Chapter 35

I wasn't sure if my invitation to Munch's house was revoked or not, considering the way we left off. I honestly wouldn't have showed up at all if Tory didn't text me asking if I was still sliding through. I don't know if that counted as an apology since he said some fucked up shit to me too but I took him up on the offer anyway.

Regardless of if I was wanted, my family still deserved to get out of the house. They're the reason we're standing on the porch getting ready to ring the doorbell.

A big round shadow appears in the doorway. It walks closer until the locks start clicking out of place on the other side of the door. When it opens, Munch is there in a black and white striped T-shirt with the Guess label printed across his chest.

"Why y'all ain't knock or sum'n? Y'all just standing outchere like it's not colder than a muhfuc--" Munch starts.

"Munch," I say.

"What?"

I glance over at my mama holding a pan of mac and cheese as promised. Then I give him a pointed look.

"Oh, right. My bad, Mrs. Ace, I ain't even know that was you. You could be Candyce's sister," Munch says.

My mama looks him up and down.

"Mhm," She says.

Munch steps aside, holding the door open wider so our party of three can come through.

When we're inside, I stare at him.

"What?" He asks.

"'Mrs. Ace'. Really?" I say.

"At least I spoke. Unlike some people," He says looking at Paryis.

"Munch, this is my sister, Paryis. Paryis, this is my friend, Munch," I say.

"Wassam lil' girl," Munch says.

"I'm not a lil girl," Paryis says.

"Excuse me rude ass midget."

I stale-face him, not that he cares. I thought it was just my friends I couldn't bring around, but apparently I can't bring anybody around him.

I rolls my eyes while Munch locks the door.

Paryis tugs on my hand. I look down to see that she has a stank look on her face.

"I don't like him," She says.

"Me either," I say.

"I thought he was yo friend," She says.

"Barely. Now stop whispering 'bout me in my own house before I put both of y'all asses out," Munch says.

He takes the lead walking us through the foyer and into the living room. We pass by the steps an elderly woman called down the first time I was here. As we walk further into the house, I hear that same voice barking orders from the kitchen.

"Everybody back here," Munch says.

"Everybody?" I ask.

Everything seemed to be smoothed over with Munch, but that's mostly because Munch don't carry unnecessary weight on his shoulders. He said what he said that night and that's where he's gonna leave it. I don't know if I can say the same for Tory.

"Well T outside smoking but everybody else in here," Munch says.

He looks over his shoulder at us.

"Where Twin at?" He asks.

"He ain't wan come," I say.

"I saw that comin. What? You told 'em T was gon' be here?" Munch says.

"We ain't get that far. I said your name and he turned it down," I say.

Munch scoffs, "Tory was right. That nigga is soft."

Simon's defenses dies on my lips as we reach the kitchen. "Aye!" Daz screams with his arms raised in the air. There's a green Heineken bottle in his right hand and a wide smile on his face. I smile back, relieved that someone is happy to see me. There's a beautiful Arabian woman on his arm in an eye-catching red dress. She smiles and waves at me as does an elderly heavy-set woman with her hand on her hip and grey hair pulled back in a bun. One of her eyes is a milky grey color and the other is grey with a slit of brown fighting for her to see.

"Ma, this Candyce, Tory's ole lady," Munch says.

"Uh-uh. Don't play," I say.

"Ain't this the girl that came over to see you all them weeks ago, Walter?" Juanita says.

I look at Munch.

"She can see me?" I whisper.

"Not too good but I sure can hear just fine. That's how I recognize your voice from the last time you was here, you know, before Walter turned the music up to drown y'all out," Ms. Juanita says.

My mouth drops open at what she's insinuating. Mama raises an eyebrow at me. Munch laughs.

"Now Mama, why you starting stuff?" He says.

I look at Mama. Normally I wouldn't try to explain myself but this is crossing the line. I can't have her thinking I ambushed her into meeting a boy I had sex with.

"It wasn't like that, Ma. We only talked," I say.

Mama's eyebrow doesn't relax. I look back at Munch.

"Would you stop laughing and explain to them that we just friends," I say.

He's too busy stuffing his face with a deviled egg to answer right away. Luckily, Daz comes to my rescue.

"She tellin' the truth, Ms. Rochelle. I can attest to Candyce being one of us," Daz says.

Munch stops chewing and wipes his mouth with a napkin.

"Yeah, one of the guys," He says.

"Enough of all that nonsense. Come're, girl so I can get a good look at ya," Ms. Juanita says.

I move to step forward but Paryis yanks on my arm. I turn around and she's looking at Ms. Juanita with a horrified expression on her face.

I sigh, turning and bending down so that I'm face-to-face with Paryis.

"Since when are you scared of anybody?" I say.

"Look at her eyes, Candy," She says, never taking her eyes off Juanita.

"Look at me," I say.

She struggles turning her head like she's afraid to take her eyes off Juanita for even a second.

When she finally looks at me, I grab her by the waist.

"You know how Jonah was deaf so he had to wear hearing aids even though they barely helped?" I say. She nods her head.

"Well Ms. Juanita is kinda like that. She can't see that good but she can see a lil' bit. Her eyes is a different color but they still help her see. If it scare you just think of it like the contacts I used to wear," I say.

She nods her head like she understands so I stand up. She keep ahold of my hand as I walk over to Juanita but her eyes never leave the floor.

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Juanita," I say, "You already met my mama, so this is my little sister, Paryis."

"Well hello, sweetie," Juanita says.

Paryis doesn't say anything back. I squeeze her hand but she still doesn't say anything.

It takes Mama saying, "Paryis, I didn't raise you to ignore someone when they say hi to you."

It's only then that Paryis mumbles something that resembles a "Hi". Munch comes over and pats his mom on her shoulder.

"Don't trip, Ma. She rude to everybody."

"Who asked you Fat Boy?" Paryis says.

I scoff in shock. Daz laughs.

"I fight kids just so you know," Munch says to me.

I laugh again.

"Candyce," Daz waves me over to where he and who I'm guessing is Vee, is standing.

I walk over with Paryis tagging along beside me.

"I'm scared to even speak to la' mama," Daz says as we approach.

"She get it from me," I say, beaming proudly.

I can't lie, I'm happy that Paryis ain't afraid to speak up for herself. She had me worried for a little while with her reaction to Ace being gone, but I see now that that's nothing more than a little sister missing her big brother. I have my days too. At least now I know her personality is still intact.

"Well I'm not scared to speak to her the way she deserves to be spoken to," Vee says.

She bends over, extending her hand to Paryis.

"Hi, I'm Avina. But queen to queen, you can call me Vee," She says.

Paryis shakes her hand.

"Paryis," She says.

Vee smiles at her. She stands up, smirking at Daz.

"And that's how a mother does it."

I smile.

"Vee, Candyce, Candyce, Vee," Daz says, making the introductions with the butt of his bottle.

"Hey," I say.

Unlike her introduction to Paryis, Vee doesn't hesitate to familiarize herself with me. She wraps me in a hug. She's skinny so there's still so much space between us as she wraps her arms around my neck. When she pulls back, there's a smile on her face wide enough to suggest that we were friends in another lifetime. I like her already.

She lazily throws an arm around my shoulder, turning around so that we're facing the entire kitchen.

"It's about time we brought in another girl. I've been losing brain cells arguing with these fools on my own," She says.

Munch turns around, licking ham glaze off his finger as he helps Juanita unwrap aluminium foil from the pans of food decorating the table.

"I know you heard us say Candyce is one of us," He says.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Vee says.

"That means she ain't yo friend to take."

We turn around at the new voice that's joined the room. It's Tory dressed in a black long-sleeved thermal. For once, his dreads is pulled away from his face.

We catch each other's eye. I immediately look away, glancing instead at the boy by his leg. The kid takes off running towards Avina. He leans all his weight on her dress as he hugs on her knees.

"Mommy," He whines.

All of a sudden, a loud crash sounds behind us. We all turn around to see what fell. It's Mama with macaroni covering her feet. She's frozen in time with her mouth open. Her hands are in the same position they were in when she dropped the pan. The look on her face is as if she just saw a ghost.

"Fuck son! We was this close!" Munch yells, snapping his fingers.

I don't give a damn about the macaroni on the floor. I'm more concerned with why my mama is staring at Daz's son like... Like at first glance, his brown skin and small height can easily be mistaken for Jonah.

"Damn bruh," Munch says.

"Read the room, idiot. This is bigger than a messed up Thanksgiving dinner," Avina says.

I tune them all out as I slowly walk up to Mama. I momentarily slip on macaroni but I balance myself and keep walking up to her. When I'm close enough to block her view of Kareem, she finally exhales.

"Mama," I say.

She grabs my arms with both hands, bending over so that she can catch the breath Kareem stole away.

"You okay?" I say.

"Mhm," She says. She sniffles, then hastily wipes her nose with the back of her hand. When she stands up again, her eyes are slightly red and her nose is still running. I grab a napkin and start wiping her face clean.

"You know that wasn't him," I say.

She doesn't say anything. She just sort of stares off into space like she did the first couple of months after Jonah died.

I waited too long to get her back for a case of mistaken identity to pull her back under.

"Mama. It wasn't him. It wasn't Jonah."

She snaps her head in my direction.

"The little boy you saw is still gonna be there when I move. His name is Kareem. He's Daz's son. Not yours," I say, my voice breaking.

I hate to be so blunt when she doesn't seem to be all the way there yet. But I have to do something to break this spell that's got her eyes glazed over.

"Paryis," I say.

She walks over from where Avina and Daz are, where I left her when I came over to help Mama.

When she reaches us, I don't even have to tell her what to do. She just grabs Mama's hand.

"I'll show her to the bathroom," Vee says from behind me.

"Follow her," I say to Paryis since Mama is still out of it.

They walk off with Vee leading them back through the living room.

The kitchen feels like the air was sucked out of it once they're gone. I raise my head to the ceiling, hoping the kitchen lights are bright enough to dry out the tears in my eyes. Luckily, Juanita is older and more experienced so she knows exactly what to do to get the air back into the room.

"Walter, won't you and Daz help get the food cleaned from the floor," She says.

"I ain't the one that dropped it but--" Munch starts.

"Shut the fuck up, Munch!" I say.

I feel all three boys' eyes on me.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Juanita, but Munch, if you don't wanna clean it up, then don't. Just shut up about it," I say.

I want to storm off in the direction Mama just went but Munch's house is like a maze. I'll fuck around and get lost trying to make a scene.

Thankfully, Tory is here. He steps into my line of sight and nods his head in a direction leading away from the kitchen. I don't know where that leads but I'm down for anything as long as it gets me out of this kitchen. I wipe my eyes and nod my head. Before we can leave, Daz stops us.

"Yo, Candyce. That's my bad. I should've told you how old Kareem was. I ain't even think of the resemblance until just now," He says.

"It's fine, Daz. It's not yo fault," I say.

I look down at Kareem who's hiding behind Daz's leg. Up close, he doesn't look much like Jonah. Daz and Avina blended well. He's still adorable so I can't blame Mama for mistaking him for Jonah.

I feel somebody grab my hand. I look up to see that it's Tory gently gripping my hand in his. I let him pull me along as we leave the kitchen and head into a connecting hallway. We walk the length of it before Tory guides us to the left. We walk into a big room with rust walls and white rugs covering the floor. Actually, I think I see a bear head peeking out from under a sofa, so it's safe to say it's animal fur covering the floors. I wouldn't have taken Munch to be into using animals as rugs but you never know. Maybe it's Juanita's way of showing off her son's wealth. He did say that she was in charge of decorating.

At the very back of the room is a metal door. At first I think it's Munch's safe but when we get closer, I see sunlight peeking through the small rectangle where a peep hole should be. It also has a matching metal latch on the door to prevent people from running up in here. But honestly, this is heavy armor to protect against some niggas who might run in his crib. It's not like Munch has this mansion in the hood so nine times out of ten, he got this door in place to protect against cops and their battering rams.

Tory drops my hand to remove the latch from the door. When he lifts it, his shirt rises up. I see two guns tucked into the back of his jeans. Now what's with his heavy totting?

I wonder if it has something to do with him threatening to kill Caesar in front of an entire club.

He unlocks the door then puts his weight into pulling it open. When he's done, he holds it open so that I can walk through.

Outside is a wide backyard with freshly cut grass. There's a tall fence centering the yard but for the most part, it's like any other backyard I've been in.

The door slams shut behind me. I turn around to see Tory sitting on the step. He taps my thigh so I sit down too.

We sit there in silence, allowing cold air to hit us at every angle. I have on a white turtleneck with a jean corset top and matching thigh-high denim boots. I'm built to withstand a breeze or two so I don't mind sitting here while Tory figures out what he wants to say to me.

"That shit happen often?" He says sooner rather than later.

I know he's talking about Mama. I don't know if I'm grateful that he started with that or if I actually prefer him to rip the band-aid off and start asking me about Caesar.

Then again, it's not like we can just ignore what happened in there so I guess this is as good a start as any.

"Not that exactly. Everything would be good and she'd just flip the script on me," I say.

"What you mean?" Tory asks.

"One minute she crying and apologizing for doing wrong by us and the next minute she slapping and blaming me for where we went wrong," I say.

"Yeah, I know a lil' sumn 'bout that," Tory says.

"What happened in there was new. She ain't been out since Jonah died. She don't see that many kids so I see how she got triggered. I shoulda thought about that before I invited her out," I say.

"Nah. You just said she all over the place. How you was posed to know she was gon' trip out seeing Kareem?" Tory says.

I shake my head. I ain't ready to let myself off that easy.

"You got them here. That's sumn to be proud of," Tory says.

"I got my mama seeing ghosts. She wasn't ready and I got her to come out anyway. Now everybody's Thanksgiving is ruined."

"Pshh. You know what holidays is like with Daz and Vee? Last year one of Daz's hoes threw a brick through the window while Munch was cutting the turkey," Tory says.

"No," I say, laughing.

Tory nods his head, "We couldn't eat shit cause we ain't know what had glass in it and what didn't. Everybody wanted to fuck Daz up but Vee got to him first."

I pause my laughter.

"Wait. How she knew the brick was meant for him?" I say.

"Cause the year before the same bitch rammed her car into Daz's outside. She totaled Munch and Daz's shit in the process. Munch choked the bitch up before she could pull off," Tory laughs.

I laugh imagining the girl trying to pull off after seeing Munch's fat, angry ass storming towards her.

Once our laughter dies down, I look over at him.

"Thank you," I say.

"No problem," He says.

Just when I started to think that we've sorted through our tension, Tory reminds me that we haven't touched on shit yet.

"So you and Caesar, huh," He says.

I knew he couldn't resist. Munch can brush shit off but of course, Tory gon' contemplate the shit.

"We don't even have to go there," I say.

"You told me it wasn't what I think it was. I just wan' know what it is," Tory says.

I don't say anything.

"Aight, that's yo business. Just be careful. A nigga that would fuck with his potna sister is a nigga that's out for himself. The same can be said about a nigga who would rat out his right hand man. Snakes run in both them circles and the venom all the same," Tory says.

I'm not in the business of defending Caesar anymore so I stay quiet. But Tory only has one side of the story. He don't understand how many years Caesar waited to make a move on me. Years. So obviously the decision didn't come lightly. Not to mention he ran to New York the first chance he got after it happened. I got no doubt that his feelings for me challenged everything he learned in the streets. Still, that's only part of the reason that we're not together. Caesar is responsible for the majority of where we went wrong. That's why I let Tory's warning hang in the air with no push-back from me.

After twenty minutes, Munch comes outside to get us.

"No wonder y'all ain't hear me calling y'all to the table," He says.

He looks at Tory, "You know this door posed to stay open while you out here."

"Yeah that's my fault," Tory says.

I can't resist asking, "Why you gotta keep the door open?"

"In case some shit go down and I gotta run inside," Tory says.

With that, we dust off our jeans and follow Munch inside. As we walk back to the kitchen, Munch eyes us over his shoulder.