One good reason, p.34
One Good Reason, page 34
“When’s the last time you talked to your Mama?”
“My dick is still buried inside of you, and this is the conversation you want to have.”
“Cuddling and conversation. Remember, that was one of your conditions.”
“I know what the fuck I said Talitha,” I groaned.
“So, this is the conversation,” she snapped.
“Yesterday. We talked after I got off the phone with you.”
“How is she doing?”
“Good. Got an appointment with orthopedics next week. I’m going to shoot up there so I can find out what they got to say.”
“Good. Have you decided if you’re going to do family therapy with them?”
“I am,” I breathed. “I’ll go up as much as my schedule permits. The other sessions will be done via Zoom.”
Rubbing her hands down my back she said, “I’m happy for you Harvey.”
“As long as it does some good, I’ll stick with it. If shit starts going sideways, I’ll bow out gracefully.”
“You think she’s going to be truthful?”
“Shit. I hope so,” I yawned. “It would be wise of her to do so.”
“I think she will. Gema even said she seemed like she was ready to genuinely mend y’all relationship.”
“If Gema felt that way, then it must be truth.”
“Right.” She laughed. “Gema be knowing.”
“You ready for her to come home?”
“It’s only been twenty-four hours Harvey,” she huffed.
“Has that ever mattered before?” I countered.
“No. But this time I’m at peace. I didn’t feel like she was going to be put in any dangerous situations. And I needed this break. We needed it.”
Lifting my head from her chest, I gazed into her eyes. “You do know that I have no issues with us having to move around Gema’s schedule? It doesn’t bother me that we can’t spend every waken moment together.”
“No, I know,” she rushed out. “But we’re a couple, Harvey. We deserve to have couple time. I’m learning to be okay with sharing her with them. Prior to you coming along, fuck no. Now I understand the importance of having that time reserved just for you and I.”
“I understand. I don’t want you to feel like you’ve gotta choose though. I’ll come second to Gema the rest of my life and be content as long as I get the opportunity to be in your presence, even if only for a moment.”
“I know you do. Besides, Mrs. Jessie be needing a break too. All three of us are basically consumed with Gema twenty-four-seven. All I’m saying is, this break was needed.”
“Okay. As long as we’re on the same page. Gema isn’t a burden.”
“No, she’s not.”
Pecking that space between her breast, I laid my head back down. “We’ve gotta figure out who all we’re inviting to Veal.”
“I know. I thought about that the other day. Your mama and brother of course. Promise said her and Drix could come. I would say Baker, but I don’t think his wife likes me that much.”
“I told you it’s not that she doesn’t like you, it’s that she’s close with Dah. If you don’t feel comfortable with her coming, I won’t extend the invite.”
“I like Baker, so I don’t really want to exclude him.”
“The house is huge. How about I put the two of them on the opposite side?”
“You’d do that for me?”
Leaning my head up again, I squinted my eyes. “Did you really just ask me that?”
“It was a joke, Harvey. Relax.”
“Better fucking be!” I yawned again.
“That’s like the third or fourth time. Please go to sleep. You’re making me feel like I’m boring you.”
“All we’ve done today is fuck and eat. Of course, I’m tired. Exhausted perhaps.” I chuckled. “I’m damn near killing myself trying to keep up with you.”
“Old man, you’ve got to be kidding me. The second and third round, I’ll take credit for. The first and the rest of them are all on you.”
“It’s not every day that I get to play hooky from work. What better way to do it than digging in your shit.?” I laughed and humped her leg.
“See what I mean. Good night, Harvey.”
“Night Harvey,” I said just to fuck with her. Instead of taking the bait, Talitha laughed and wrapped her arms around me.
The blaring of my cellphone jarred me from my sleep. My eyes roamed around the dark room before landing on the nightstand where the phone was sitting. The last time I received a call in the middle of the night, I was met with bad news. Sitting up, I said a silent prayer before snatching it up and walking out of the room.
“Hello.”
The sound of someone sniveling had me pulling the phone down from my face to see who the caller was. “Mrs. Jessie, is everything okay?”
“Law…” she sobbed.
“Yeah… Yeah... I’m here.” My heartrate accelerated instantly. I was beginning to feel like I was struggling to breath.
“We’ve been trying to reach Tali. Bertha had an accident.”
Dropping my head, I forced my eyes closed. “Where is she?”
“Houston Healthcare.”
“Mrs. Jessie, I’m going to send Baker to come and pick you up. By the time you get here, I’ll have Talitha up and ready.”
“Hurry Law.”
“I will,” I replied somberly.
Ending the call, I tossed my head back and rubbed my temples in a circular motion. I don’t know the extent of the accident, and honestly, I wasn’t ready to hear it. The way Mrs. Jessie sounded, I knew it wasn’t good. Whatever it was the shit was going to kill Talitha. She’d just got out of her mouth how she needed this break, and this was going to make her feel like whatever happened was because of the way she felt.
Dialing up Baker, I waited for him to answer.
‘Dutch?” he said in a questioning tone.
“I need you to go scoop Mrs. Jessie from her crib and come to Lake Spivey. Text me when you’re almost here.”
“Everything alright?”
“I can’t answer that right now.”
“Give me thirty minutes.”
“Bet.” I hung up.
Pushing the room door back open, I went into my closet and pulled out something for both of us to throw on. Laying the clothes out on the bed, I headed into the bathroom and started the shower.
“Love.” I tapped her on the shoulder.
“Ummm,” she hummed.
“Talitha, get up for me baby.”
“I’m tired,” she groaned.
“I know.” Flipping the covers back, I stretched my hands under her and pulled her up from the bed. “I need you to shower and throw some clothes on.”
At my insistence, her eyes popped opened. “Is everything okay?”
“I don’t know baby. But we need to shower. Baker is on his way to pick us up.”
“Okay,” she breathed.
Being that we were already naked, I pulled the shower door opened and waited for her to step in. Positioning us so that I was standing under the shower head, I wrapped my arms around her waist. “Baby, I’ve gotta tell you something.”
“What is it, Law?”
“Mrs. Jessie called; they’ve been trying to reach you.” Before I could get the rest of my sentence out, Talitha tried to remove my arms from her waist. “Baby… listen to me.”
“Let me go, Lawton!” she roared. “I need to go.”
“Baby,” I called out again. “We’re gonna go. We need to shower and get dressed first. They have her at the hospital.”
Talitha tried her hardest to get out of my grip, but I wasn’t budging. “Let me go, got damnit.” She gritted and used her hands to pound on my chest. “I gotta go get her.”
Grabbing her arms, I brought her into my chest. “Shhh… We’re gonna go.” The longer I held onto her, the harder she cried.
“Please tell me she’s okay.”
“I won’t know until we get there. Baker is on his way with Mrs. Jessie. I promise I’m going to get you there as fast as I can. But baby, I need to wash you up. Please let me do that.”
Talitha finally stopped fighting against me, giving me the opportunity to clean her up. After I finished washing her off, I rushed and cleansed my body. By the time we were out of the shower and dressed, Baker was letting me know he was outside.
When we made it outside to the truck and as soon as the door swung open, Talitha took one look at Mrs. Jessie and broke down. Before she could hit the ground, I was wrapping my arms around her. Baker held the door open so I could get her inside of the truck. I tried to sit her in the seat beside Mrs. Jessie, but she shook her head and gripped me tighter, leaving me with no choice but to sit in the back with her still attached to me.
The sounds of Mrs. Jessie praying and Talitha’s cries filled the car as Baker whipped out of the driveway. I didn’t know what we were getting ready to walk into but all I could do was pray that God wrapped a protective shield around Gema. Talitha wouldn’t be able to survive if anything happened to her.
Stroking her hair, I whispered, “Baby.” Talitha stirred but didn’t open her eyes. “Talitha, wake up love, we’re here.” When her eyes popped up, she looked around. Blinking rapidly, she focused them on the hospital and started crying again.
Sliding out of my lap, she grabbed Baker’s hand and stepped out of the truck. When I got out, I took off my jacket and draped it over her shoulders before ushering her into the hospital.
Stepping up to the receptionist, I said, “Bertha Mae Howard.”
After typing on the computer, she looked up. “One eleven.” And pointed to the hall behind us.
When we cut the corner to head down the hall, her Uncle was standing by the vending machine.
“Willearl,” Talitha croaked.
“Tali,” he sniffled.
“Is she okay?”
“It’s bad, Tali. Louise said she must’ve got up out the bed in the middle of the night cause all she remembers hearing was something sounding like somebody had fell. When she ran into the room, Mama was on the ground. She hit her head, Tali,” he cried.
“I kept telling y’all to watch her Willearl. Gema clumsy. I been saying that,” she sobbed.
“I know, Tali. And we been watching her. Mama knows she ain’t have no business getting up out the bed by herself. Louise was right down the hall. She knows to call for some help.”
“What they saying?”
“She bleeding on the brain. She been unconscious since we got here.”
“Oh my God!” she wept.
The sound of her wails had the folks in Gema room rushing out into the hall.
“Tali, I’m so sorry,” Louise advanced on us with her palms in the air. “I’m so sorry.”
Talitha’s body shook as she cried, eventually she spun around and buried her head into my chest. I felt helpless. Talitha was in pain and all I could do was stand here and hold her. Cupping the back of her head, I leaned my head down and prayed over her and her family. Prayed for God to heal them and Gema. Prayed that he’d allow her to wake up. When I finished praying, I asked her if she was ready to go into the room. She said shook her head no. I didn’t care how long it took; I would stand out here in the hallway with her until she was ready.
“My brother Meat on his way down,” her uncle mumbled as he leaned his back against the wall.
“What did the doctor say?”
“Tali, the power of attorney. We can’t make no decisions without her,” he let me know without coming out and saying it.
I nodded my head to let him know I understood what he was getting at. “Give her time.” Turning to Baker, I instructed him to go grab a couple of rooms for us. From the looks of it, we wouldn’t be leaving Warner Robins anytime soon.
Mrs. Jessie eventually followed the siblings into the room while Talitha and I stood out in the hallway.
“Baby, you’ve gotta calm down. At least long enough to speak with a doctor. Everybody is waiting on you.”
“I can’t Law.”
“You can. Gema and Papa Joe knew you could. That’s why the left you in charge. You gotta do it for her baby.”
“I was happy that she was gone for a few days. I said I needed a break.”
“Shhh… We not doing that. You not about to sit up here and blame yourself for this. You know just like I know that Gema is stubborn as hell.”
“I sent her away like she was a burden.”
“When you told me she was coming home for a few days, and I asked you how she felt about it… what did you tell me?”
“She wanted to go.”
“That means you didn’t send her away. She wanted to go.”
“It’s still my fault Law. I should’ve told her no.”
“And she still would’ve went anyway.”
“That’s my best friend, Law. What I’mma do without my best friend?” she sobbed.
“I don’t know, baby. I don’t know. But you need to go see her. I’m here and I’ll do whatever you need me to do. Whatever it’s going to take, we will do it. Together,” I avowed and meant every single word.
“Can we leave?”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yes. I need to get out of here. I feel like I’m going to suffocate.”
“How about we step outside so you can get some fresh air and when you’re ready, we will come back inside. What you say to that?”
“Okay,” she sighed. “We can do that.”
“Let’s go.”
Grabbing her hand, I held onto it as we walked back to the front of the hospital. Stopping at the front desk, I let the receptionist know that if anyone came looking for us to tell them that we were outside.
Finding a bench on the side of the building, I sat down and pulled Talitha down in my lap. “Take as much time as you need to get yourself together. We will sit right here until you’re ready,” I declared.
CHAPTER 34
Talitha
“Ithink we should try and get her in a rehab facility. These doctors round here don’t know nothing. Hell, the one just left out barely a man. Boy look like he still got milk on his breath,” Bonnie fussed.
“Mama got a brain bleed y’all. She ain’t gone come back from that and if she do, what kind of life is she gon’ live.” That comment spewed from my mama’s mouth.
“Tali what you think?” Willearl asked.
Gema had been unconscious for two days. Two whole days I’d sat in her hospital room and listened to them go from crying their eyes out to telling me what they thought I should do. I knew what I had to do. Gema and I discussed things like this after Papa Joe passed. Gema made me promise that when the time ever came, I wouldn’t hesitate to pull the plug. She ain’t want no machine breathing for her.
I knew what I had to do and yet it still ended up being the hardest decision I ever had to make. I was angry. Angry at her for doing this to me. Putting me in the situation where I had to choose between keeping her here or losing my best friend.
Gema was all I had left in this world and now I was going to have to figure out how to live without her. My first full day here, I got in bed and laid there with her, begging her to wake up. When word hit around town about her condition, people started flooding the hospital to pay their respects and out of respect for Gema, I kept my mouth closed when I really wanted to put everybody the fuck out.
Law had been my peace in the middle of this storm. He’d been the only thing keeping me sane. The night we made it into town, I refused to see her. I needed to get my emotions in check, and after sitting outside of the hospital for hours, I begged Law to take me to the hotel.
There wasn’t much I could do and since everybody else was sitting around her bed, shedding tears, I decided to give myself a moment to gather my feelings. With everything falling apart, I had to step up and be the backbone for people that I barely liked.
“Talitha,” Law grabbed my hand. “Did you hear what they said?”
Making eye contact with him, I dropped my head and massaged the back of my neck. “Gema doesn’t want to be on a machine. Her one wish was for me to let her go if this was the only option,” I finally croaked out.
“Then I say it’s settled. We can memorialize her before we let them unplug the machine,” Willearl delivered then sat back in his chair.
“I’m with Willearl on this one,” my mama agreed. “I done already reached out to Willie Watkins; they’ll come pick the body up. All that’ll be left to do is plan the funeral and figure out how we gon’ divide the assets.”
“This my Mama you talking ‘bout Litha. This ain’t ‘bout no money!” Betty Jo groused. The way her voice rose an octave gave off how perturbed my mama statement had made her.
“I ain’t say it was ‘bout no money. But the funeral gots to be paid for and I know Mama and Daddy had some money stashed away for that.”
“Gema funeral has been paid for and is already planned. Mr. Watkins will not be doing the body. And her plot is right next to Papa Joe.” I lifted my head from Gema shoulder long enough to let them know.
“Who paid for the funeral?” my mama asked.
“Who else?” I retorted. “Gema planned it the same time we planned Papa Joe’s. She was prepared for this. I keep trying to tell y’all she always been in her right mind. Y’all was the ones thinking she wasn’t.”
“Well, what ‘bout the money?” Meat asked.
Nigga ain’t been home since Papa Joe funeral and got the nerve to ask ‘bout some fucking money. Like we not sitting in the room with my granny on life support.
“What money, Meat? What money y’all think y’all ‘posed to be getting?”
“I know Mama had a will.”
“Yes she did.” Sitting up, I swung my legs around and stood from the bed. “Gema ain’t leave nothing to nobody but me.”
“What the hell you mean she ain’t leave nobody nothing?” Willearl asked.
