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I nodded.
“You need some sex or something to relax?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“No, but we don’t have time for that. Your mom will be here any minute, and I’m not having dinner with her with my coochie all wet and stuff. Hurry up and get dressed.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, as he gave me a kiss and a salute.
*****
Betty Jean Higgs arrived in a gorgeous white pantsuit that complemented her skin, which was a shade or two darker than her son’s. She greeted me with a huge smile and damn near yanked me into the tightest, warmest hug. Melyssa, who seemed to look even younger than her seventeen years in a cute denim dress, was right behind her holding baby Loren who was almost three months old and was filling out well. She was such a beautiful little blessing that I held her from the time they arrived, to the time Lorenzo called us into the dining room.
Little Loren had fallen asleep, and I smiled when Rell walked into the dining room wearing a suit and carrying a bassinet that he set in the corner of the room so the baby would be close by. My eyes widened when Rell joined us at the table.
“Tyrell, you know better than that. You better come give me my hug,” Lorenzo’s mother said.
Rell smiled, leaving his chair and bending over to hug the much-smaller woman.
I suppose my astonishment was written all over my face, because Lorenzo chuckled, and said, “Don’t feel bad, Doc. My mama is the only person who can get Rell to be even remotely sociable.”
“That’s right,” Mrs. Higgs said. “Tyrell is my boy, too. Closest thing to another son I’ve ever had, and he knows he better mind me.”
A sheepish look spread across Rell’s face as I looked at him.
Lorenzo had cooked a spread fit for a few kings and queens—lobster, crab legs, T-bone steaks, shrimp mashed potatoes, spicy corn on the cob, and sautéed kale. I had to have a little talk with myself to keep from looking like I hadn’t had a bite to eat in years.
We were halfway through the meal when Mrs. Higgs said, “So, when are you two getting married?”
Lorenzo, who was sitting right next to me chewing on something, started coughing so hard I jumped up from the table and readied myself to do the Heimlich maneuver, hoping I’d be able to do it effectively on someone his size. “You okay, Zo?!” I shrieked.
He coughed a few more seconds and then cleared his throat, took a sip of water, and said, “I’m fine, Doc.”
I looked at him for a moment. “You sure?”
“Yeah, yeah. Sit down, baby.”
I hesitated before taking my seat and had to keep myself from laughing when his elegant-looking, attractive mother said, “Negro, I don’t know why you choking. You know you need to marry this girl. She’s the best woman I’ve ever seen you spend time with. Pretty, professional, and obviously crazy about your big ass.”
Mel giggled, and I swear I heard Rell chuckle. I glanced at Lorenzo, who wore a look of pure embarrassment on his face, and decided to rescue him. “Um, well…Mrs. Higgs, we’ve only been seeing each other for a couple of months, so—”
“Honey, you might have only been in a relationship with him for a couple of months, but that boy has been in love with you since he laid eyes on you. Couldn’t stop talking about you that day you came out here and delivered my grandbaby. Kept going on and on about the way you steadied his hand when he was about to cut the cord. Said it was like something went through him when you touched him, and he knew you were the woman for him.”
I looked over at Lorenzo, who raised an eyebrow and kind of peeped at me, and then returned my attention to his mother. “He-he’s never told me that.”
“Humph, I’m not surprised, but I am surprised at his reaction to my question since he told me himself that he was going to marry you. All I asked was when it was gonna happen.”
“Come on, Mama. Dang,” Lorenzo muttered. Up until that point, he’d always been so cool and commanding and in control, but here in his mother’s presence, he was like a teenaged boy enduring some story about how he used to wet the bed.
“Come on Mama what? Did you not tell me all of that, Lorenzo Odell Higgs?”
Odell?
“Damn—I mean—please stop, Mama,” he pleaded.
Mel was giggling so hard she was in tears, while Rell wore an amused expression on his face.
