Page 13 of The Big Catch

I knew that I wanted to take them home today earlier this week, so I prepared myself and made food for them for a fewdays, just in case. I figured if he said no, I would just bring it with me to his house to make sure it didn’t go to waste. My babies were excited to be in the car and go somewhere. I was excited to get home because I couldn’t wait for my babies to see their room. They followed me closely into my house and ran around to explore their new surroundings. After I fed them, for the rest of the night, I let them get acquainted with their new home. By the end of the night, they were in their bed comfortably sleeping, and I was at peace.

A FEW DAYS LATER…

I spent the next few days preparing for Gabrielle’s arrival. She planned to stay for a whole week, which had me geeked. Yesterday, I took My Boy and Stitch to my parents’ house. The pride on my father’s face didn’t escape me when he saw me let the dogs out of my Wagon. He was surprised to see that I had two dogs instead of one. When my daddy told me that he was proud of me for taking care of them, I wanted to cry.

I could admit that before all of this happened with Carson, I barely spoke or saw my parents. There were a lot of reasons that they had to not be proud of me. For one, when I got married, I didn’t invite them to the wedding. I told them that Carson and I got married at the courthouse. The fact was that I didn’t want to be embarrassed by their country ways. Gabrielle told me that I was wrong and didn’t speak to me for a while over it. When I dropped out of school, my parents were so disappointed.

“My Boy, let Stitch lay there. You have all that space.” I was lying on my sectional couch with my babies fighting overspace at my feet. There was no need because it was an oversized sectional with more than enough room for both of them.

They both laid their heads on my legs and settled down. When I left Gunner’s house the other day, I half ass expected him to come here and try to get My Boy and Stitch back. To my surprise, I hadn’t heard from him. The town had a public dog park, but it wasn’t as nice as Gunner’s. I wanted to take my babies over there, but I thought better of it. I did tell the manfuck you.

My babies barked at the sound of my doorbell.Who the hell?I knew it wasn’t my mom or daddy because their rude asses would just come in. I got up to meet them at the door. Stitch and My Boy followed my command when I told them to sit their asses down on the couch. That was one thing that I appreciated Gunner for. He took the time to train them and showed me how to train them.

“Nadine, what are you doing here?” I looked behind her to make sure she didn’t bring her cousin along. There was no need to wonder how she knew where I lived. In a small town, everyone knew where everyone lived.

Her warm smile was very soothing and inviting. “Hey, Belle. I wanted to come check on you. Can I come in?”

I stepped to the side to let her in. My babies greeted her when she sat on the couch. I gave a genuine smile when she gave them some love. “Yeah, like I was saying, I wanted to check on you to make sure you were alright. When you left my brother’s house the other day, I knew you were upset. My apologies for my cousin and brother.”

“You don’t need to apologize for anyone. We all said things, and that is life. Thank you for checking on me. I got to say, you seem to be the sunshine of your family,” I said with a titter.

She giggled. “What can I say? Somebody has to be the light of the family. Wait until you meet my mama. If you think I’m sunshine, then she’s the sun.”

“Duly noted. I’ll make sure I wear my sunscreen.” We both chortled. “Thank you for checking on me. I haven’t really talked to anyone nice since I’ve been back here.”

Nadine’s eyes softened and head slanted. “Well, there’s a big age gap between me and you, so I have no recollection of how nasty of an attitude you had. Plus, I generally draw my own conclusions of a person based on my own interaction with them unless whatever I heard about them was detrimental to my safety.”

“That is a good way to handle life and people.” I sighed at the thought of my past and most recent nasty attitude. “I can’t deny that my attitude has not been the best. God has a funny way of humbling you when you think you’re hot shit.” I couldn’t help but laugh at myself.

“My life is a mess right now for all intents and purposes. With everything that I’d been through, you would think that my attitude be better. It feels like God took me from the mountaintop to the lowest valley.” My head rested back on the couch cushion.

Nadine’s hand on my leg brought my eyes to hers. “Well, maybe the mountaintop that you thought you were on was just a molehill in that valley. Now that God has made you realize your mountaintop was not what you thought it was, he can bring you to the real one.” She gave me another one of her warm smiles. “Belle, you have to do the work to get there though. A bad, nasty attitude isn’t going to help you get there.”

My mountaintop was just a molehill in a valley.Those words hit me in the pit of my soul. I gazed down at my two babies. I guess my daddy was right about his theory of melearning compassion by having a fur baby. “Well, I guess I can try to have a better attitude. It couldn’t hurt anything.”

“Well, that’s a start! I think this calls for a celebration.” Nadine hopped up from her seat. “We’re going out this weekend. There’s a club in the next town that is a vibe. I know our country ass clubs don’t got shit on your Cali clubs, but we have something that Cali doesn’t.”

My top lip twisted. “What can a club around here possibly have that a club in Cali doesn’t?” She was going to have to tell me something because I needed to know.

When her top lip matched the lift of her brow, I knew whatever she said next would be devious. “They got big dick, country niggas.” She burst into laughter when my mouth dropped open.

She did not look like the type of female that fucked, much less talked about dicks. “Girl, what!” I didn’t want to laugh, but I had to. “Since my best friend is going to be here, we can go out.” I held my finger up. “Look, I’m not up for the bullshit with Tink.”

“Nope, you won’t have to worry about her. I’ll talk to her,” Nadine assured. Her laughter subsided. “My brother wasn’t wrong. Tink really is the sweetest person, but she’s also a crazy, short-fused firecracker.”

Nadine stayed for another fifteen minutes before she left. She really was nice. Nice was something that I needed more of. I had to understand that to get more niceness, I needed to be nice.

OH, IT’S PARTY TIME…

“Girl, I can’t believe you’re actually about to go out to a club here. I’m so happy that I’m here to see this shit,” Gabrielle said. Therewas way too much excitement in her voice.

She’d been here for a couple days, and the country life fit her. My fur babies loved her, which was a plus. Nadine called a few minutes ago to let me know that she was on her way to pick us up. I wanted to drive my car, but she insisted that she drove since she didn’t drink. She was the forever designated driver.

“The first pair of sunglasses I see in this club, I’m getting a rideshare and leaving. I don’t care if there aren’t any. I will risk my life to hitchhike.” I was so serious about that. I could handle country, but corny, I would not tolerate.

Gabrielle doubled over with laughter. “Girl, why are you like this? We’re about to have some good ole country fun.” She lifted the fan that she had in her hand, then popped it open. “I’m ready for a line dance or two.”

Moments after I put Stitch and My Boy in their room for the night, Nadine knocked on my front door. I smiled when I opened it at her choice of outfit. It fit every one of her curves. “Nadine, this is my best friend, Gabrielle. Gabrielle, this is Gunner’s sister, Nadine.”

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