a Good Game (29 page)

I shrugged because now that
Janelle had given me her stamp of approval, time was the last thing
on my mind. All I cared about was being with Jeremy.
“We
’
re just doing something small at
church.”

“
Small?” Janelle
turned up her nose. “You
’
re supposed to do it up
right this time, remember?”

“
I want to be
married in a church. That
’s
more than I can say
for the last relationship.”

She blew out a long breath like I was being
ridiculous.

“
At least my parents will be
happy.”

“
This isn’t about your parents,”
she snapped and stabbed a tomato with her fork. “You gotta live
with the man, not them.” Leave it to her to correct me.

“
I know but the good thing is my
parents already like him,” I pointed out with a grin.

Janelle rolled her eyes. “If I did
everything to try and please everyone else I would lose my
mind.”

Maybe that
’s
what my
problem is.

“
Are you going to at least have a
maid of honor?”

I nodded. “Yes,
Jeremy
’s
planning on having a best man.
But other than that we are keeping it small and simple. I was
thinking of buying this white dress I saw at
Dillard
’s
that would be cute as hell. I
could wear it again.”

“
A Dillard’s wedding dress?”
Janelle scrunched up her nose at that idea. “Are you having food
and cake?”

I bit into the dinner roll and
chewed before replying, “Yep, but like I said it
’s
gonna be small, no more than a hundred people.”

Silence fell over the table. While
I dug into my chef salad, Janelle searched through her emails on
her phone. “Is his family coming?” she asked, out of the
blue.

I didn’t even want to tell her I
hadn’t
met
any
one, but his children. “He invited his
sister and his parents. But he doesn’t think they will
come.
”

“
Why?” Damn, she was all up in my
business.

I shrugged because I didn’t know
the answer to that. I was still trying to figure out his
relationship with his family, but it didn’t seem like they were
close at all.

“
What about his kids?” she asked
between chews.

“
It
’s
too much trouble to get them
here then we want to honeymoon right after. How can we do that if
we have four kids on our hip?”

Her eyes snapped to mine. “Four?
Whoa, wait a minute! I thought he had three?”

Damn, me and my big mouth. “Well
he did, but then I realized when he said an adopted daughter, he
didn’t mean like a play-daughter he meant a little girl he
adopted.”

“
How little?”

I was almost embarrassed to say.
“
Four.
”

Janelle fell back against her
chair. “Damn, that
’s
little! You gonna have to deal
with baby-mama drama!”

“
They
’ll
be none of that.” I shrugged.
“At least they
’
re all in
Chicago.”

“
And at least you like kids,”
Janelle mentioned with an exaggerated eye-roll.

“
I do, but I couldn’t deal with
someone being dropped off at the house every weekend. The middle
child is already talking about moving in with us after
graduation.”

Janelle was shaking her head with
disbelief. “Nyree, you better think about it. What if something
happened to their Mama then you
’
d be stuck
raising them.”

“
Are you tryna make me choke on my
food!” I rolled my eyes. “Girl, don’t even play like
that.”

She pointed her fork at me. “Hey,
it
’s
something you need to think about.”

I gave a rude snort. “The only
thing I want to think about is spending the rest of my life with
Jeremy.”

Janelle shook her head again.
“Sounds like your man has a lotta baggage.”

Yep, but I had no idea just how much.

JANELLE

I had just come upstairs holding
my morning coffee when Kaleb said, “Babe, can you take CJ to the
dentist for me?”

It took everything I had not to cringe. Me? Alone in
the car with his son all the way to the dentist office? Hell no!
Now that I was officially living with them it was hard enough just
being across the hall.

Lord forgive me, but there’s
something about that kid irritates me.

I had to think fast. “Uh, I’ve got
a meeting at ten-thirty.”

Kaleb was buttoning a white dress
shirt as he said, “That’s cool. His appointment is at eight-thirty.
I would do it but I got a conference call at nine that I can’t
miss.”

I was ready to say no when I made
myself take a deep breath.
Janelle you
gotta be willing to change. That man is a package deal just like
you and that damn dog.

I stifled a groan and replied,
“Sure babe. I’ll be glad to.”

“
Thanks.
” He kissed my
lips then stepped out the bedroom and down the hall to knock on
CJ
’s
door.
“Son, get dressed! Ms. Jae is gonna take you to
your appointment.”

“
Yes, sir.” He called from the
other side of the door.

While Kaleb finished getting ready
for work, I jumped into the large walk-in shower and took a deep
breath. Damn. I hated being alone with his son. I know that may
sound crazy but the kid was weird and so fucking needy. I feel
sorry he didn’t have a mother and maybe that
’s
why
he was growing attached to me. I don’t know. All I know is I didn’t
have kids for a reason—I don’t want any. Yet, somehow I had fooled
myself into thinking being a stepmother of a teenage boy would be
easy, but it wasn’t. It was nerve-racking. That kid was like a
pesky fly.

I had to keep reminding myself we
were a family and this was my home. My townhouse had been rented so
there was no turning back. I still had a hard time believing I was
doing this “
we
”
shit. But I was. All because I had fallen in love.

Even now my feelings for Kaleb took me by surprise.
I always knew he would be different and there had to be some reason
why I was drawn to him. I tried to fight it, I even tried to deny
it and convinced myself it was all about the money, but I was just
fooling myself. What I felt was much deeper than that. I was in
love with that complex man of mine. And it scared the hell outta
me. Although lately things have been good between us. He started
taking me on business trips with him to Kansas City, where we
stayed at five-star hotels and ate in only the best restaurants.
Last weekend we had even gone down to the Lake of the Ozarks and
spent the day shopping at the outlets. I had everything I could
possible want, so why was I complaining about having to spend a few
hours with his wimpy kid?

I pushed the thought aside, got
ready and took one final look in the mirror. I made sure my hair
and makeup was looking fabulous then I grabbed my purse and headed
toward the stairs. “CJ, I’ll meet you in the car!”

“
Yes,
ma
’
am.” He called from inside his
room. I don’t understand why the only person who smells that stench
seeping from beneath his door was me.

The minute I hit the bottom step
CJ
’s
big-ass dog came racing down the stairs. I had to
grab onto the handrail to keep from falling. Damn, I hated that big
horse. Honey was at the bottom of the wooden stairs and had quickly
moved out the way. I guess he was tired of getting his little ass
ran over.

I climbed into my car and waited in the driveway. By
the time I got done checking my emails CJ was climbing in. Just
like his daddy he looked at me crazy for being on my phone. I
sighed and put it away.

“
You lock the front door?
”

He nodded. “Yes
ma
’
am.”

“
Well, then
let
’s
get this journey underway.” The sooner I took him
to the dentist, the sooner I could drop him back off at home. Like
most teenagers, he was spending his summer eating up all the food
and playing his video games. When I was growing up, as soon as our
chores were done, we had to take our asses outside. Swimming at the
community center, hanging with my girls, fucking some little boy in
his mama
’s
house while she was at work,
you name it, Janelle Fox was doing it, but I definitely didn’t
spend my summer vacation sitting in the house.

As I backed out the driveway, I reached down and
turned on the Tom Joyner Show.

“
Can we ride in silence?
”

I swung around and stared at CJ
like he was crazy. “Why?”

There was that far off look in his
eyes like his father. “Because I like it quiet.”

Hell no, then I would have to strike up a
conversation with him.

I pointed a finger in his
direction. “You just sit over there and relax. I
’
m
running this.” Gotta let him know who
’s
in
control.

I pulled off and after minutes had passed, I felt
compelled to say something. He was sitting over there quiet and
looking so out of place.

Damn you Kaleb
Kerrington!

“
How
’s
summer break going?
” I
asked.

“
Good.
”

Okay, so much for that conversation.

I went back to listening to the
talk show but then CJ started rocking. The way nervous people do,
back and forth, banging the back of his big round head against the
headrest. This wasn’t the first time I’d seen him rocking. I’d seen
him doing it on the living room couch. I never said anything before
but enough was enough.

“
CJ, quit rocking.
”

“
I can’t help it,” he said
defensively.

“
Yes, you can,
now stop it.” He better realize I
’
m not to be
messed with. Of course he obeyed but now he looked like he wanted
to cry.

See, this is why Janelle doesn’t
do kids.

“
See, I told ya,
you
’
d
stop.
”

“
But I’ll just start again!” He
wailed.

I looked at him cockeyed. “Then
you need to start training yourself. I promise you, people are
gonna pick on you in high school if you don’t
stop.
”

“
I can’t help it!” CJ
whined.

Oh my goodness, he was a big-ass
baby! In my honest opinion this boy needed some professional help.
“CJ, you can’t go through life like that. If you
’
re
rocking at home and in the car then I bet you
’
re
rocking at school.”

His silence was all the confirmation I needed.

“
And while we’re at it how long
have you had those little men?”

He cringed and I could tell the
question made him uncomfortable. “Since I was a little kid,” he
said in that babyfied voice.

The last thing I wanted to do was
make him feel self-conscious. “You like those men?”

He nodded. “My mom gave them to
me.”

I was speechless but quickly found
my voice. “You remember your mom?”

He gave me a weird look and
nodded. “Yes, ma
’
am. I think about her all the
time.”

“
What do you remember about her?”
I didn’t mean to ask but CJ had this sad look in his eyes and I
felt this need to comfort him. Ugh, what the hell was wrong with
me?

CJ sneaked a peek in my direction.
“I remember her singing to me and reading me bedtime
stories.”

“
Really? You remember all that?”
Wasn’t he three at the time?

“
Yes
ma
’
am.” He nodded then looked sad.
“Did you know she died?”

I nodded. “Yes, your dad told
me.”

“
I miss her.” His lower lip
quivered and this time when he started rocking I didn’t even bother
telling him to stop. That kid needed some help that he wasn’t going
to get from his father. Hell, Kaleb had enough problems of his
own.

I put my foot on the brake at the
next light then reached over and turned down the radio. “My father
died when I was young.” Where the hell did that come
from?