Love ❤️, Friendship, & Everything Else

Chapter 22: A Mother's Love

Two days later Zoe and Ms. Janet arrived in Seattle at Zac's Penthouse.

They knocked and rang the doorbell.

He finally answered the door. Zac had been in a funk the past few days. He hadn't showered or changed out of his black shorts and shirt. The last time he ate he ordered a pizza. The housekeeper was told not to come over because he just wanted to be alone. He has to go back to work in two weeks, so until then he just wanted to be alone and do nothing.

When he heard the door, he thought it was his Uber Eats delivering his wings.

"Just leave it on the steps." He announces through the intercom.

"It's your momma." Announced Momma J.

"Oh shucks." Zac went to spray the house and himself. He threw the leftover pizza and the beer in the trash and went to open the door.

"Ma, Zoe, what are y'all doing here?"

"My twin senses kicked in and I knew something wasn't right with you." Zoe joked.

Zac squinted his eyes at him. "Ma, I live across the world, and you still find a way to just pop up, you can't be doing that."

"Oh, please boy. When I sense one of my boys are in danger or hurt then momma comes to the rescue." Mama J walked through the house. "Why does it smell like old feet and mouthwash in here?"

Zoe went straight to his man cave and found marijuana and Hennessy. "Zac, what are you doing with this? You know we can't play with this in our system."

"Look I just needed to unwind, relax, take my mind off of things. I'll be good once we start playing."

"Go take a shower." His mom demanded. "I'm going to order you some groceries and then we can go out to eat later."

"Yes ma'am." Zac does as he's told.

His mom got the number to the housekeeper off the fridge and called her to come clean while she ordered the groceries to be delivered. She told Zoe to put her luggage in the guest suite. Zac went upstairs, showered and took a nap. While Zac was napping, Zoe went to play video games in the man cave and his mom put away the groceries.

By 6:00 pm everyone had taken a nap and showered. They were dressed and ready to go eat dinner at a nice restaurant in Seattle. They talked, laughed, and ate. Ms. Janet always had a way of getting spoiled by the Taylor men, but she sure knew how to spoil them too.

After dinner, they decided to discuss the elephant in the room.

"Zac, what's the matter baby? You haven't answered our calls and when you do you sound high as a kite. You skipped therapy, and you look like a mess." His mom asked wanting answers.

"I have just been going through and I just needed a moment." He admitted. "Well, Tia lied about being pregnant. She tried to set me up." 

"That's fucked up man. You need me to send my crew over to teach her a lesson?" asked Zoe.

"We are not doing that, boy." Mama Janet checked him.

"They are women, not men." he replied.

"I don't care." she gave him a warning look. "We don't result in violence."

Once they got home from dinner, they watched a movie and invited his homeboy and played spades.

The next day Ms. J fixed her boy's breakfast, Zac's favorite blueberry pancakes. 

"Thanks, Mom." Zac was excited to sit down to eat.

Zoe whined. "You never make me blueberry pancakes."

"Hush boy, you are always at the house eating my cooking."

Zac laughed and Zoe popped him beside the head. "Alright now. You ain't that much bigger than me now. I can take you."

"I will make lasagna for dinner." She announced.

"That's what I'm talking about." said Zac. By the way, how are you and Dad doing?"

"We are doing great. He just called to see how you were doing. I told him I would call him back. Hold on." She calls him and puts him on speaker. "Hey Zachary, the boys are right here eating."

"Hey Son. How are you doing?"

"I'm good."

"OK. Ya'll go ahead and enjoy breakfast. I'll call you later."

They hung up.

Zoe asked. "Man, how did you find out Tia wasn't pregnant?"

"I took her to the doctor."

"Shoot I need to do that with Shari."

"Speaking of Shari, you need to put your foot down and get that baby tested. That girl is crazy. She's the one who convinced Tia to lie like she did. I don't trust her."

"I'm going to do that once I get back home."

The day ended and Zoe and Mama J had to leave. Zac took them to the airport.

***

Weeks had passed. He was back on his grind. They had their first game this weekend. All he could think about was Fatima until one day he got the courage to call her.

She answered. "Hello!"

"Hey, Fatima. I'm surprised you answered."

"Well, I didn't get a chance to look at the caller ID." She teased.

"Wow! It's like that?"

"I'm in the middle of work. Can I call you when I get off?"

"Sure. Talk to you later." Zac was a little disappointed. 

It's around 9:00 he takes a shower and then lays in bed to watch Martin reruns. Something he and Fatima used to do. He thought about calling her again but then realized that it was late. So he finished the episode and then turned the lights out and went to bed. 30 minutes later his phone rang.

"Fatima!"

"No doofus, it's Zara."

"Is everything okay?"

"Yes. I just wanted to tell you I love you, bro."

"Really Zar, this late? I love you too big head."

"Here is Ma."

"Love you, son."

"Love you too Ma. That's all yall called me for?"

"Yep."

"Alright bye."

"They hang up and he goes to sleep."

Friday Morning

Even though he didn't hear back from Fatima, he slept well. Getting the calls from his little sister and mother may have been just what he needed.

He got up and went downstairs to his gym to do a little workout. He had a game Saturday, so he has to be ready.