So I got my wish. My daughter has the two parent household; I’m just not one of the parents in it. Her father, DeCarious Simmons, is engaged now, and Malaysia goes back and forth to Atlanta with him. I hate her father and his fiancée, Cherise. I wish they both were out of my life for good, but I have about fifteen more years to be bothered with them.
That’s why I’m glad I gave up baller/athlete chasing. I don’t have to worry about all of that anymore. I am with an intellectual now, and very much in like.
My new man, Ian, is earthy and intelligent. He has golden sand-colored skin, shoulder-length dreads, and a goatee that is a few shades darker brown with flecks of blond natural highlights. His eyes are a mesmerizing shade of brown, and to say it plainly, my man is almost as gorgeous as I am. He cares about saving the world, is a vegetarian, recycles, and eats healthy. He would never wear a chain or place a big-ass diamond in his ear, like a lot of my exes.
I’m his complete opposite: I like steaks, fabulous things, and pampering myself. The only cause I fight for is me, and there is nothing natural about me, not even my nails. Though my man isn’t rich, he makes good money as an independent film maker and producer. He’s in the process of getting his first film bought.
Ian is the first man in years whose salary didn’t matter to me. I think it is because: one, I have my own money, and two, he treats me like a queen. And he definitely is my king.
I met my king, Ian, at the black film festival in Miami. I noticed the love of my life a year ago. I was in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton, checking into the hotel. He came up to me and handed me a flyer to his movie screening. I was in Miami to relax, and the African American Film Festival was coincidentally the same weekend.
His screening of Loving Aisha was a short film about a man quitting his job and taking care of his sick wife until she dies. I cried and thought it was amazing and wanted to know why his movie wasn’t everywhere. Maybe I was emotional from going through my own issues with the annulment and custody dispute with my daughter’s father, but after the screening I walked over to him and told him how wonderful I thought his movie was.
I gave him my number, and he invited me to breakfast the next day. He took me out of the tourist district and to a local eatery. By Sunday I was meeting his father and stepmother, who raised him. The following weekend I flew back down, and a month into our relationship I started looking for places, bought my condo, and we moved in together. Ian grew up in Washington, D.C., and holds a degree in African American Studies Film from Howard University. He is brilliant and so kind and giving. Ian came into my life at the right time, because although I had a lot of money, I wasn’t happy.
My daughter was being divided between Philly and Atlanta. I had failed at marriage, and so many other things that I felt responsible for.
His kindness has changed me some. However, we can’t develop fully until I see how his film career takes off. I’m never going to be married to a starving artist.
Exhausted, I came in from my run and showered. I opened the curtains and let in the bright Miami skyline. Ian came out to the balcony with my breakfast. My plate was filled with egg whites, half a bagel, and blueberry yogurt with granola. Ian unlaced my sneakers and then fed me breakfast. It is the little things that you can’t pay for that make him so special. I know it is love because that’s the only reason I look the other way when my thirty-two-year-old boyfriend dresses like a lost college kid. This morning he was wearing tan shorts, a black tee, a vest over the tee, with a straw trilby hat sitting snugly over his dreads.
“Why are you up and dressed so early?”
“I’m going location scouting for this music video. Then from there I’m going to meet up with this producer, who knows DJ Ramir, and he is telling me he can get me a meeting with him.”
“What do you have going on today?”
“I’m not sure yet. Maybe pick up a few things at the mall or sit by the pool. I don’t know.”
“Well, whatever you decide to do, make it memorable. I wish I had the luxury of shopping and stretching out in the sun, but I must go out and make a living.” He kissed my cheek. “Enjoy your day, beautiful.”
“I will.”
I love it when Ian calls me beautiful, because I know he means it. His compliment traveled down my spine and right to my heart. Still, as much as I enjoy the life of a semi-housewife, I have to find something to do with my life and fast. I need a new career or a business to invest in. My thirtieth birthday is at the end of the year, and I only have a couple hundred thousand dollars in the bank that somehow has to turn into millions. I want a new career, because I never want to put back on my scrubs and work as a nurse again. It pays well, but it is too much backbreaking work. I don’t have enough money to live a comfortable life forever. I guess that’s the downside of being in a relationship for love and not for money.
Before I started contemplating my future, I tried to call my friend Tanisha. I hadn’t spoken with her in a while and she had been trying to call me. It’s actually hard for me to talk to her because of our history. Long story short, I told her to go on the run for something she didn’t do. Her boyfriend’s ex was stalking her. She tried to kill Tanisha, but instead Tanisha killed her—or at least we thought she was dead, but it turned out the stalker was alive and in jail, and I told Tanisha to go on the run for nothing. She and I had been through a lot, enough to fill a few books. But then she survived, and life is now going well for her. She’s living in Greece with her husband, Kevin, and her kids. Kevin’s a coach over there. Her daughter is in the military, and her son is in college. Her life is back together, and I feel so much better because I felt like I’d almost destroyed it. Once Tanisha’s mess was cleaned up, I met up with my ex-nanny, Zakiya, and turned her on to her NBA rookie boo. I thought I had done a good thing. Who wouldn’t want to be nineteen and dating a millionaire? But she couldn’t handle all that came with being a basketball player’s girlfriend. She was battling groupies and random people on the Internet. She lost her baby and almost succeeded in killing herself. When her suicide attempt failed, I was so happy I made a pact with God that I would try to live a different life. The key word is try, which means to attempt.
DAFINA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
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New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2012 by Daaimah S. Poole
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
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ISBN: 978-0-7582-4624-0
ISBN-10: 0-7582-4624-2
First Kensington Mass Market Edition: January 2014
eISBN-13: 978-1-61773-033-7
eISBN-10: 1-61773-033-5
Kensington Electronic Edition: January 2014
Another Man Will Page 30
