Page 70 of Crash: Love in Scrubs
“Ma, where you want me to put Samaj’s stuff?” Malik called out.
“The guest rooms for Sametra and Samaj are upstairs. And yours goes next to my room, down the hall second door on the right.”
Malik appeared in the doorway with a grin. “Just so we’re clear, Mama, my woman sleeps where I sleep. No need for two rooms.”
“Boy!” Yolanda swatted at him while I buried my face in my hands, mortified.
“Mama, I’m grown, and she’s grown. We’re in love. You want grandkids or not?”
“Malik Jerome!” I gasped, but I was laughing despite my embarrassment.
Samaj appeared behind him, shaking his head. “Y’all are something else. Can we eat now? I’m starving, and whatever Ms. Yolanda’s cooking smells incredible.”
“Let’s eat,” Yolanda said as the timer went off in the kitchen. “And Malik, we’ll discuss your sleeping arrangements later.”
“Ma, my psychologist, Dr. Sametra Andrews, said I have separation anxiety. I gotta be with my woman. That’s what the doctor said.”
“The answer was no earlier, and it’s no now. Ain’t nobody hunching under my roof but me.”
My eyes went wide at him. He said I played too much, but it was him with all the damn jokes and games. I never said that, but he always knew how to pull a smile out of me.
“Aye!” Malik screamed, covering his ears before laughing and sucking his teeth. “It better not be, Mr. Robb. I told him ain’t no sugar to borrow over here. It ain’t changed. Better take his snaggle toothed ass on.”
“Boy, you oughta try minding your business,” she said as she popped him upside the head while Samaj and I laughed. “Mr. Robb is here helping me fix my sink and unclog my toilet when you ain’t around.”
She looked over at me and winked. I smiled and covered my mouth as we shared a moment. I knew unclog my toilet was code word.
We sat down at her beautifully set table and prepared to eat. The food smelled absolutely amazing. She had smoked Cornish hens that looked golden and perfect, green beans that just came off the smoker, they still had a little snap to them, corn on the cob dripping with butter, creamy mashed potatoes, and corn fritters that were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.
“Ms. Yolanda, this looks so good,” I said, genuinely amazed. “You put your foot in this.”
“Thank you, baby. I wanted to make sure y’all felt welcomed.” She looked at Samaj. “Now, you tell me if anything’s too spicy or if you need anything else, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am. Everything looks perfect.”
As we said grace and began to eat, I watched Malik with his mother and felt my heart swell. This was where he got hiswarmth, his kindness, his ability to make people feel at home. Yolanda had raised an incredible man, and sitting at her table, surrounded by laughter and love, I felt like I was exactly where I belonged.
Night fell, and it seemed as if everything cooled down a little. I’d showered and prepared to study when I received a text from Malik to come out back. I laughed because he was hellbent on figuring out how to sleep in the same bed as me. I was going to respect his mother’s house whether he liked it or not. I wasn’t bending on that. I’d want the same. Samaj would get the same treatment; nobody was hunching under my roof but me. Take that right on to the hotel, motel, Holiday Inn. And if you couldn’t afford a hotel room, you had no business having sex anyway.
“Sit down with me, baby.” Malik said patting the blanket he had laid out.
I took a seat on the blanket under a tree that looked like it had been there as long as I’d been on earth. “Here.”
Malik handed me a bag of sweet tarts without the yellow ones and winked at me.
“I’m sleeping in my room tonight, end of discussion. Don’t try and bribe me with my favorite candy.”
“I respect that,” he smirked, tossing his arm around my shoulder as I leaned into him. After sitting in silence for five minutes, a beautiful show of fireworks began to light the sky in brilliant bursts of red, white, and blue.
“They do this every year for our family reunion. My aunt and cousins live on the other side of that tree line. When she wanted her house built, she wanted to be near her sister and brother. So that’s what I did.”
“It’s beautiful,” I said, watching the colors dance across the darkness. “How does it feel to be home? Should I worry about any exes popping up?”
He laughed, pulling me closer. “Nah, baby. I wasn’t really the dating type when I lived here. Too focused on football and taking care of Mama after her accident. And since I moved to St. Ambrose?” He shrugged. “Nobody worth bringing home to meet her. I don’t play about her.”
“Until now.”
“Until now,” he confirmed, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “You’re the first woman I’ve ever brought here, Sametra. And being home feels good. I missed that little girl in there.”
