I noticed that Dad and Mack had Jonas and they were standing talking with Stella and Wood and Wood’s two kids. Wood’s ex-wife, Maggie, a pretty, petite, curvy brunette was there (Tate pointed her out to me with a jerk of his head and a mumbled, “Wood’s old lady, Maggie”) but she was giving them a wide berth.
It was after I spent some time studying Maggie, thinking she was very pretty and also that she looked somewhat sad and adrift when I realized I’d lost sight of Tate so I quit studying Maggie and went to find him. Not finding him in the house, I went to the backyard and didn’t see him there either. I rounded the house and stopped when I saw him, his back to me, the bright colors of a gypsy skirt all I could see of his mother standing in front of him.
“… since he was five years old. That sure as fuck doesn’t give you the right to act like that.” I heard him say and I knew, just by his voice, he was seriously angry.
“Tatum –” she started.
“He doesn’t even fuckin’ know you, this shit’s hard on him and you come in and…” He hesitated. “Fuck, I don’t even know what that shit was about.”
“I’m his grandmother,” she snapped.
“He met his Gramma today, Lauren’s Mom, and she’s the only one he’s ever gonna have if you don’t fuckin’ cool it.”
“Lauren’s Mom?” she hissed and I stared, the words I was going to say to intervene lodging in my throat when I watched Tate’s body get tight from head to foot and he leaned forward threateningly.
“Yeah, Lauren’s Mom,” Tate shot back and continued angrily. “You know, I always thought it was okay, you bein’ you ‘cause it was the only thing I knew. And because of that, I thought it was okay for Jonas, Neet bein’ Neet. Better he have somethin’ than nothin’ ‘cause what I knew was, nothin’ made you like Neet and somethin’ was a fuckuva better than that. Now I know that shit’s not right, your shit’s not right.”
“Did Lauren teach you that?” Shania snapped her question.
“This isn’t about Lauren,” Tate returned.
“Seems to me it is. Seems to me someone got himself a little swanky somethin’ somethin’ and now he thinks his shit don’t stink like he thought when he was Mr. Hotshot Football Player.”
I gasped and Shania leaned to the side, saw me and her eyes narrowed but Tate stayed on point.
“You been gone for five years, Jonas doesn’t even remember you, and you think you can roll into town and make this day, the second shittiest day in his life after the day he found out his Mom’s dead, all about you. Woman, that shit’s whacked.”
“You wanna join our conversation?” Shania asked, ignoring Tate, her eyes on me. “Seein’ as you seem so interested in it.”
Tate turned to the side and his eyes came to me but I kept my eyes to Shania when I replied, “No, I’m good with just listening.”
“Well, maybe you’ll do me a favor, darlin’, and give me a second alone with my boy,” she demanded through suggestion.
“And maybe I won’t,” I replied and Shania looked at Tate.
“Neeta’s fresh in her grave and she’s already rollin’ in it, knowin’ this one’s here, wearin’ her fancy-ass outfit and her fancy-ass shoes, lookin’ down her nose at the rest of us,” she remarked.
Tate stared at his mother for long moments then looked to the heavens and sighed.
Then he righted his head but shook it and muttered, “We’re done.”
“We aren’t,” Shania stated and Tate leveled his gaze at her.
“We are and I mean that in every way it can be meant, you get me?”
She looked like he’d slapped her before she began, “I –”
Tate cut her off. “Jonas has had enough of your brand of dysfunctional bullshit in his life and I didn’t shield him from it. The way I see it, I got eight years to keep him safe from that shit before he finds his own way and I’m doin’ it.”
“I can’t believe you,” she hissed. “Sayin’ this to me, today. Neeta was my girl and we just laid her in the ground.”
“We didn’t do shit.” Tate leaned toward her to say. “You paraded in, as usual, makin’ a big scene and makin’ it all about you. Pop, Stell, Wood and Jonas laid her to rest today. You just showed up and turned it all to shit.” He leaned back and drawled sarcastically, “Congratulations Mom, I would figure that was an impossibility, makin’ shit even shittier, but you managed it.”
“I loved her!” she snapped, her voice rising.
“If you did, then why’d you let her down when she lost her Mom and needed another one? I was young but I remember Neet turnin’ to you and you doin’ what you do best, turnin’ away.” Shania’s face paled but Tate kept at her. “For that matter, why’d you let me down seein’ as you made it so I never had a mother at all?”
Her voice was barely a whisper when she said, “You know me, Tate, you know I gotta be free.”
“Yeah, so the good news is, you can be as free as you want. Rest easy, Mom, we got it covered,” Tate retorted.
Shania’s eyes slid to me and she accused, “This is about her.”