Tiara cried every day after the funeral and stayed locked in her room. She didn’t eat; she just lay there feeling sick. The only thing that provided her solace was the fact that her father had invited Mario over for dinner on Sunday. She knew he’d only done that because he felt guilty for further ruining her life. But she would take it. Mario was the only other person that she felt she had left in the world. She had distanced herself from everyone, including Stephanie. The only person who heard her voice was her boyfriend. When Sunday night finally came, she showered and actually combed her hair. She got dressed and wore a pretty cream-colored dress and a pair of brown flats. Her hair flowed around her shoulders. She finally opened her bedroom door to show her face to the rest of the house. She smelled the amazing scent of her mother and the cooks making all of their favorite foods, and she heard her father and his friends in the living room watching some sports game. She told Mario to be there at eight. At seven-fifty the doorbell rang.
She beat the housekeeper to the door and flung it open. Sure enough, on the other end of the door was her boo holding a bouquet of roses. He smiled at her when he saw her.
“Wow, you look amazing, ma,” he said, handing her the roses.
“Thank you, you do too,” Tiara said, taking in the black designer suit that he chose to wear that night.
The two snuck a quick kiss, and she led him into the foyer of the house.
“Just the person I wanted to see!” Blake said, coming from up behind the two teenagers. “Come sit down. The food is ready.”
He took them into the dining room where the long table was already almost filled to capacity with food and people surrounding it. Blake sat at the head of the table with Tiara to his left and Cat to his right. Mario took a seat next to Tiara and ignored the curious stares he was receiving from everyone at the table. He was there for one reason and one reason only, and that reason was not to mingle with the likes of them. Tiara grabbed his hand under the table, and he smiled at her. Like always, Blake requested for everyone to bow their heads as he said the prayer before anyone dug into the food.
“So, Mario, my daughter tells me that you are in the same grade as her at school,” Cat said after everyone had loaded up their plates.
“Yes, I am, Mrs. Rogers,” he answered her as he swallowed a forkful of rice.
“What are your plans after graduation?”
“I hope to go to a college on the West Coast so I can study to become an architect,” he answered with a smile.
Cat nodded, seemingly pleased with his response. Everyone else seemed engaged in their own conversations, but Blake and Cat were focused more on Mario. Blake didn’t know what it was, but there was something about Mario that he recognized from somewhere. However, he was certain that he’d never seen the youngster before.
“Do you have any family here in Dallas?” Blake asked, taking a couple of bites of his food.
“I live with my aunt,” Mario told him. And before Blake could ask he said, “My dad died when I was a little kid, and my mom never really got over his death. She just couldn’t handle the pain of him being gone, and she turned to drugs. Her body is still alive, but the drugs practically killed her. I don’t know where she is.”
“I’m so sorry,” Cat said, her voice dripping with sympathy. “Well, I’m glad your aunt took you in. That’s an absolute blessing. Things could have been much worse, and you could have been lost in the system.”
“Tell me about it,” Mario said. “I’m too fine for foster care!”
Even Blake laughed at that, and Tiara felt herself becoming less tense. The dinner went without a hitch, and everyone was getting along just fine. Tiara even found herself smiling and being nice to her mother. When dinner was over, all of their guests left except for Mario. Blake whisked him off to show him around the house, leaving the two women and the staff behind to clean off the table and wash the dishes.
“He seems nice,” Cat said to her daughter. “You like him a lot, huh?”
“Yeah, I do,” Tiara said, drying the dishes that were in the dish drainer. “He’s an amazing person.”
“I remember when I first met your father,” Cat said dreamily. “I recall the feeling he gave me, and the first time we—”
“Mommy!” Tiara exclaimed and put her wet hands to her ears.
Cat giggled like a schoolgirl. “Well, I’m just saying, that man is something else. We go through it, but at the end of the day, I know he’ll always make sure I’m all right,” she said. Suddenly, she sighed. “Tiara, I know that we haven’t had the best relationship since you’ve come into your teenage years. And now with Brandy gone and you about to leave home soon, I would like to fix that. I don’t want to lose you.”
Tiara pondered over her words for a few moments and was tempted to tell her to go shove them up her ass. But she knew that being bitter wouldn’t help the situation any, either, so instead of being mean, she nodded her head.
“OK, Mommy, I won’t say that it will be an overnight thing. But I will try if you will try.”
Cat cocked her head and touched
