Miss Lola.

Chapter 18.

Hollis took my arm and hustled me back to the front room where he sat me down on the sofa.

"Lola, I'm sorry. Jeffrey is having a hard time trying to deal with the divorce and so he's acting out."

"Well, he better pull himself together with a quickness because I'm not the one to mess with. Now where did I leave my purse..."

He handed it to me and I jumped up off the sofa and stormed for the front door.

"Lola?" Hollis said and although he didn't chase after me or raise his voice,  the misery in his tone was palpable  and I turned around and saw him standing next to the sofa.

"I hope you don't let this mess up what we've got. I'll deal with my son."

"I hope so. Thanks for a wonderful evening Hollis." I said in a cold voice.

When I arrived home, Merlin had made himself comfortable on the sofa where he was sprawled out and watching the morning news.

He was in a robe and pajamas and the air smelled like coffee and burned bacon.

"I still have my key, mother." He said.

"Why does it smells like a whole herd of  burned pigs in here? Let me open some windows..."

"Sorry about the stench. I tried to cook breakfast but that didn't work out so well. Mother? Could you just leave those windows alone and come sit down?"

"I can't sit down, I've gotta open the Shop and you weren't supposed to be here until tomorrow."

"Well, I decided to arrive a day early." Merlin said with a shrug.

I'm still amazed at how much he and Rhonda resemble each other even down to the dimple in their chins.

It must have been weird growing up with a twin and they'd inherited the best of my looks and their daddy's combined.

Now, Merlin pats an empty spot on the sofa and I reluctantly sit next to him.

"How are you, mother? You look mad as Hell."

"That's because I am mad as Hell. But it ain't your fault and I'll chill out in a minute. How you doing? What's really going on with you and Gwen?"

My son sighed, dropped his calm demeanor and stared at his lap.

"We broke up."

"Have mercy! What happened?"

"We had a big fight over money. Gwen was spending too much and when I said something to her about it she told me to kiss her black behind, took Haley and left."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, son." I said. "So what's going to happen now?"

Merlin shrugged. "I don't know but I still love her and don't want to bust our family up. She's pregnant again too."

"Is it yours?" I ask which seems to tick Merlin off. He scowls at me.

"Yes. Why would you even ask that? Of course it's my baby."

"How many months is she?"

"She's three weeks along. I want a son this time."

I just sit there and look at him until he blushes.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You've just said that your wife has left you and here you are talking about the sex of the baby. Shouldn't you be trying to talk to Gwen? And I guess her daddy ain't sick, huh?"

"No, he's not sick. I lied because I didn't want you to know about Gwen and I've been trying to talk to her but she won't take my calls."

"Oh. Well give her some time to cool down and then talk to her. Heck, we all need some time to cool down."

He looks me up and down.

"Why are you mad?"

"That's nacho business." I get up and head to the kitchen to access the damage which isn't nearly as bad as I'd feared and then I run water into the sink, remove my rings and start washing dishes.

"I'll do that, mother. It's my mess." Merlin has followed me into the kitchen and when he stands beside me at the sink, he towers above me.

I can still remember the years when I had to bend down to kiss and hug my children and now they're grown with families and problems of their own. Where does the time fly?

"Knock yourself out.
I'm going to take a shower and get ready for work."

"Can't you take the day off?" Merlin asked, sloppily washing a plate.

"Say..what?"

"You're the boss, you own the Shop. So why not take today off? We can lounge around and watch movies and pig out on junk food."

"I no longer pig out on junk food and.."

I stopped speaking because it dawned on me that Merlin was absolutely right.

Heck, I needed a "me" day after the foolishness I'd gone through at Hollis house this morning and so I called Brandy and asked her to hold the fort and Merlin and I spent the rest of the morning watching t.v.

him with a big bowl of chips on his lap and me with a smaller bowl of baby carrots on mine and it felt wonderful just to chill and spend this time with my son.

It hurt that Rhonda couldn't be here because I missed our mother daughter times together especially when she'd been a teenager asking my advice about boys and make-up and

I honestly don't know what had ripped our beautiful relationship into shreds and I couldn't think of a way to fix it.

All I do know is that I missed my daughter and her bay bay kids too so you know I was desperate.

"Did you know that your dad's coming to town?" I asked Merlin during a commercial break.

He stiffened, "No. I didn't know that."

"Well, unbeknownst to me, your sister has been keeping in touch with him and she got it straight from the horse's mouth."

"Why's he coming here? I bet it's not to see us." Merlin said.

I slowly crunched up a carrot, savoring the sweet, crisp taste, swallowed and said,

"The point of the trip is to visit some of his other relatives.
Anyway, he'll be at Rhonda's house if you want to see him."

"Why would I want see him?  I haven't seen the man in twenty-seven years so why should I be all excited about seeing him now?"

"Well, he's still your daddy. I'll never tell you to ignore him."

When my phone started playing "I will always love you" I checked the caller I.D and excused myself and went to my bedroom and closed the door.

"Hi, Hollis."

11/22/21.
Edited 12/4/21.