Page 69 of Pride and Protest

“What are you talking about?”

“A man just offered you a home, a six-figure job, some social standing, and you throw bell hooks at him?” Bev read the spine of another book. “He poured out his heart to you, and you threw Zora Neale Hurston at his penis? This man can fix every. Single. Thing. Wrong with you in a snap of his fingers. Just who do youthink you are? Drop-dead gorgeous like Janae? Funny and lively like my Deya? Or, hell, a man like Maurice?”

“I don’t think I’m any of those, Ma.”

“You’re damn right you’re not, so act like it. If you don’t know a meal ticket when you see one, I’ve never taught you anything.”

“I don’t want to spend my life using someone.”

“Why not?” Bev said. “Men will use you up. They will take your youth, your joy, your beauty, and leave you with babies. Uneven trade, if you ask me.”

“Dang, Mom.” LeDeya’s eyes peered over at Liza from behind Bev. They were secret sister eyes.I understand you, but I can’t stand with you.

“Whoever you’re waiting for, Liza, the perfect man with no problems, who’s rich and will take all of your troubles away, he doesn’t exist.” Bev’s face was suddenly cold and serious. “You need to get your head out of books and into the real world. Colin is what a good man looks like. Your granny’s gonna have a fit when she hears this.”

Bev stormed to the back of the apartment with Liza trailing after her and pulled a still sleepy Granny out of the bed. She had deep brown skin and a wide, bulbous nose that sat on her face like a wise Buddha. Her full cheeks and deep dimples gave her an ageless mischievousness that everyone loved. Liza couldn’t bear her granny being disappointed in her.

“Colin asked Liza to marry him. Live in his new town house in Alexandria and meet with senators. He had a job lined up for her, making good money, and this fool told him no. I have half a mind to kick her ass all the way down the street,” Bev threatened.

Granny yawned. “Well, you got your answer right there, child.”

Liza’s eyebrows wavered.Granny too?

“Your mom is going to kick your ass if you don’t go with Colin, andI’llkick your ass if you do.”

Ledeya burst through the door into Liza’s bedroom. “Look at David’s Insta. Is this real?”

Liza stared at the shot of David with a playful smile biting into a croissant, the Arc de Triomphe artfully framed behind him.#Parisinthespringtime #6weekfoodbaby

“He’s in Paris?”

“When?”

“Why didn’t Janae tell us?” Liza asked, then squinted at LeDeya’s Instagram. “How did you get this many followers? Momma just let you get an account three months ago!”

LeDeya snatched the phone back. “People are looking for marketable content.”

“Marketable content?Who have you been speaking to?” Liza asked. She didn’t have time to be agog at her sister’s fifty thousand followers because Janae walked in.

“Who kicked your dog?” she asked. She had been packing for interviews in New York and had nearly cleaned out all the closets in the apartment. The woman needed an outfit for every mood.

Janae had secured an interview not only for the position she applied for, but from four other large companies in the same week. She had made arrangements with her father’s family to stay for the week. This was interesting to Liza for a few reasons:

Janae had talked to her father, a man she avoided in her adulthood as much as he had avoided her in her youth.

She could easily plan and manage multiple job interview prep documents and schedules without getting overwhelmed anymore.

Only Janae could fill out one application and get four interviews.