We squeeze past guys who are coming in.
One eyes us with a hungry look. “Hello boys.”
I smirk at him and Matt says, “How’re you doing?”
“Better now.”
We laugh and keep walking.
Zoe, still in line, says, “I guess this place was built before they started putting in more stalls for women.”
“We’ll be by the meatballs,” I tell her.
“Okay, I’ll find you.”
CHAPTER 14
M ADISON
T ee Tee’s hair couldn’t be any smoother if an elephant sat on it. I know that drives Denise crazy because she believes in natural curls. “Deenie, are you going to help or just drink that wine?”
“Wine.”
With a martyr’s sigh Tee Tee continues doing the florists’ job for them. “No, don’t put the lilies with the food! The smell is overpowering.”
I whisper, “She’s overpowering.”
Raising her glass Denise tells her sister, “Let the experts work!”
On her way out, Tee Tee throws a reproachful glance back before resuming her compulsive need to control other people. “You have to put the carnations by the food. They hardly smell. Lilies go by the doors and outside, only!”
Denise and I walk away from the pain. Bucky ambles along with us, no leash needed, blissfully unaware of Tee Tee’s eccentricities.
For the millionth time, Denise checks her phone. “They’re at the party now. I wonder how Billy’s doing.”
“Do you think anyone showed?”
“Nope.” Her eyes flicker to a wall and stay there. “It’s weird wanting to be in two places at the same time. I want to escape my family, but of course if Nana’s watching, can’t hurt her feelings. You think she is?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Do you think she’s rolling her eyes at Titty?”
I laugh, “Yes, definitely.”
Denise stares at her phone. “Billy was a wreck. I want to be there, too.” She looks at the ceiling. “No offense, Nana, but you’re like me—you always hated funerals. So morbid.”
“Did she?”
“Always wanted to escape them the second she arrived. Except my uncle’s.”
I touch Denise’s shoulder, “That was a terrible day.”
“She wouldn’t let go of his coffin.”
“I remember.”
Denise drinks a generous amount of wine, finally gasping for air and exhaling, “That’s better.”
Her mother appears at the top of Nana’s stairs. “Deenie, are you on that silly phone at a time like this? How important are you that they cannot wait for you to respect your Nana? Help me decide what I’m gonna wear!”
Sucking on her teeth, she glances to me. We head up. It’s assumed I’ll come along, too. I’ve been an honorary member of the family since childhood.
And frankly there’s no place I’d rather be. Denise might claim to want to be at Billy’s party, but she doesn’t mean it. If I suggested we leave right now she’d be angry with me. Part of being a friend is not calling out your friend’s bullshit when they’re coping with grief. Just humor them while they work it out for themselves.
Mrs. Jabari spazzes at the sight of Bucky’s smiling tongue. “What is that beast doing in my bedroom?” He cowers, and instinctively I squat to pet him. I’m about to say, “We can go downstairs,” but Denise doesn’t give me time.
“This is not your bedroom, Momma!” Her eyes fire up as she inspects the display of wardrobe potentials that Rhonda Jabari has laid out for tomorrow morning’s funeral, the open closet with her clothes hanging in it. “This was Nana’s room! Look at you, moving in already!”
Her mother cries out, “This house was left to me in the will. Momma told me that, so I have every right to it!”
“She just died! Can you give it a fucking second?”
“I was raised in this house!”
“So was I, Momma!” Denise glares at her. This argument has been years in the making. “Remember how you were never there except when it suited you? Or when you were single? This is Nana’s house, not yours. If you got it, it’s by default, not by deserving it!”
“She left it to me!”
“You’ve been waiting for this day! You’ve been waiting for her to die!”
Rhonda rushes over and slaps Denise so hard that Bucky growls. I hold onto him, but he makes such a scary sound that Rhonda takes a step back, eyes wide. “Get that beast out of here!”
Denise shouts, “The only beast in here is you!”
“You are my daughter! Show me some respect!”
I cry out, “Enough!” tugging on Bucky’s collar to guide him from the room. It’s only a few steps, and the women are silent while I close the door, leaving just us crazy humans inside. “You guys, you always get like this when something bad happens. You take the pain and make it worse. Mrs. Jabari, remember your divorce from Tom? You called each other names then, too. And Denise, when you and I were fifteen and shoplifted at the Piggly Wiggly and went to jail for a night, more names.”
“I was appalled,” Mrs. Jabari exclaims.
“You were just embarrassed because your new boyfriend thought I was a low-life.”
“You were!”
“I was going through a phase!”
Frustrated, I exhale, “Nobody here is perfect. I’m sorry I brought that up. Look, back to present day, okay? You both love and miss Nana, but you can’t use her to work out your resentments. It’s not right. Mrs. Jabari, I understand what you’re doing here, by moving in so quickly. You just lost your mom and you’re trying to hold onto a part of her. I understand that’s what really is going on.” Denise cocks her head at me with a that’s-reaching-pretty-far-Maddie. I address her next. “And yes, your mother wasn’t there when you needed her, and Nana pretty much raised you. That sucks, believe me, I know how much it sucks. But you two are family. If you could somehow put the past behind you, all the anger and expectations, maybe you can help each other through this!”
They glare at each other.
After a moment of no talking, I try another tactic. “You guys, a lot of people will be hurting, too. Nana was very kind, very generous with her heart…”
Denise
