Read Online God Don't Play by Mary Monroe - Free Book Online

mother pay bills. I didn’t have the choices you have.”
    “You mean you won’t talk to Mama?” Jade whined.
    “I didn’t say that. But I don’t have a good argument to work with.”
    “Will you at least give it a try? Oh, Auntie, I don’t ask you for much. Please do this one thing for me. If you do, and Mama and Daddy say no anyway, I can live with that. And I promise you I won’t ask for anything else for…uh…for a real long time.” Jade gave me one of her puppy-dog looks before she bit her bottom lip. “You can say that it’ll be good experience for me to work at your office for a while longer. I will be making my own money, I will be getting some work experience. And it would sweeten the pot if you gave me a nice raise…”
    “I’ll talk to your mother, but you know how stubborn your daddy is.” I sighed, rolling my eyes.
    “Well, Daddy will go along with whatever Mama says. If you can get to her, Daddy won’t have a choice but to go along with my plan.”
    I let out a deep breath and handed the tray back to Jade with most of the food untouched. “I’ll talk to your mother.”
    A huge smile appeared on Jade’s face. “Thank you, Auntie.” She turned to leave the room.
    “Jade, can you bring me a phone? I’d better call Pee Wee and let him know where I am,” I called after her. “I didn’t think to leave him a note.” I felt my hair. It was so matted and knotty it felt like I had on a spiked helmet.
    “He knows you’re here. I called him up early this morning myself, and I told him everything,” Jade told me, talking over her shoulder.
    I gasped and swung my legs to the side of the bed. “Everything?”
    Jade stopped and turned to face me again. “Yes, I…oh, not that. I didn’t tell him about that snake, or that note that somebody sent to you, or that nasty phone call you got. Mama said that you should be the one to do that,” Jade said with a distant look on her face.
    I let out a sigh of relief.
    Jade gave me a pitiful look and returned to the side of the bed. “Auntie, you should tell him as soon as you get home.”
    I looked past Jade toward the window. August was such a beautiful time of the year in Ohio. A lot of people complained about the heat, but that was one of the things that I enjoyed most about the month. I never waited for Labor Day to arrive; I started having cookouts before the holiday. Like today. A barbecue in my backyard would be a great way to welcome Pee Wee and Charlotte back from Pennsylvania.
    Telling them that somebody hated me was one thing that I would put off doing for as long as I could. But I couldn’t bring myself to tell Jade that. “Jade, you have to promise me that you won’t tell your uncle Pee Wee, Charlotte, your friends, or anybody else about…what happened.”
    Jade tilted her head to the side and made a sweeping gesture with her hand. “I won’t. I just told you that Mama said you should be the one to tell Pee Wee,” she said with one eyebrow raised. “I don’t want to get in your business. You know me better than that, Auntie.”
    I nodded. “And I will talk to your mother for you as soon as I get her alone. And don’t worry, she’ll listen to me. She always has.”

CHAPTER 12
    A fter Jade left the room, Rhoda wandered in, looking like she had just stepped off the cover of Essence magazine. She wore a bright red sleeveless blouse and black jeans, and a pair of shiny, see-through sandals. Her hair and makeup were flawless.
    “Are you all right?” she asked, winding her watch, tossing her hair back.
    “I’m fine. Uh, let me say this before I lose my nerve,” I said, my words almost running together.
    Rhoda stopped winding her watch and stood by the side of the bed looking at me with a puzzled expression on her face. “Say it, then.” She shrugged.
    “Jade doesn’t want to go off to college until next year.”
    “Is that all?” Rhoda said, looking relieved.
    “She said that she wants to work for me a little while