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I quell the disappointment rising inside. I don’t need more input from Keating about why not seeing him one more time today is a total letdown.
“Your keys are by the door, but I doubt either of us is going anywhere,” G-mama says to Glamma as she hands her a drink.
“That boy has real potential. You deserve a thoughtful man. Ahhh,” she says after her first sip. “Laila, you always did know how to make a mean cocktail.”
I take a sip from the glass G-mama hands me and echo my glamma. “Why do I get the feeling this isn’t the first time you two have done this?” I raise my glass towards each woman.
They look at each other then glance away.
G-mama sighs and drains her glass. “It’s not as frequent as you think.”
“No, but it’s become more frequent over the last few years.” Glamma takes another sip and closes her eyes in relish.
“Why’s that?” I ask, tucking my legs beneath me. As I settle in, I hope this conversation sheds more light on my grandmothers and their lives outside of me.
“You left and miss hard-as-nails over there couldn’t deal. Without calling ahead, she would glide up to my house on that huge bike of hers, make herself at home making cocktails and then tell me I can join her or leave her to drink on her own. In my god damn house.” Onyx cuts her eyes from Laila and sucks her teeth. “Of course, I joined her. No use letting a good drink go to waste.”
“Don’t let her fool you. Your glamma has the photo albums of all your accomplishments in easy reach now.” G-mama pours herself another glass.
“It sounds like me leaving wasn’t the first time you got together. I can’t imagine what else would cause you to call a stalemate for long enough to start this kind of tradition.”
Glamma swirls the liquid inside her cup. A bright sheen enters her eyes. She blinks away the moisture.
G-mama clears her throat but her voice has a raspy quality to it when she says, “You may not remember, but when your momma and daddy died, you were almost catatonic.”
“That’s right. Their deaths left us reeling. We had to deal with losing our only children to a freak accident and having to figure out how to raise you without breaking down or murdering each other.”
The reminder of my parents’ deaths causes my heart to twist. I glance away to hide my emotions. It’s been over twenty years, but losing them at the age of six hasn’t dulled the pain or guilt, which I’ve kept to myself.
Onyx and Laila have done too much for me to burden them with the shame I live with. As a child, their grieving hadn’t penetrated my own, but I can’t recall a memory where they let me see it. Only the hugs when I cried myself to sleep, the warm late night hot chocolate sessions whenever memories swamped me, and the myriad ways Glamma and G-mama were always there for me.
“We couldn’t live together even then, no matter how much we loved you. Since Onyx and I wanted to raise you and couldn’t allow our selfishness to hurt you any more than you already were, we decided to share custody. It was the best outcome for our situation. On really hard days, when we would drop you off at each other’s house, after you went to bed, sometimes the drinks came out.”
“And the walks down memory lane.” Glamma finishes her drink and refills it.
For a few moments, a silence, comforting and sad, settles in the air around us. As if sensing my need for a distraction, Jackpot leaps onto my lap and pulls my hand holding my drink toward her nose to sniff its contents. Satisfied that there is nothing in my cup worthwhile, she curls between my glamma and me.
I turn to G-mama. “So what makes tonight rank up there with the others?”
She stares at Glamma who has yet to return to full heat since we left the mayor’s office. “Your glamma has never lacked for companionship. Usually, all she needs to do is crook her finger and men of all ages flock to her. It’s been what, six months of you trying to get the mayor to indulge in your charms?”
“Has it been that long?” Onyx challenges with an arched brow.
“Long enough for me to think that your persistence isn’t because you don’t know how to handle rejection. Like, maybe, he’s different.”
I turn to Glamma Onyx. “Is he?”
“How will we know if he won’t let me in?”
I go to hug her but she blocks me with a raised hand.
“Now don’t go getting butt hurt, but I’m not accepting no sympathy hugs when I’m still in this fight.”
“She could try making him jealous to see if it’s worth the effort. If he sees her with another man and doesn’t feel some sort of way, well, then, it’s the sign she should give up.” G-mama refreshes all our drinks.
Glamma scoffs. “As if I would stoop that low.”
For the next few hours I sit and observe my two grandmothers as they support each other in a way I’ve never seen until now. Although I expect them to pick up their bickering the next time they see each other, watching them interact like girlfriends for the first time in my life helps to soothe some of the sadness from earlier.
