Page 13 of Anything Goes

“Of course not, but I’m talking about your future. It’s not easy being a single mother and finding a man that’s willing to accept a woman with children…”

Frowning, I said, “Wait a minute, are you serious right now? Are you trying to tell me that if I'm not with your son, I'm going to be alone?”

“I mean, not exactly, but the chances of—”

“Okay, I’m good on this conversation. Layne, let’s go,” I yelled towards the back of the house.

“Wait a minute, Alauni. I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say.”

“No, I think I heard you loud and clear. The problem is, I'm not willing to accept that. I'm an amazing woman. My smile is genuine, my laugh is genuine and so is my heart. There's a man out here that sees all of that and knows how to treat me. Oh, and trust me, he's not fucked up about me having a child. All I have to do is say the word and he's ready to be with me. But at the end of the day, I don't need a man to want to be with me in order to feel good about myself. I can do that shit all on my own,” I said, looking at her like she was crazy. “My strength comes from within. I'm good with or without a man, and I know I can find one with just the snap of my damn finger. So, do me a favor and keep that bullshit idea that your son is the only one for me, to yourself. I'm not about living a life of being trampled on just so a man can find his way. The man I want in my life will already know where he's going and will be well on the path to getting there.”

Rochelle remained still, her eyes wide with confusion.

She didn’t know what to say, which was exactly the way I wanted it.

For years, I'd listened to her sly ass comments about how today’s women needed to focus on being there for their men. She would go on and on about the necessity of a man finding the right one in order to be taught how to love. Never should I have to teach a man how to love me. If that wasmyjob, then what the hell was she for?

“Mommy!” Layne squealed as she raced into the living room, her two ponytails swinging from one side to the other.

As soon as she jumped into my arms, I kissed the little freckles that were sprinkled all over her chubby cheeks.

“Hey. Did you have fun hanging out with your Gigi?”

“I did. Gigi took me to the zoo right after school yesterday. I have pictures on my phone. You wanna see?”

“When we get home, baby. We need to get going?”

“Okay. Bye, Gigi,” Layne said, turning back to wave.

“Bye, baby girl, I’ll see you soon. Give me a hug.”

Layne hurried around the table and gave her a hug.

Rochelle was playing it cool, but I could tell that it was taking everything in her to hold her tongue.

But she didn’t have a choice.

No matter what, she was always going to play nice in front of her granddaughter, and I was banking on that.

“We’ll talk later,” Rochelle said, looking up at me.

Reaching for Layne’s hand, I shook my head. “Nah, we’re done here. Have a good day.”

6

Law

“Well, this is quite the surprise,” Tokyo said stepping aside to let me through the front door.

“It wouldn’t be if you would actually pick up the phone when I call.”

“First of all, you knew I was at work. I can’t just run to the phone every time it rings. If I did that shit, patients would die.” She shrugged. “Besides, I called you back, but you didn’t answer.”

I cleared my throat, thinking back to when she called. I was tongue deep in Alauni. There was no way I was pulling back to take a call from my sister. Especially since her ass had avoided me for most of the day.

“Well, I’m here now and we need to talk.”

“About?” she replied before shoving her hands into the pockets of her scrub pants.