Wanted For Pleasure: vol 3

|42| A mother's quarrel

Seeing he's talking a mile a minute, I don't open my mouth to add my two cents.

"And you sure Morgan ain't seen her? What if she with that Tate dude, I'll kill him. I mean it, too, I'll Malcolm his ass."

He only gets a reaction out of me for mentioning my Godfather.

Seeing my unamused facial expression, Jabari gives me a empathetic look before going on.

"It don't make no sense, how nobody seen her? She don't text nobody, she hasn't reached out to her mother, she ain't even been posting on Instagram, and that hoe love Instagram." Jabari makes me laugh with his last comment.

He makes a straight face and I clear my throat. This isn't funny.

"She probably took off with Tate's money and went out the country. I would." I try to give my friend some piece of mind.

He nods his head, slowly, but I still see the wheels turning.

"I'm sure she'll turn up somewhere, but you don't have to worry about it, she's not your responsibility anymore."

"Like Morgan ain't yours?" He makes me glare at him coldly for that remark.

I can't even say anything, he got me there. Doesn't make it hurt any less, though.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"Who that?" Jabari sounds rather hopeful. He jumps up fast like an enthusiastic guard dog.

"Relax," I tell him through a mumble as I get up from the couch. "It's Mary."

"Oh." I hear him sigh as I walk to the door.

Don't tell him this, but I do feel bad for him.

I open the door with a short "hey, Mom" and walk away before she's fully inside.

"Hey, you better give your mother a hug!" She smacks her red-painted lips and waits at the door with open arms.

I roll my eyes, turning on my heels, to give her a proper greeting.

"Aw, that's better. I missed you so much." She gushes in my ear.

I pull away quickly and look past her body.

"Is Dad with you?" Now I'm the one who sounds hopeful - my tail practically wagging at the thought of Carter coming along.

"Now why would he come with me?" She asks in a neutral tone, and without a second thought, rolls her suitcase along the floor.

"Mama Mary!" Jabari exclaims, standing to his feet.

"Jabari, how are you, handsome?" She squeals, bringing his head to her chest by force.

"Okay, boys," she clasps her hands together. "I have bags in the car, I didn't know if Morgan had stocked up the fridge, so I stopped and got things along the way so I didn't show up empty handed."

"Where is my daughter, by the way? She didn't call me back." My mother is oblivious.

"Chris didn't tell you?" Jabari laughs, stepping into a pair of Nike slides.

Mary shakes her head.

Their eyes both shoot to me and I gulp, not wanting to say it out loud.

"Morgan— uh— we're on a break." I shakily explain to my Mother.

I can see her heartbreak.

"Not again," she gasps, "Chris, what happened now?"

Her use of "again" and the emphasis on "now" isn't lost on me.