Read Online Behind Closed Doors by Kimberla Lawson Roby - Free Book Online Page B

somewhere, because any mother who would say some lame mess like that about something that serious couldn’t possibly have it all upstairs.
    Then there was three-year-old William, who could perfectly pronounce the words shit, damn, and fuck but had a blank look on his face when it was time for him to recite his ABCs. At the rate he was going, he’d be lucky if he passed kindergarten.
    Dwelling on her sister’s situation always pissed Karen off. She was sick and tired of giving Sheila money for food and buying clothes for her pitiful niece and two nephews. Hell, she didn’t even have any children of her own, and here she was satisfying the responsibility of some deadbeat father who clearly didn’t give a damn.
    Karen picked up the cordless phone again and punched in her mother’s phone number.
    “Hello,” Lucinda answered.
    “Hey, Mom, how are you doing?”
    “I’m fine. Richard and I were just sitting here watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. What are you and John doing?”
    “John is out getting a pizza, and I just finished talking to Sheila.”
    “I haven’t heard from that girl in over a week.”
    “She said she hadn’t talked to you today, but she didn’t say it had been a whole week.”
    “What was she up to when you called her? Were the kids okay?”
    “I guess they were doing fine, but I really didn’t get a chance to ask her. She got highly upset because I made some comments about Terrance being at her apartment.”
    “She got her check today, didn’t she?”
    “You know she did, or he wouldn’t have had his butt over there.”
    “Mmm, mmm, mmm. It’s just a crying shame how she lets that boy use her like that. I wish that girl would open her eyes. I’ve talked to her over and over again, but she just won’t listen. I don’t know what else to do.”
    “Well, Mom, I know that’s your baby girl, but you’ve got to stop worrying yourself about her. I’m starting to accept the fact that you can’t make a grown person do anything they don’t want to do, and I’m leaving it alone from here on out. All we can do now is pray about it.”
    “I’ve been doing that all along. I just hope our prayers are answered before she messes around and gets herself pregnant again.”
    “I know, Ma, but there’s nothing we can do if shewon’t listen to us. Well, I know you have company, but I just wanted to call and check on you, since I didn’t get to talk to you too long this morning when I was at work. Tell Richard I said hi.”
    “I will. You tell John I said hello, and I love both of you.”
    “We love you too, Mom. I’ll call you either tomorrow or Wednesday.”
    Karen was glad her mother had found a good man like Richard, and it put her mind at ease knowing he was there by Lucinda’s side. She deserved someone like him. The man treated her with more love and respect than any woman could ever hope for and was like a second father to Karen. He’d asked Lucinda more than once to be his wife, but she had never agreed to it. And Karen knew it was only because she was terribly afraid of being hurt again. The same way she had been hurt by her first husband, Karen’s father.
    John put the pizza on the kitchen counter, removed his stone-washed jacket, and threw it on the chair closest to the sink. Karen was sitting at the one adjacent, watching him.
    “Don’t worry, I’m not gonna leave it lying there. I’m taking it upstairs as soon as I finish eating.”
    Karen had heard comments like that a hundred times. “What took you so long?” she asked.
    “Nothing. I wasn’t gone that long, was I?”
    Karen reached over to the drawer, pulled out a miniature-sized steak knife and separated two slices of pizza. “No, but it doesn’t take forty-five minutes to drive over to Golf Road.”
    “It couldn’t have taken me that long,” John said with a smirky grin on his face.
    “You went to some convenience store to play the lottery, didn’t you?”
    “I won’t even deny it, baby. I’ve got a