Read Online All That Drama by Tina Brooks McKinney - Free Book Online Page B

ass over there. I am not going to take his shit today or any other day for that matter. I told Howard it’s over between Keith and me; why is he still trying to fix this shit that needs to stay broke?”
    “’Cause he’s an old meddling fool that don’t know how to mind his own business,” she exclaimed. “One of these days he is going to stir up the wrong pot and it’s gonna burn his old ass.”
    “Thanks for the warning,” I said, trying to end the conversation at this point.
    “How was it?” she excitedly asked before I had the chance to put the phone back on its base.
    “Ha ha ha. Your husband ain’t the only one in your family tryin’ to get in my business,” I said, laughing. Even though Sherry was old enough to be my mother, I considered her a good friend. She was young in mind and spirit.
    “None of your damned business! Hell, if I told ya, I might have to fight ya,” I exclaimed with a smile and hung up the phone. Although I wanted to talk to someone about last night, I knew better than to speak to Sherry. She just might get drunk her own damn self and start blabbing my business to Tom, Dick, Harry or worst still, Howard or Keith.
    It pissed me off that Keith was still in the neighborhood but hey, it’s a free country. When he first moved out of the house, he would find all kinds of reasons to come back. The only problem was that once he was there, I had hell to pay in order to get him to leave again.
    He came over a couple of weeks ago claiming he wanted to stain the deck. I didn’t ask him to do it and had every intention of doing the job myself. I’d bought all of the supplies and had just changed into some old jeans when his ass showed up. He kept criticizing the way that I was doing it until I finally let him have the brush. It took him all weekend to complete the job! Every time I went to the back door to check on his progress, he would be lying in the lawn chair sleeping.
    The same thing happened the week before when he stopped over while I was cutting the grass. He kept at me until I let him do it. He stretched that job out until way after the sun had gone down. I was not buying the “just happened to be in the neighborhood” since he was staying all the way across town.
    After hanging up the phone with Sherry, I realized that I had missed the perfect opportunity to pump her for information about David. We had done so little talking the night before that I had more questions than I had answers about his background. I knew that I couldn’t call her back so I went to the kitchen to start breakfast.
    I decided on making pancakes and bacon, as they are a big hit with the kids for the sugar, I guess. Besides, I was in the mood for them as well. I wore a smile that stretched from one ear to the next while I mixed the batter and lightly hummed a sweet melody.
    Kevin and Keira were watching television and surprisingly, weren’t fighting about which cartoon to watch. That was temporary and I knew it so I enjoyed the blessed silence. I was just about finished with cooking breakfast and putting it on the table when the phone rang again. “Damn,” I said out loud.
    “Hello,” I demanded and whoever was on the other end of the line hung up as soon as I picked up the receiver. I had hoped that it might be David calling until I realized that he didn’t even have the number. At that point, instead of being relieved that he had left in the early morning hours for the sake of the kids, I felt apprehensive about whether or not I would ever hear from him again.
    My mind played tapes where he would be laughing it up with his boys telling them how he boned me on the first date. Hell, it suddenly occurred to me that he might even talk about it to Howard.
    I shook those unpleasant thoughts away from my mind and finished setting the table. Smelling the aroma from the food, Kevin ran into the kitchen and took a seat. He pulled his plate in front of him and eyed the huge stack of pancakes.
    “Did you wash