After struggling to find a parking spot, I relaxed in my seat while checking the text from Karina that I still hadn’t addressed.
BFF: How is the trip going? You better not be in those damn joggers while you’re down there. Fine shit only, please. Is Quora on your last nerve at that charity event yet?
Me: I’m not wearing joggers. I only brought a jogger set for my flight home. I didn’t go to the charity event. Fuck them people for real. I mean it this time. The entire family can kiss my black ass.
BFF: I’m sorry friend.
Me: It’s cool. I have so much to tell you when I get back to Tampa, we must have a FaceTime date.
BFF: I’ll be waiting.
Me: In the meantime I’ve come up with a theory.
BFF: What’s that?
Me: Most fuck niggas got an ugly ass mama behind them. She never had a man treat her fugly ass good and that’s why she enjoys seeing her son drag a pretty bitch through the mud.
-Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
BFF: Why are you like this?
Me: My soon to be ex-husband’s mama is ugly. Sweet lady when she wanna be, a little dense at times but she’s definitely not a looker at all. Plus your no good first husband’s mama wasn’t a looker either. Moral of the story is I’m never dating a nigga with an ugly ass mama again. They have a sordid track record around here. I’m digging in all future suitors family trees before we take it anywhere. No more all my life I had to fight ass bitches.
BFF:
Me: I’ll call you when I get home tomorrow. I gotta go look up this nigga I’m about to have dinner with mama. Make sure before I even share this meal.
BFF: Oh you better call me as soon as you get settled tomorrow! You went to Miami and let loose. I love this for you.
Me: If I can book a flight tonight I might be back home tonight.
BFF: That bad? Don’t let them stress you. Enjoy your date. If he fine let him scratch the cat. You know you need it!
Me: I have a confession. I don’t even know if she works anymore. I haven’t been horny since I moved out of Quinten’s house.
I went to send Karina another text about how Yaseer reignited something within me, but Benjamin was calling to let me know that he was parking. I took a quick moment to reapply my lip gloss and make sure my hair didn’t look like a bird’s nest, since I hadn’t bothered to do it after my shower. Pleased with my appearance, I stepped out of my car and strutted in the direction of the restaurant, optimistic about my evening with Benjamin.
Benjamin was the perfect gentleman the entire night. We laughed, talked, and enjoyed every bite of our meals without a single awkward pause between us. My first date with another man in twenty-five years gave me an extra boost of confidence that I didn’t even know I needed.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Yaseer Haynes
Iwent back to my hotel room and did my research on Marissa to come up with a few ways to win her over, since my first attempt was a bust. Then I took a nap. The entire weekend was draining as fuck, and I couldn’t wait to get back home. My parents interrupted my nap to invite me to an early dinner, so I obliged. After showering, getting dressed, and calling my driver, Wayne to pull my truck around, I met my parents downstairs.
“Ole man trying to dress like me,” I stated, sneaking up on them from behind.
We were both dressed in the light blue Casablanca shirts that Amill bought us for Christmas last year. I paired mine with a pair of white linen pants and the university blue Dunks, while my dad wore khakis and a pair of brown leather Allen Edmonds oxfords. My mom, never one to be outdone, had on a matching blouse, white slacks, and a pair of baby blue heels that brought her nearly eye-to-eye with my father.
They spun around to face me with smiles wide enough to light up a dark room. My father released the grip he had on mymother’s hand and greeted me with a hug. After he released me, I embraced my mother in a long hug. My parents had the type of marriage that I aspire to be in. No real drama between them, just the type of love that would bounce off them and onto others. Forty years of marriage wasn’t the norm but they were partners, lovers, and friends. I smiled at them because something about this weekend made me crave that.
Always the perfect gentleman, my father helped my mother into the truck, and I claimed the front passenger seat. Then it hit me.
“Oh Amill thinks she slick,” I noted. “She told me she was going to stay at your place tonight, but y’all staying at the hotel this weekend. Oh hell naw!” I sputtered as Wayne eased into traffic.
“Relax, we are having an early dinner because we already planned to go home with Amill. We are going to have a movie night before y’all go back to Tampa in the morning. We didn’t get to spend much time with her this weekend because she wanted to spend time with her cousins,” my mom announced.
“Then it just hit me that Dad wasn’t out on the boat with them,” I noted as Amill’s answering machine picked up.
