The Mixtape

Of course, Abigail was more than willing to help out.

“Is everything okay?” Abigail asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked down the hallway toward Mama.

“I don’t know, honestly. But I don’t want Reese to be involved in the conversation I’m about to have with my family.”

Abigail’s eyes widened a little. “Oh my. Is that your mother?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be back as soon as I can to pick her up.”

“Of course, no rush. She and I will be just fine,” Abigail said, placing her hands on Reese’s shoulders.

“Thank you.”

“Hey, Mama. Is that really my grandma?” Reese asked. My chest tightened from the question.

I bent down and kissed her forehead. “I’ll explain everything later, baby. You just stay with Abigail until I get home.” I stamped her heart, and she stamped mine back.

I walked over to Mama, and she was grimacing, like usual. “Do you always leave your child with strangers?”

I rolled my eyes and kept walking toward the elevator. “You’re more of a stranger to me than anyone in this building is. Let’s get this over with.”

“We will drive together, to the diner on the corner,” Mama stated, taking control of the situation, like she always had. I didn’t complain or argue, because my focus was zoomed in on Sammie.

I opened the back passenger door and looked at my sister, who was fidgeting with her fingers and looking down at her lap. I sat down in the car and took in a deep breath. “Hey, Sammie.”

She turned my way with the saddest eyes I’d ever witnessed and gave me an upside-down frown. “Hey, Emery.”

She was sitting up with perfect posture, as if she’d never slouched in her life. Her sundress was smooth as ever, without a wrinkle to be found, and her hair was in perfect curls. She looked remarkable from the outside, but I saw it—her truths within her eyes.

As we walked inside and took our seats, I had a million and one questions swirling in my head to ask Sammie. I wanted to know what the plans were to get her on the up-and-up again. I wanted to know how I could help her, because I would. I’d do whatever it took to help my sister.

But then, the conversation started off in a completely different direction, throwing me for a loop.

“We want full custody of Reese,” Mama said, clasping her hands together calmly, as if she’d only asked for a glass of ice water. As if she hadn’t just said the words I’d feared most in my whole life.

“Excuse me?” Did they really just bring me to a restaurant to tell me that kind of information?

“After talking to Sammie, and going through the process of research on the subject, I think it is in the best interest of that little girl that she comes back to Randall with your sister, father, and me, and we take over raising her.”

I laughed.

I laughed out loud because what she was saying was beyond ridiculous and out of this world. What kind of request was that for her to even consider making? When I realized they weren’t laughing along with me, my chuckles turned into rage.

“You’re joking, right? This is some kind of joke?” I choked out, staring at my family members and wondering how there was any possible way that the blood that raced through my veins was the same blood that flowed in theirs.

“We think it’s best that—” Sammie started, but I cut her off.

“‘We’? What is this ‘we’ you’re speaking of? Because you can’t be talking about our parents. They abandoned you, Samantha. And if you recall correctly, you went ahead and abandoned me and Reese too. Like mother, like daughter.”

She shifted in her seat, looking down at the tiled floor of the restaurant. “That was a long time ago, Emery. We want to give Reese a shot at a family.”

“What family?” I shouted, not caring about every person who was looking my way. “These two abandoned you at your lowest point, Sammie. They turned their backs on you after something horrific occurred. These people are not your family.”

“Lower your voice, Emery Rose,” Mama hissed, becoming flustered as she patted her cheeks with a napkin. “The whole point of coming to a restaurant to talk was so you wouldn’t have an outburst. So, calm yourself.”

“No. I’m a grown woman and I can be loud if I want to, Mama. You don’t get to order me around like I’m still a child.”

“I will not put up with your outbursts in a public setting. Now, calm yourself or remove yourself.”

“I will do no such thing. Not until Sammie realizes what a mistake she’s making.”

“See, Samantha? Do you see how unstable your sister is? Having Emery raise Reese after all this time is a terrible idea. She needs to be in a more structured household, with your father and me. That little girl needs to be raised in a God-fearing household with two parental figures. We can provide more for her than Emery can. What do you think it will do to a little girl growing up without a father figure around her?”