Getting to the Good Part
Page 36
I mean, how could I be sitting there planning anything with him in the first place? My ass was so volatile, how the heck could I expect to be able to deal with him?
Half the time, I didn’t know how I was going to be from one day to the next.
On top of that, it’s not like he and I had a sane relationship. It was a roller-coaster ride that had been founded on vengeance, deception, and sex.
I cut my eyes over at him again, my hand upon my belly.
Shit. I loved him so.
I let out a heavy sigh and stuck out my bottom lip.
“Stop worrying about things that you can’t control. I’m not going anywhere, girl.”
My heart stopped on a dime.
“What?!!”
“You heard me,” he said softly, putting his hand on my leg. “Stop worrying about the future. The future will take care of itself. Let’s just do this thing day by day. That’s all we can do. Take it day by day, and minute by minute. Ye yo, ye yo.”
My mouth curled up into a smirk.
“You make me sick,” I mumbled.
He rubbed my leg soothingly.
“Oh yeah? Why is that?”
“ ’Cause… you think you know me! Your ass don’t know me. You don’t know nuthin’ about me!”
“If you say so,” he chuckled.
“I know so!” I snapped.
“A’ight, baby, whatever you say. But let’s put it this way… I know enough.”
I couldn’t help but smile, so I chewed on my bottom lip to keep it from showing.
I rubbed my stomach, my hand trying to feel for the bud of a baby within.
I was still a little scared. Okay… a lot scared. This baby would affect my career and introduce a whole ‘nother person into my life, on top of me dealing with this marriage thang.
It meant that I was really going to have to be responsible now. Responsible for how I did everything. Not just ripping and running and doing whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted to do it.
I couldn’t just act any old kind of way, either. There were a lot of changes I was going to have to make, to be the kind of parent I knew my child deserved to have.
“Guess what?” I blurted.
“What’s that, babe?”
“I’m going to stop cursing.”
“Oh really?” he chuckled. “And what brought about this drastic decision?”
“You say that like I curse all the time!” I snapped. “Like I’m addicted to it or something!”
“Well…”
“Fuck you, Dandre!”
He burst out laughing. I couldn’t help but laugh at it, too.
“That’s all right, sweetie,” he said in a patronizing voice while patting my knee. “I’ll work with you on it. We’ll hold each other’s hands and quit this cussin’ thang together, okay?”
“Bite me,” I quipped.
“Don’t get mad, ‘toine,” he teased.
I cut my eyes at him.
How could I be mad at him? The good part of it all was that I knew Dandre would definitely step up to the plate, even after I told him about the baby. And he’d be happy to be there with me. Lock, stock, baby, curse words, and all.
I suddenly had another thought.
“Hey.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Are we riding off into the sunset?” I asked.
Dandre laughed.
“Yeah. I guess you could kinda say we are.”
I nodded slowly, chewing on my bottom lip again.
“So… who saved who?”
“What?” he asked, glancing over at me. “Saved who from what?”
“You know what I mean!” I said with exasperation. “The man is always saving the woman at the end. Here we are, in your white Z. You may as well be the knight on a white horse. This shit is as hokey as it gets.”
“Well… you weren’t a damsel in distress, if that’s what you mean. I’m surprised you even said yes to marrying me. You act like you don’t need nuthin’ from nobody.”
I stared ahead at the road, still chewing on my lip.
“So you don’t consider yourself as my savior or anything?” I finally asked, looking over at him.
“Hell no! Save you! Woman, please! You can fight your own battles and slay your own dragons! You don’t need me for jack!”
He grew quiet for a moment.
“Come to think about it,” he said curiously, “why are you with me? What can I do for you that you can’t do for yourself?”
“Exactly!” I exclaimed. “You can’t do anything for me that I can’t do for my damn self!”
Dandre smiled.
“All right, Miss Bad Ass. I guess you told me.”
“Don’t forget that.”
“Sheesh… ,” he laughed, “how can I? But I want you to always be aware of one thing.”
“What’s that?” I asked, cutting my eyes at him suspiciously.
“Just remember… I don’t need you, either. It’s not like I’m some punk-ass negro. I was mackin’ before your triflin’ behind came along.”
Dandre was staring at me as he said this.
Both my eyebrows shot up at once and my lips balled up.
He burst out laughing and stared back out at the road, delighted at the reaction he’d gotten.
“See there?” he said. “Don’t feel so good when people just slam you with insensitive remarks, does it?”
I said nothing. I just sat there sucking on my bottom lip, sulking.
We rode along in silence for a few miles, both of us staring out into the horizon.
My hand was still on my belly. His hand was still on my leg. He moved it a little in a rubbing motion.
“I’m with you because I love you,” I mumbled reluctantly. “I’ve never really loved anyone like this before.”
Dandre said nothing. He just let me talk.
“And you give me a lot of things. You give me love. You give me comfort… security… nurturing.”
He was still silent.
“And every now and then, you slang it real good, too.”
“Hmph!” he chuckled softly. “Glad to be of service.”
“I want to share my life with you,” I said. “I’m not doing it because you’re saving me or anything. I’m doing it because I want to be here.”
“Are you talking to me or yourself?” he asked.
“Both of us, I guess.”
“Well, I ain’t mad at cha.”
We were both quiet again, as the miles rolled away beneath us.
“So I guess we kinda saved each other, huh?” I offered.
I looked over at him, waiting for a response.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “I guess you could say that. But actually, neither one of us was in any real distress.”
“Right,” I agreed.
He rubbed my leg as he made a humming noise under his breath.
“I’ve got an idea,” he said. “Why don’t we say we’re just riding off into the sunset because we want to. Just because it’s there.”
I grinned.
“I like that.”
“Good,” he said, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek. “I like it, too. I don’t think we could have picked a prettier sunset to ride off into.”
“Word.”
He took his hand off my knee and took my hand from my belly. He elapsed it tightly in his.
We sat there like that, rolling on the road, feeling the hum of the car buzzing up simultaneously through our bodies.
Symmetry in motion.
Separate, but in sync.
This thang might work, I thought. If I roll with it, it might come together just fine.
At least I could say with a fair amount of certainty that he was putting in the same amount of juice that I was giving.
And, as far as I was concerned, that was all that mattered.
Ye yo. Ye yo.
Perched on Misty’s finger was a five-carat rock.
“Rick gave it to me this afternoon.” Misty’s eyes were
moist “Ton gon’ be my maid-of-honor, right, girlfriend? I want yon to help me with everything!”
For her sake, I forced a smile onto my face…
The sistahs are back! Serious-but-savvy Misty Fine and outrageous Reesy Snowden take on New York, mad success, and hot men in ways that make even the Big Apple blush. Now a star in a sizzling off-Broadway musical, Reesy isn’t about to forever lose her best friend Misty to marriage. And she sure isn’t going to let rich Dandre Hilliard—her “Worst enemy in life”—get away with almost wrecking her reputation. So what’s a fired-up, brilliantly devious sistah to do? Show her friend the “truth” about her seemingly oh-so-wonderful fiance… and wreak the perfect payback on Mr. Smooth-and-Sexy Dandre. But when Reesy’s wild schemes start backfiring big-time, she and Misty must face the truth about themselves, their dreams, and just how much their scandalous, crazy-from-the-heart friendship can—and can’t—survive.
“THIS SISTAH REALLY KNOWS HOW TO DELIVER A STORY!”
—E. Lynn Harris, author of If This World Were Mine
“A JOYOUS RIDE THAT SNAPS, CRACKLES, AND POPS EVERY MINUTE OF THE WAY.”—Victoria Christopher Murray, author of Temptation