Mason Jones- Kelvin Harrison Jr.
Marvin Jones- Marvin Sapp
Michelle Jones- Tasha Smith
It would still be a few more days until Mercedes went back home to her parents' house. And even then, it was only because her mother suspiciously moved the Jones Family Friday Night Dinner up to Tuesday. In the truck on the way there, Mercedes was verbally preparing herself for whatever events were about to transpire.
"And if she asks me who I've been with," She said, "I'll tell her I've been with the Hummel-Andersons."
"You actually think she's going to believe that when you don't have a single picture with the baby from the last few days?" Sam frowned.
"Crap. You're right. I'll just tell Kurt to shoot me a picture of her. That will have to do for today." She picked up her phone and sent the message to her friend.
Once they pulled into her driveway, Mercedes was quick to get out so that her parents wouldn't see who was dropping her off. Her brother was just getting out of his car when they arrived. She hoped he didn't notice Sam in the driver's seat.
Mason went over to his sister, giving her a tight hug, "Hey, little sis."
"Hey, big brother." She hugged him back. She and Mason were always really close, and he was the person from back home she'd seen the most since she left. Much to his content, she would always fly him and his wife, Devon, out to L.A. for major holidays. And the one year she couldn't, 2 years ago when Devon had just given birth to their daughter Aubrey, she flew back for one holiday to be with them. "Where are my sister-in-law and niece?" She looked around, not seeing them anywhere.
"Bree wasn't feeling well so Dev is sitting this one out. If you ask me, I think she just wanted to skip dinner to watch This Is Us."
Mercedes shook her head in disapproval. "That is so not fair. If I have to come, everybody's coming."
"I tried to tell her but she wasn't going for it," He said.
They started walking toward the front porch.
"So what's up with you? Actually, wait." He stopped in his tracks. "Real quick," He nodded his head sideways to reference Sam dropping her off, "that's officially happening now?"
Mercedes' expression drew into a tormented frown. "How did y- we didn't even do anything! Don't tell me you know what he smells like, too?"
"What? No." He gave her a confused look. "Did you forget that he's my friend? I know what his truck looks like."
Mercedes decided to not even try to fight it. "Ok, fine. Whatever. Yes, since Friday. But do NOT tell either of them." She pointed into the house where her parents were.
"Friday?" One of Mason's brows raised. "You were the thing that came up Friday night?" He chuckled and shook his head. "Man, he is whipped."
Mercedes rolled her eyes and continued the stroll to the door. "He is not whipped. He just came to Detroit to surprise me at the airport and then take me to dinner and then to his parents' lakehouse." She thought about her statement. "Oh, okay now I see it."
"Hey, fine by me." Her brother smiled and threw his hands back. "I've got free booze every Friday night now for God knows how long. You stay here as long as you please."
The siblings laughed and entered the house. The food smelled great and there were the soothing sounds of 70s soul, one of the Jones family's favorite genres, reverberating through the speakers around the house, but it was hardly a prognostic of how the night was about to go. A part of her wanted to go back and tuck herself under her covers again. She knew her mother would appear any minute.
Luckily, her dad appeared in the small foyer first.
"Babygirl." Marvin jogged over to his youngest daughter to greet her with a hug.
"Hi, Dad." Mercedes' smile reached her ears and she and her father hugged tightly. Her dad had been through some serious rough patches, especially concerning her career choice, but now he was one of her favorite people and biggest supporters. "I missed you so much," She said. "Facetime is nowhere near as good as seeing you in real life."
"Same here, Sweetheart. So, what's going on with you?"
"Oh, nothing much. Wondering why family dinner has been moved up three whole nights. But other than that, nothing much." She laughed awkwardly.
Her father gave her a knowing look. "So you really have no clue what the reason for that is?"
She sighed. "Oh, no, I know 100%. I was just hoping that there was a different reason. A better, less mom-concerned reason."
Marvin chuckled. "Well, it's nice to see you still. Come on and get comfortable. Dinner will be ready soon. I'll get your bags. Where are they?"
"Actually Dad, I'm-"
"Is that my daughter I hear?"
Mercedes braced herself. Time to face the music. "Mom." The tight-lipped smile she put on wasn't as painful as she thought it would be. They hugged. "How are you?"
"Well, I'm much better now that I know that my daughter is alive and well and not lying in a ditch somewhere." She chided.
"Alright, how about we go and set the table, Mercedes?" Marvin beckoned his daughter to follow him before Mercedes could respond.
At the dinner table, the tension was thick and everyone could feel it. Mercedes slimly avoided further admonition from her mom by asking her dad to bless the food. But not long after the family began eating, Michelle was at the ready.
"So, Mercedes, what's been keeping you from coming to see us in the past five days?"
Mercedes gritted her teeth. "I've just been tired, Ma. That's all. But I am here now for family dinner even though it was moved up, so let's just be happy about that. Okay?"
"Okay, fine." Michelle took a sip of her wine. "But I just have to ask, Mercedes."
"Chelle," Marvin cautioned.
"I noticed you weren't at church on Sunday. Too tired for the Lord now?"
"Okay, Mom. I've been with Kurt and Blaine. They have an adorable child who is my god-daughter and we live on opposite sides of the country, so I just wanted to spend some time with her before they left for New York this weekend. Does that satisfy you?"
Michelle perked up at this. "Um, yes it does! I'm sure you have some pictures of that adorable baby?"
"I do, yes—"
"How about we finish eating and then we can take our phones out?" Marvin requested. "It's been a long time since we were all together in person. Let's just enjoy one another's company for a while first."
"Doesn't seem like too many of us are enjoying ourselves, Pop." Mason laughed as he stuck a forkful of mashed potatoes in his mouth.
Mercedes shot him a look.
Mason met his sister's look with an awkward smile as he leaned over to whisper to her. "You sure you don't want some of this wine? Or, I don't know, a shot of Henny or something?"
Mercedes shook her head. "I fear I'd never stop," She whispered back.
The two laughed and continued eating.
The tension had eased a little and there was more general conversation drowning out what was now Aretha Franklin in the background.
"Hey, Mercedes," Marvin called out, "how are things with the label? Last we talked about them, you said they wanted you back in the studio but now, you're here."
"Yeah, I was able to get them to give me a little more time off. They didn't like it, but I can focus on maintaining our relationship when I get back to L.A."
"Bold move." Mason smiled and shook his head.
"I mean, I figured if I worked tooth and nail for them for five whole years, I deserve a little more than a six-month vacay."
"You know you fit an entire year of vacations in that 6 month period," Mason said. "London, Barbados, Costa Rica, New York, and didn't you go to Brisbane for like, 2 days? You've been all over the place."
"What can I say? I like to travel and I wanted to have some time to myself to live and experience and write. It was really nice, too. Especially Barbados"
"I've been telling him that!" Mason pointed to their dad.
Marvin rolled his eyes. "He says we should take our next family vacation there."
"Oh, my gosh. We totally should." Mercedes smiled as she helped herself to another round of mashed potatoes. "I stayed in this breathtaking hotel. I'll show you pictures— after dinner, of course. It's so beautiful there."
"And don't even get me started on the food."
"Praise." Mercedes decided to try conversing with her mother. "These potatoes are really good, Mom. Did you put buttermilk in them?"
"Mmhmm. Thank you." Michelle smiled at the compliment. "If you think those are good, you should try some of that asparagus. I put just as much of my foot in those as I did the potatoes."
Mercedes dropped her fork and looked across the table at her mother. "Really, Mom?"
"What?"
"It's not enough to give me the third degree on why I haven't shown up in the past few days. Now you want to monitor my eating habits too? At Friday Family Dinner on Tuesday night?"
"I was just making a suggestion about the asparagus," Michelle told her daughter. "It's delicious and plus, it's much better for you than all those carbs, Baby. If you keep eating them, your relationship with the label won't be the only thing you'll have trouble maintaining."
"Michelle, come on now." Marvin was quick to come to his daughter's defense as always.
"See? That right there." Mercedes pointed at her mom. "That's why I was pushing off coming back here and why I wanted to blow this whole thing off." She scooted her chair back and got up. "You know, I think I'm just going to go back to S-" She caught herself, " Burt and Carol's. I'll see you guys later."
"Hey, Mercedes, don't go." Marvin rose from his chair in an effort to stop her. He looked at his wife. "Chelle. Our baby girl is finally home again after all these years. Now, she's been in putting in her time in L.A. for the past five years and I bet they've had her on all sorts of diets. Ones that we don't even know exist. If she wants to come to her home and fill up on mashed potatoes or ice cream or whatever else, let's just let her." He shrugged. "Okay, what's the harm in that?" He turned to his daughter. "Mercedes, can you sit back down, please? So the four of us can all just try to enjoy what's left of this dinner together?"
Mercedes' narrow eyes scanned her parents' faces.
"Merce," Mason called out to her.
She looked over at him. He tilted his head and extended his arm as if to say 'Just give it a chance.'
After engaging in a silent stare-off with her brother, she huffed and slumped back down in her chair with her arms crossed.
"Okay." Marvin breathed a sigh of relief. "Now let's enjoy the rest of this delicious meal. And let's try to think about the things we say before we say them." He directed his gaze on that last part to his wife.
Daughter and mother eyed one another.
"Mercedes, can you uncross your arms, please?"
She whipped her head to look at him, "But Dad, I'm not—"
"Mercedes Jones, uncross your arms while you're at this table. I won't tell you again." Marvin assumed his dad voice.
Mercedes uncrossed her arms but kept her childish pout and slacked posture.
As if on cue, the saxophones of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" found its way into the atmosphere.
"Well would you look at that." Marvin smiled. "Reverend Al Green preaching to us through the speakers."
Underneath the table, Mason tapped his sister's foot with his own. He gave her a reassuring smile, thanking her silently.
Rolling her eyes, she straightened up a little and continued eating.
"Now, I've got an amazing joke I've been saving just for this occasion." Marvin sat up eagerly. "Did you hear about the new photo-sharing app for Thanksgiving pictures?"
Everyone at the table groaned.
The rest of the dinner went by without Michelle or Mercedes saying much. Neither speaking unless spoken to. But the Jones men knew not to test the waters too much, so they pretty much stuck to conversing with one another.
When Michelle hopped up to clean the kitchen, Mercedes hopped up right after.
"I'm going to get going now," She said. "Dad, are my keys in the dish?"
"They are, yeah. But let me talk to you for a second, Mercedes. Go ahead to the door." Marvin got up and went to the kitchen.
Mercedes got up and went over to the door where the key dish was. Picking up her keys, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over it. "Boy, get your hands off of me."
Mason smiled. "I'm just trying to offer you some consolation after that disaster of a dinner."
"Maybe if you wanted to offer some consolation, you wouldn't have used your evil little eyes to convince me to stay." She pushed him jokingly.
"Well, look at it this way." He laughed. "At least you know that's probably the worst it's gonna get while you're here."
"Uh, I wouldn't be so sure about that," Mercedes said obviously.
"Why not?"
She looked at him. "Sam?"
Mason gasped. "She doesn't know?"
"I hadn't even told you yet. What makes you think I even had an interest in telling her?"
"Damn, sis. Cruisin' for a bruisin'."
"Tell me about it."
"So, you're bringing him to the next dinner?"
"Not if I can help it." She shook her head. "Because once I do that, all hell will absolutely break loose."
Mason looked at his watch. "Either way, you know I'm here for you and I'll do my best to come to your defenses, but I've gotta head out now." He moved to hug her. "I enjoyed seeing you, even though this dinner was a damn mess. I'll call you?"
"Alright." She hugged him back. She turned to him as he walked out the door. "Give Wife and Baby my love."
"Got you."
Waiting on her dad, she sent Sam a text message.
The Jones Family Dinner to end all Jones Family Dinners. Kill me now or bust out all the alcohol you have.
A few seconds later he responded.
If family dinners did ever end, at least you wouldn't have to put up with your dad's jokes anymore. "No, Mr. Jones. I don't know what Whitney Houston's favorite type of coordination is."
Looking down at her phone, Mercedes laughed audibly.
"I think that's the most I've heard you laugh all night." Marvin came up behind her.
She looked at her dad as he came into her view. "I don't need you to have a word with me or tell me how disrespectful I'm being. I already know."
"I'm not going to do that." He shrugged.
Mercedes let out an exasperated breath. "I try with her, Dad. I try really hard."
"I know."
"And it's like the more I try, the more ways she finds to criticize or get on to me," She said frustrated.
"I know, which is why it means a lot to me that you stayed." He affirmed. "And if it's not too much to ask, I'd like you to keep coming back. I'm going to have a sit down with her and put this to bed."
"We'll see." Mercedes lied. She'd seen enough. She hugged her dad and went to leave.
"Aren't you going to take Sam a plate?" Marvin asked as she reached the door.
She turned around. "Did Mason say something to you?"
The older man shook his head. "Who do you think he called to ask if he could pick you up on Friday night?"
"That was you?"
"Let's just say," He pulled out his phone, "Mom hasn't been calling and wondering where you are because I've kept her updated. And I've kept her updated because Sam has kept me updated." He handed her the device. "In case you're not able to pick up on it, you're 'The Eagle'."
She smiled sweetly. "So you were in on it the entire time?"
"I know how happy he's made you in the past and I knew that he was still important to you. Plus, I have a good feeling about him. So anything I could do to make you a little happier, I want to do it. No question."
"Thank you, Daddy." Mercedes hugged her dad tight. "Thank you so much."
"Of course, Babygirl." He offered her the to-go plate. "Now hurry and get back home to him. I'll see you soon enough."
She smiled as she left the house and went to her car. Maybe her dad deserved a little more credit than she liked to give him at times.
Whew! So Michelle is kind of a mess. It's going to be extremely interesting to see what she has to say about our beloved couple. How do y'all think she'll react? I've got the next few chapters already written up, but I'd love to know what y'all would like to see in the story? If there's someone or something you want to see more of/know more about? I'm open to suggestions! Till, then, I hope you enjoyed and the next chapter will be up soon. Bye!
