What Lies Beyond the Veil(Of Flesh & Bone #1)(76)

“Granddaddy!” I shriek before he can close the door.

He turns around real quick, then stares at me. “Well, what’s so important that you almost scared an old man straight outta his skin?”

I giggle and say, “Sorry, Granddaddy,” before continuing. “Me and Nia wanna call Momma before we go to dinner. Can you dial the number for us?”

“Now, Kenyatta—”

“It’s gon’ be fast, Granddaddy, I promise! It’s just that Nia ain’t talked to Momma since we been here, so she just wanna say hi right quick.” I bat my eyelashes, hoping Granddaddy ain’t gon’ notice I’m up to something.

Seems like my plan works, cause Granddaddy starts his slow walk back to the front of the house. I tiptoe behind him, tryna seem calm when I’m jumping for joy on the inside. Once we get to the kitchen, Granddaddy picks up the phone and begins to dial.

“Make it quick,” he says once he’s done, handing the receiver to Nia. “Once I get my clothes on, it’s gon’ be time to go.” And with that, he ambles back down the hallway, leaving me and Nia alone to talk to Momma.

It feels different this time, watching Nia hold the receiver and wondering what Momma’s doin’ on the other end. After a few seconds, Nia’s eyebrows raise, but she don’t say nothin’. I figure that means Momma’s on the phone by now, so I nudge Nia.

“Hey, Momma,” Nia finally says. Soon as she says it, she’s got tears in her eyes. I don’t know what Momma says next, but Nia don’t talk for a while, just listens and cries. Finally, Nia speaks again.

“We bout to go to dinner with Granddaddy,” she says, “but it’s something we wanted to talk to you about first.” Then she don’t talk again for a while, cept saying “mm-hmm” and nodding, then eventually finishing with, “Yeah, she’s right here.”

Nia hands me the phone and I take a breath before saying, “Hello.” The last two times I talked to Momma ain’t go exactly as planned, so I’m hoping this time gon’ be better.

“Hey, KB,” Momma says, her voice sweet and drippy like syrup.

“Hey, Momma,” I say back. “How you been doin’?”

“I been good, baby. Real good, actually.” And Momma sounds good, too, for the first time in a long time. Seems like whatever she’s doin’ at the treatment facility is working.

“That’s good,” I say, watching Nia wipe her eyes, “cause we got something to talk to you bout. See, the thing is—”

“I need to talk to you about something, too,” Momma interrupts.

My stomach flips like when I’m bout to be in trouble. “You do?”

“I do.” Momma chuckles. “But don’t worry, you’re not in trouble.” Momma takes a quick breath. “I wanted to apologize to you. I shouldn’t have snapped at you when we talked before.”

“It’s okay,” I say, quick, cause it’s strange to have Momma apologizing to me.

“No, it’s not okay. It’s just that you were asking me about a memory that’s hard for me to remember. And with everything else going on . . .”

“Because of Daddy?”

“Yes, because of Daddy. But not just that. When your daddy died it was . . . do you know the expression ‘the straw that broke the camel’s back’?”

“Yes,” I say, even though I ain’t quite sure what it means.

“What happened with your daddy was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. I had already been through so much—and came out on top. But this time . . .” Momma’s voice trails off.

“Why was that memory with Granddaddy so hard to remember?” I ask, still stuck on that part. I think back to the weird stuff Javon was saying bout what Granddaddy did to Momma after the headshot, how he wouldn’t describe it as little. Maybe there’s more to the story than what Granddaddy told me.

“What exactly did your Granddaddy tell you?” Momma asks, like she’s also wondering which parts of the story he held back.

“Well, he told me bout the headshot, and how after he ain’t let you get it, you got it done anyway, by some guy at the mall. But then when he saw it, he told you he ain’t wanna hear nothin’ bout it. Then he left.”

“Then he left?”

“Yeah, he said he threw down the picture, then he left.”

Momma is silent for a long time, but I can still hear her breathing, so I know she’s there. Finally, she clears her throat.

“When I met your daddy, I was only sixteen years old. Just a year older than Nia is now.” I look over at Nia when Momma says this; try to imagine Momma that age and meeting Daddy. “It’s hard to believe I was that young,” Momma continues, “because I felt like I knew everything about everything back then.” Momma chuckles and I listen without speaking, just enjoying the sound of her laugh.

“So yeah, I was young. And I was mad at your Granddaddy. When I met your daddy, it was right after that fight. In a way, I started dating him just to make your Granddaddy mad. But then somewhere along the way, I realized it was more than that.”

Nia goes and sits down at the dining room table. I twist the phone cord around my finger as I listen, hoping Nia ain’t mad that we talking so long.