and she’s grown into a hot-to-trot boy chaser too. She can’t like the good ones, always has to go after the hardheads.”
Gwen didn’t comment, remembering how nice guys like her brother had finished last with Chantay as well.
Sharonna said nothing either, just squirmed as the question of whether she could go with her friends threatened to erupt from her mouth yet again. Knowing if she stomped off, that would surely get her an ix-nay on the all-may, she walked over to the living room and slouched down on the couch.
“Get your butt on out of here and don’t make me have to come looking for you!”
The last part of Chantay’s sentence was to Sharonna’s back, as her daughter covered the distance between the couch and the front door in two seconds flat. Her “bye” came after the door was already closed.
“She’s just like you,” Gwen said, laughing.
“I know. That’s what I’m afraid of,” Chantay replied. “I made sure she’s on the pill but still….”
“She’s sexually active?” Gwen tried not to be judgmental, but thought sixteen too young for intimacy.
“Girl, please, for at least a year. Be glad you don’t have kids. Especially living here in LA.”
“Things sure are different than when we were growing up.”
“Hmph. Not too…”
Gwen fixed Chantay with a questioning look. “How old were you?”
Chantay sighed and walked behind the bar counter into the kitchen.
“Can I get you something? You want a glass of wine?”
“No, I never drink and drive. What else do you have?”
Chantay poured a glass of orange juice for Gwen and for herself a glass of wine. While talking, she motioned them over from the combination dining room-kitchen area to the living room, where bright sunlight streamed in through the patio doors.
“Girl, I thought you knew Mike took my cherry when I was fifteen.”
Gwen was shocked. “No!”
“What, you thought Robert was the first?”
“Ooh, girl, stop. The last thing I need is a reminder that you and my brother did it.”
“You always were kinda prudish, weren’t you?”
“With two brothers acting like bodyguards, threatening their friends if they hurt me, what do you expect?”
“What about after we graduated, when your brothers weren’t around? Joe was what, only your second or third lover? And you never talked about y’all’s sex life. Must not have been that good.”
“Contrary to what you believe, Chantay, sex isn’t everything.”
“Trust, you’re just talking nonsense ’cause you haven’t had that kitty petted right yet.”
“Uh, I think that’s a good note on which to change the subject. Are you coming with me to the shop?”
“No, my neighbor’s going to redo my braids.”
“I thought that was part of our hang-out time, getting our hair done,” Gwen protested.
“I’ll still get a mani/pedi and a facial. That’s about how long it’ll take for you anyways.” Chantay paused and took a long swallow of merlot. “So give me the update.”
“On what?”
“What else? Ransom!”
Gwen got up from the couch and peered through the patio door into the August sunshine. “Why did I ever even ask you about him?”
“Because I’m your friend and you want my advice on catching his fine ass. If he’s anywhere close to the man you described…baby! You’d better strike while the iron is hot.”
“I’m not going to strike anything. I only asked about him because he didn’t look like any of the families we grew up with.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And I find him exasperating; he acts as if he knows I’m going to give in to his flirtations and that just makes me more determined to stay away.”
“I see.”
Gwen came back and flopped on the couch. “Obviously you don’t. He’s probably screwed half the women in town, and I never was the type who wanted to be at the end of a long list. You remember how many of our classmates used to lie and say they’d had me just because nobody had. And you know the mantra Mama drilled into me every week. Keep your panties up and your dress down, hon, else you’ll end up on the—”
“Front page of the Sienna Sun!” Gwen and Chantay finished together.
“How old is he?”
Gwen shrugged her shoulders. “Younger than me. Now that you mention it, he’s probably quite a bit younger than me. Strike two.”
Chantay rolled her eyes. “For a woman married ten years, you sure sound naive. The younger they are, the better, girl. All that stamina, plus you can train ’em.”
“No, Chantay, you can. Any child I teach will be in my first-grade class room. This is a moot conversation because of strike three—I’m still married. Have you forgotten that?”
“No, but I wish you would. Because you’re not really married, just waiting to go before the judge to make your divorce final. Does it look like Joe is waiting until the divorce is official? He barely waited until the ink was dry on your petition. Oh, my bad. He didn’t wait. He started screwing his little Mitzi mistress before there even was a petition.”
“Are you trying to piss me off?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time, won’t be the last. Sure you don’t want one glass of wine before we leave?”
12
Gwen turned the corner onto her block and was surprised at what she saw: Adam’s Porsche parked by the curb in front of her mother’s house. A slight frown formed on her face as she parked behind it. What was he doing here? Had she rebuffed him to the point where he’d gotten school administrators to rescind their job offer? Gwen needed this job, not just for the money, but for her sanity. She tried to remain calm as she opened her car door and walked up the steps, but by the time she put her key in the front door lock, she was a bundle of nerves.
“Where the hell have you been?” was the unexpected greeting that met her own incredulity in the audacity of the man before her.
“What do you mean, ‘where have I been’? What are you doing in my house?” In a rare move, Gwen walked toward Ransom instead of away from him, pointing her finger at his chest.
Crossing his arms over his chest in a gesture as defiant
