He beat back a chuckle and reached for another mug.
“You think I’m gonna get left out of lookin’ over Jussy’s boy, think again, somethin’ I told your ass when you tried to elbow me outta this trip,” Rembrandt said.
Deke was pouring and through it he heard Jussy’s audible sigh.
Christ, he hadn’t been called a “boy” since his mother’s dickhead employer referred to him only that way from the time he could understand English to the day the motherfucker fired his ma.
He had this thought and still, Rembrandt doing it, Deke felt his mouth twitch.
“Just so you don’t get peeved, I’m officially ignoring you for the next half an hour,” Joss told her husband.
“I’m down with that,” her husband muttered.
Deke couldn’t beat back the strangled noise that was a swallowed laugh.
“We’re so totally going to need more coffee,” Jussy mumbled.
He turned a smile to her.
She caught it, her face softened and she gave him a small smile back.
“Girl, get your ass over here,” Joss ordered. “Sit by your momma. And tell me about this place which…is…fine. The dining room, baby girl…inspired.”
Jussy’s look to him lingered before she moved to her mother.
A minute later, Deke was sliding her mug across the island toward Joss, who now had Jussy on a stool by her side, when she aimed her eyes to his.
“She wouldn’t let me come. We had to surprise her. She asked for some time. We gave her some time. Time was up. I’m sure you get it.”
It wasn’t asking for a confirmation. She was telling him he’d better get it because it was the way it was, for more reasons than the fact they were actually there.
“I get it. And it’s all good. Soon’s she gets some coffee in her, she’ll beat back her morning mood and she’ll get it too,” Deke replied, pulling away from the island to go back to the mugs.
“He’s good-looking,” Joss shared openly.
“Please don’t talk about him like he’s not here,” Jussy returned.
“You’re good-looking,” Joss stated loudly, this Deke knew was aimed at his back.
“Gratitude,” he muttered, the word sounding tortured because it was torture trying not to laugh.
“And he’s big,” Joss went on. “You’re big,” she called immediately so Jussy wouldn’t get in her shit about it. “Though I already told you that.”
He turned and looked at her. “You did.”
Then he started to walk a filled mug toward Rembrandt on the couch.
“You told him he was big?” Jussy asked.
“Baby, he was standing in the door when we got here. I couldn’t miss that. There are people in the space station who didn’t miss that.”
He had Rembrandt’s eyes on him so he caught the big, professionally-whitened smile the man returned to the one Deke could not bite back.
“No, you’re right. It’s impossible to miss. But that doesn’t mean you should say something about it,” Jussy retorted.
“I did, and he doesn’t care.”
Jussy’s tone tightened when she noted, “So you weren’t cool in those five words you gave him.”
“Justice, drink your coffee. We’ll resume communications in five minutes when the caffeine has started working its way through your system,” Joss declared.
Deke thought this was a good play.
“Thanks, dude,” Rembrandt muttered as Deke handed him his mug.
He didn’t wait to watch after the man started curling up to take a sip. He turned back to the kitchen.
He’d poured his own cup by the time conversation resumed.
“How long are you staying?” Jussy asked her mother.
“I have a client to see Monday afternoon. Rod’s got shit on too. So we have to leave Sunday, late afternoon.”
He watched his woman do another shoulder slump. Now that they were there, she was getting past the surprise, her irritation they showed and why they did, she didn’t like the short visit.
“Though, this place is the…fuckin’…shit,” Rembrandt decreed from the couch. “We’re totally coming back.”
“Next time, though, we’ll let you know,” Joss said to her daughter quietly.
It was and was not an apology.
And while Deke watched her, moving back to his bowl, he saw his gypsy accept it, doing this inaudibly.
“Dude, you’re hittin’ the pancakes, just to say, I like mine doughy, by that I mean, medium rare on the inside,” Rembrandt placed his order.
Deke looked to Jussy and grinned.
She grinned back, shaking her head.
Joss twisted toward the couch.