Summer and Karen exchanged a look. “Well, uh, yeah…I guess.” Karen stammered. This was just so weird, having this sideline conversation with an elderly stranger.
Grandmom was serious. She held up three pairs of lace boy shorts underwear in black, white, and pink.
Looking at each other again, the friends erupted into a fit of laughter as they both high fived the elderly woman. “I think I better get me a few a pair of those boy shorts,” Karen commented as they made their way over to the panty table near Ava and Starr.
“What’s so funny?” Starr and Ava both wanted to know. “We heard you two all the way over here laughing like hyenas,” Ava added.
Summer told them of their exchange with the older woman. Just as she finished her story, the woman walked past, stopping long enough to say, “Remember what I told you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” they both answered.
“Lord have mercy, that woman looks like the little old lady from All About the Benjamins,” Starr said, laughing.
Laughing, Ava said, “Yup, she sure does!”
“I think I have everything for now.” Karen said looking at all the sexy lingerie, panties, and bras in her black mesh shopping bag. She was going to pay a small fortune. But she didn’t care as long as she didn’t look like Grandmom Moses coming to bed.
“If y’all are ready we can head to the register and then go to the food court to get something to eat.”
Without waiting for a reply, Karen pivoted on her heels as the others followed. She couldn’t wait to see the look in Dom’s eyes when he saw her in her sexy new wares.
The food court was rather busy for a weekday afternoon. Most likely the volume of shoppers was due to having the holiday season off from work or school. Karen and the gang sat, talking leisurely after finishing their lunch. They were oblivious to the small crowd of teenagers the next table over lively carrying on about who said what on Facebook. This had been the first time in months they’d been alone to just sit back and enjoy each other’s company. The previous months they had been helping Ava prepare for her upcoming nuptials. Something as minor as a few rowdy teenagers wasn’t going interrupt a thing.
Munching on a piece of ice, Starr asked Ava, “So how is Lady B? Is she behaving?”
Everyone snickered. Lady B was their code name for bitch when they referred to Beatrice Warrington.
“The old bird is doing.” Ava shifted in her seat to lean her elbow on the table as she rested her chin in her palm. “I never thought I’d see the day when that woman was truly sorry for anything she’d done.”
Summer playful slapped Starr’s arm. “Stop crunching on that ice! You know that sound drives me crazy.” She laughed when her friend stuck her tongue out at her. Turning her attention to Ava, Summer commented, “I think you’re right. I bet it took lots of courage for her to admit in front of your family and friends everything she had done to you, Zoe, and Langston.”
Ava answered, “That’s how I know she meant it.” Ava leaned back in her chair. “Shoot, there was a time old Lady B would have rather cut her throat than admit she was wrong.”
Karen let out a soft, miserable sigh. She had debated for the past couple of days whether she would share with her friends about Gregory’s parents popping up, demanding to see the children. As she sat listening to the others go on about giving Beatrice a chance to prove herself since she seemed sincere at wanting to be part of a family, Karen wondered if her former in-laws had been sincere. No. They weren’t sincere at all. They hadn’t come back asking for forgiveness for how they had treated her and the kids after Gregory’s death. They hadn’t said they were sorry for abandoning her and the children, their own flesh and blood. They weren’t apologetic for telling her they had never really cared for her and that their son could have done better. Though all this was precisely true, a minute part of Karen wondered if she was doing the right thing by not allowing them to see Ashley and Kyle.
The barely audible sound Karen made hadn’t gone unnoticed by her sister. “What’s wrong, Big Sis?’
The concern in her sister’s voice was enough to bring her to tears. Because she hadn’t talked with Dom any further about her second guessing herself on whether she should allow the kids to see their paternal grandparents, Karen needed to unload.
“Gregory’s parents want to see Ashley and Kyle.”
“What!” Starr yelled, drawing the attention of the rowdy teenagers at the neighboring table. When they stopped their chattering to stare at them, Starr snapped, “Turn around. What are you looking at?”