Tippy’s note: I was working on this for a while and while looking at Part 5 there is a lot going on. There are two separate narratives now blending into one. It felt weird having it all in one place, so I split it. This part is still with Halle, the next part is with Liam. I have to admit, I like writing Halle’s parents. They are fun. Tricky in some ways but fun.
Disclaimer: Choices owns this and I do not.
Halle was pouring a glass of orange juice in the kitchen. She sat casually at the table taking in the silence and solitude. She still had so much to think about. Halle looked at her WhatsApp again. She would start a message and stop.
Liam, I…
Delete.
I am sorry for leaving, but I needed thi–
Nope.
I miss you. I’m sorry. I lo–
Not enough.
She placed her phone screen down on the table and pressed her back to the back of the chair as her mother entered.
“Morning, Halle.”
“Morning, mother.”
“Glad to see that you are awake at a reasonable hour. Wish you were dressed though.”
Halle raised her eyebrow.
“Because we are going out.”
“We?”
“Yes, we,” Joanne clarified. “We have stuff to do today and you are not going to bum around my house for free.”
Halle looked at her blankly.
“It’s not like you have got any plans outside of moping about that boy.”
“That boy?”
Joanne placed her hands on her hips. “Are you being intentionally dense? Have you been bewitched?”
Halle continued to stare at her mother.
“Fine. Come with me because your mother likes shopping with company and your father is determined to stay in.”
The sound of Harrold’s slippers clapping against his heel and the floor could be heard before he was seen.
“Not all days have to be get up and go, Joanie,” He said as he entered the kitchen.
Harrold hugged his wife from behind and she presented her cheek for a kiss. He dutifully kissed her on the cheek and walked over to Halle to kiss her on the forehead before making his way to the fridge.
Joanne sighed. “I suppose they don’t, but I am not going to sit here and be idle. Neither is Halle.”
“Actually, I would very much like to be idle.”
“Baby girl,” Harrold started while his daughter groaned at the juvenile nickname. “While I would like to relax and enjoy some quiet time with a book. I think you should go out with your mother.”
“What! I thought you were supposed to be on my side.”
Her father peered at Halle over the fridge door.
“You know what I always say to that argument.”
Halle deadpanned, “The only side I am on is the side of goodness.”
Harrold nodded. “That’s right. Now go out with your mother. Bond. Breathe fresh air. Let an old man read alone in peace.”
Joanne cleared her throat. “I didn’t think I would have to use bribes on a full ad-dult, but if you come with me there will be jerk crab for you.”
Halle perked up. Her mother was pulling out the stops. Jerk crab was not a frequent occurrence in the Berry household. Joanne usually reserved it for special occasions and when she happened upon some decently priced crab.
“I know you can’t say no to that Halle,” her father bargained.
She looked between her parents. There was clearly some collusion going on. The only thing unclear was to what end.
Harrold narrowed his eyes. “I won’t let you refuse this. Go upstairs and get dressed. I will get the cooler from the garage ready for the crab.”
She hesitated, looking from her mother to her father.
“Go on now.”
Halle wordlessly obeyed her father and went upstairs. Ten minutes later, a casual outfit change of denim shorts and a simple breathable shirt and the two women set off.
***
“Mom, you passed the exit for the market.”
“We are not heading to your average supermarket. I am in the mood for special crab and I want something fresh.”
When Halle heard that she slumped in her seat. What was supposed to be a small outing was clearly going to be much longer.
Twenty minutes into the extended trip and neither mother or daughter have uttered so much of a word. Only silence punctuated by Halle’s sighs.
“This silence is too much,” Joanne started. “I took you out so you would be too busy to mope about like your problems are not your own. I would hope that you would talk about it more if you were going to insist on dwelling on them.”
“There is nothing to say, mom. I ran away from Liam, my fiance, who is a literal king because I didn’t like how being with him changed me. Now I want to talk to him and I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, most conversations start with a salutation. Have you tried saying ‘hello?’”
“It’s not that simple, Mom. I ran from him.”
“They have words you can use when you think you have wronged someone. Like ‘sorry.’”
“I am sorry that I hurt him.” Halle met her mother’s gaze in the rearview mirror before adding, “I am not sorry that I left.”
“Halle, you are about to marry this man. Your lives, your worlds are going to unite and change. Right now I know you feel that because you are marrying up the greater burden of that change falls on you. You have had to accustom yourself to the Cordonian–it’s Cordonian and not Cordonese or some other word–”
“It’s Cordonian.”
“Anyway you have had to live that life but you don’t strip away all of yourself to be there. Some of Halle, and your life before him can live in that fancy palace too. It certainly has the room.”
“I feel like I did strip away all of myself. I agreed to a transvaginal exam.”
“They did what?” Joanne’s eyes widened as she glanced over at her daughter.
Halle nodded. Joanne took a deep breath and continued.
“I know that being there is hard, but I am not trying to victim shame or whatever the internet says is correct, yet I have to ask: what did you think you were getting involved with when getting in bed with a foreign monarch?”
“Mom,” Halle groaned incredulously.
Joanne puckered her lips, waiting for a response.
“I cared about Liam. I felt like that night, talking to him, being around his energy–it was different. He is unlike anyone I have ever met. Still.”
“That is the feeling that you let guide you. Well, that and Jesus. Mustn’t forget God and Christ the King.”
Joanne held a reverent hand to the sky.
“Halle, your father and I have been married for nearly four decades. Love didn’t carry us through all of those years. Some of those times we made it, barely, but we did. That is not because Harrold and I were settling or just staying together for you and Hakim. We have been empty nesters for ten years if it was just you guys holding us together we would have been separated.
We make an active and concerted effort to build and strengthen that bond. If love is doing all of the work of keeping your relationship together, there is no room for it to do what it’s supposed to do. Love eases the burden. It doesn’t carry it for you.”
Halle thoughtfully nodded her head.
“At least with Liam you can do it with high thread count sheets,” Joanne quipped patting Halle on the knee. She chuckled to herself, tickled by her own comment as she continued to drive.
About an hour later, Joanne and Halle arrived in Wilmington. If you were going to shop for crab and you wanted the best available you had to go to the coast. This was true of any seafood, anywhere. The best is always at the coast
Halle breathed in the salty ocean air as she and her mother entered Oceanaire Crab Company. While the storefront was not impressive from the outside, the assortment of seafood within made up for it. Halle looked around the shop. Her sandals clicked on the blue and white checkered floor as she appraised one of the massive lobster tanks. She looked over at her mother who was already haggling with one of the attendants.
The attendant tried to be firm with her mother. “Ma’am. Snow Crab legs are twelve dollars a pound if you are buying over five pounds.”
“And I most certainly am,” Joanne insisted. “I think you can part with twenty pounds for ten dollars per pound.”
“Ma’am I don’t know if I can do that.” The attendant shifted uneasily in his shoes.
“Well, get me someone who can. I’ll wait.” Joanne planted her feet on the ground and folded her arms.
Halle joined her mother.
“Twenty pounds?” she asked, raising her eyebrow.
“You think I should get more?”
“Mom, you do realize that it’s just me, you and dad?”
“Halle, you really underestimate how many pounds of crab you and your father can eat in a sitting. When you were in your teens, you easily put away one-and-a-half pounds.”
Halle balked.
“Besides, I have this feeling that there may be more people coming so I need to have enough.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Before Joanne could answer, a middle-aged man with a dingy mustache and a sheen of sweat walked over to where the women were standing.
The man clasped his hands together before speaking. “So, I hear that you have a problem with my current pricing.”
“I most certainly do young man.”
Fifteen minutes, seven “young mans” and $198 dollars later, the cooler was filled with twenty-two pounds of crab legs and free ice to keep them cool for the 90-minute drive back. On the road, Halle was still asking her mother about her earlier comments.
“So you are just not going to answer the question?”
“What question was that?”
“You said that you have a ‘feeling’ that you were going to need to feed more people. What makes you think that?”
“I just do.–”
“You just–”
“Speaking of which I do not have time to do greens. I may do a salad and some cornbread.”
Joanne roughly turned right, crossing over two lanes. Halle held the handle by the passenger window for dear life as a cacophony of car horns aired behind them.
“Mom!”
“You hush,” her mother sternly chastised.
At their next stop Food Lion, Joanne was perusing the condiments aisle pondering over salad dressings.
“You still like Italian and Thousand Island right?”
“Ye-yes.” Halle thought of the salad dressings the chefs at the palace made with sundried tomato oil and fresh basil, thyme, and oregano. “Can I make the salad dressing instead?”
Joanne smiled.
“I mean, I know you are trying to keep dad somewhat healthy–”
“Which is a task. Let me tell ya.”
Halle nodded. “Well, I remember a recipe I had in Cordonia and it’s definitely heart healthy.”
Joanne looked Halle up and down. “Alright then, Halle. Get the ingredients and meet me at the registers.”
While she was in the produce section getting the fresh herbs for the salad dressing, Halle turned and noticed Rhon by the onions. He looked up and their eyes met. Rhon smiled and made his way over to her.
“Hey, Hal. I see that you are still here. What brings you over to the market?”
“The same thing that brings everyone here. Food.”
“Well you do need to eat,” Rhon appraised her before adding, “You are losing your thickness.”
Halle cocked her head to the side. “My thickness? Maybe this is my grown woman body.”
“If you say so.”
She shook her head. “Anyway, where is Jaleesa?”
“She is with her mother for the next few days. We co-parent. It works for us.”
“I see.”
Halle and Rhon stood for a moment. Both unsure of what to say to the other. They didn’t have to wonder for long as Joanne barreled towards them.
“I said to meet me at the registers and you have me waiting for more than 10 minutes.”
“It’s my fault, Mrs. Berry,” Rhon apologized.
Joanne’s jaw tensed before she took a deep breath and relaxed. She smiled as warmly as she could given her annoyance.
“Hello, Ron. It’s nice to see you again.”
“Nice to see you too Mrs. Berry.” He looked at the both of them and already knew the usual drill when the older woman was around. “I guess Halle and you have to get going.”
“Yes, we do, unfortunately. We have a lot of crab in our car that will not jerk itself.”
“I understand,” Rhon said heading to his cart. “It was nice seeing you again Hal.”
He turned away to continue shopping.
“Wait, Rhon-Ronald. We do have a lot of crab. An extra couple of mouths would be especially helpful.”
“Mom, are you–”
“Yes. Rhon, come to dinner. Halle–I mean–I would love to have you.”
“Are you sure Mrs. Berry? I don’t want to cause any trouble and quite frankly I didn’t think you liked me enough to feed me.”
Joanne sighed. “I’m extending a hand and some crab legs. What do you say?”
“I can’t say no to some free crab. I’m in.”
“Wonderful. Are you done with your shopping? Do you need to make sure some of your ingredients get refrigerated?”
Rhon smiled. Halle stood back unsure what to make of what she just saw. She knew better than to ask questions and just let her mother cook.
The three of them left the market. Halle and Joanne rode in their car and Rhon followed behind them.
“Mom, was this the feeling you had that made you buy over twenty pounds of crab leg?”
“No.”
Halle gave her mother a questioning glare.
“I am a mother,” Joanne reasoned. “I have intuition and go with it.”
Halle started to speak but as they turned on to the street of their house, she noticed that there was an extra car in the driveway. Harrold’s station wagon was in the garage because her mother would be damned than let her father’s car be seen in public next to her home. Halle’s rental Civic was in the front and they were in her mother’s Acura. She checked behind her and Rhon was still tailing them. There was an unaccounted for SUV in the driveway.
As Joanne got closer a thought crossed Halle’s mind.
It can’t be. Can it?
Joanne stopped the car in front of her house. Halle quickly unbuckled her seat belt and bolted for the front door.
“Halle!” Joanne called out after her. “What is the meaning of this?”
Halle turned the unlocked door to enter her home. Her mother’s voice fading behind her.
“I can’t even park in my own driveway. This is some nonsense. The black ass nerve.”
She rushed inside.
He’s here?