Read Online I Almost Forgot About You by Terry McMillan - Free Book Online

and almost knock my wine over, but I catch it.
    “Go straight to hell, Georgia. Wait a minute! Who is this headless guy?”
    She holds up the book, and some tall guy in gray bell-bottoms and what looks like a Chubby Checker white shirt whose head I ripped off is standing with his arms around me. “That’s Thomas. You never met him. He’s from Bakersfield and took me to my senior prom and then left with another girl.”
    “You’re lying, Georgia.”
    “If I’m lying, I’m flying. He was weird.”
    Her eyes ask,
What kind of weird?
    “Maybe I’ll see him next year at the reunion! I can hardly wait. Keep turning the pages. You’re bound to find another one.” I pick up a phone book with a peacock on the front. The date on the upper right-hand corner is smudged. But I know that this was my first year in college, which meant it was also my very first phone book, because prior to leaving home I knew everybody’s number by heart.
    “You know what?” Wanda says, even though it’s obviously not really a question. “This is boring as hell and feels like a complete waste of time.”
    “I was sitting here thinking the same thing. I mean, if I don’t remember some of these guys, then they’re not memorable.”
    “What do you have to eat around here? And please don’t tell me chips and salsa. I can eat that at home.”
    “Well, you’re in luck. I bought some smoked salmon and added watermelon radish and shallots and ginger vinaigrette and stuffed it inside two avocado halves. Take it or leave it.”
    “You have any crackers or anything to go with it?”
    “Maybe. Check the pantry.”
    “When are you ever going to turn on your damn stove and invite somebody over for dinner?”
    “It’s no fun cooking for one.”
    “Then invite some-damn-body over! We all miss that weird shit you used to make. It was amazing. We want to be your guinea pigs again.”
    “Okay!” I say as she picks up her hem and starts heading upstairs. “By the time you get back, I’ll have a list of the ones I had sex with, since I spotted quite a few of them in my phone books.”
    “Do you really care how many guys you’ve fucked?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I want to have a general idea how active I was back in the day.”
    “You were an
active
whore. End of story. Which is why this feels like a complete waste of time. Let’s watch
King Kong.
”
    “I wish I could find a man like King Kong.”
    “Is that a no?”
    “It’s a no.”
    “I’m going to get a better bottle of wine while you come up with your long-ass list.”
    “You can’t drive home with this much alcohol in your system, Wanda.”
    “Who said I was going home? I’m sleeping in Frankie’s bed. I want Nelson to wonder if I’ve finally left him.”
    Yeah, right. Like that would ever happen. Their hearts are glued together. And off she goes.
    I grab the yellow pad I brought down here and start writing as fast as possible. By the time Wanda gets back, I think I’m finished. She snatches the paper from me, starts counting softly with her index finger.
    “You slut! There’s like twenty fucking names here. My grocery list isn’t this long!”
    “I’ll bet Violet’s is twice this long.”
    Wanda goes down the list, shaking her head and laughing. “Tell you what. Let’s play a new form of
Jeopardy!
There’s only one category. We already know what it is, so I’ll say his name and you try to describe him in one word—but no more than three or four—and just tell me why he struck out. Okay?”
    “Nathan.”
    “Shouldn’t have been the first.”
    “That’s five words, Georgia.”
    I roll my eyes at her, stand up, and start walking in circles.
    “Darnell.”
    “First one to break my heart.”
    “How old were you?”
    “Don’t ask me questions! You’re ruining the flow.”
    “Okay! Dennis.”
    “Dumb as a post.”
    “David.”
    “No ambition.”
    “Wardell.”
    “Came in thirty seconds.”
    “James Number One.”
    “Ladies’