“Grip!” She widens her eyes and her smile.
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Martin chant
s.
We glance down at our son, his eyes shifting avidly between us, and both laugh.
“You kiss all the time,” Nina mutters from a few feet away.
It’s true, tho.
“Nina, we need to get back inside,” Bristol says. “We’ve been in the water all day, and your grandma probably has lunch ready. After lunch we can get shave ice from Island Snow.”
“A few more minutes, Mommy, please? So Daddy can swim with me?” Nina asks, lips pouty and eyes pleading under a mop of hair. If she figures out she has me wrapped around her little finger, we’re doomed. Who am I kidding? This kid was born knowing.
“You think you can keep up with me?” I hand Martin to Bris and walk through the water to Nina, surprised at how deep the water gets. “Okay, little fish. Let’s go.”
Thank God Jade convinced me to drag my ass out of the studio. This day, blessed with puckered clouds kissing a cerulean sky and sunshine that dries our bodies almost as soon as we leave the water, is exactly what I needed. Once we’ve packed up, we trek through the sand back to the villa, which has seven bedrooms, a pool and sauna, game room and plenty of alcoves and nooks for privacy despite all the folks who came with us. We follow the path that leads straight to the large patio where Ma has lunch ready, as Bristol predicted.
“I see the sun all over you,” Ma says, bending to drop a kiss on each of my kids’ damp heads. “Coming in here two shades darker.”
They scrunch up their noses and lean into her affection. The same unconditional love and discipline my mother used to shape me, she pours into my children. She finally accepted a car and a house, which is in Compton because she refuses to leave her beloved neighborhood. I can’t blame her on that score. There was a lot to be scared of when I was growing up, but that community raised me, and you’d have to crowbar my mother out of it.
“I don’t want you cooking the whole time,” I tell her, kissing her cheek. “There’s a local chef I can bring in if you want.”
“And I told you I can cook some, too,” Bristol pipes up, setting a sketch pad and crayons by Martin’s plate. He loves to draw and we keep materials within reach for him all the time.
Ma looks at her like for real, Bris?
Not that Bristol hasn’t improved in the kitchen. She definitely has, but my mama doesn’t eat everybody’s food, and if she’s able to cook, she prefers to eat her own.
“I’ll manage, baby,” Ma says dryly. “Let’s save the chef for a special night. Now we got wings from the grill and potato salad and sweet tea for lunch.”
“I’m just in time,” Amir says, stepping through the French doors leading into the living room. “I could eat a—”
“You ain’t eating nothing.” Ma sucks her teeth. “March your raggedy self right back in that house and eat you some Corn Flakes or somethin’. I don’t know what to tell you, but you ain’t eating my food.”
“He beat you in spades again, huh?” Bristol laughs, scooping food onto the kids’ plates.
“You ain’t gotta eat either, Bristol,” Ma snaps, fighting a grin. “Me and these babies’ll be the only ones eating, ya’ll keep it up.”
“I told you we shoulda thrown the game,” Shondra mutters, walking onto the patio in a floral maxi dress. “But nooooo. You just had to win again.”
“Shondra, sit down and eat,” Ma orders, filling frosted glasses with tea. “You’ll need all your strength for that re-match tonight.”
Shondra’s eyes stretch and then narrow when they meet Amir’s as he sits down at the table beside her. “I tried to tell your ass,” she hisses at him.
“Y’all hating on all this Black excellence.” Amir shrugs, loading his plate with wings and potato salad. “I think I need something stronger than tea. Shondra, there was some beer in the fridge.”
“I’m drinking tea,” she says. “You can take that Black excellence right in the kitchen and get your own beer.”
We’re still laughing at that when I notice two empty seats at the table. “Where’s Kenya and Jade?”
“Down in that studio.” Ma tsks, finally preparing a plate for herself.
“They’re so cute together,” Shondra says.
“Don’t let either of them hear you call them cute,” I say.