to you. I have med school loans to pay. You have a thousand square feet of clothes and shoes!”
“Have you been to that bar around the corner from your house? Since you up-and-got-married, I have to do all the traveling, except for this evening as this place is equidistant from our jobs.”
“Was that whole spiel necessary, Gina?”
“Nope. I just like the word equidistant. It’s a dead word.”
She chuckles. “Heh, well, I haven’t been by there.”
“On your way home from the hospital, go take a peek inside, please.”
“Why?”
“For your placement. I need new black friends. Single ones. And the bartender is the epitome of BBW. I was digging her style.”
With a listless glare, Shanda returns to the rack. “You know what? I’m about done with you, Gina. She does know how to rock the hair, though. So, tomorrow? New boo.”
“Same boo from July, honey-boo-boo.”
Shanda checks the months off with her fingers. “July, August, September, October . . . three months!”
“Eh, we met mid-July. So, sure, I guess.”
“You guess! What did you do on your one-month anniversary?”
“How old are you?”
Grabbing a bamboo hanger, she reaches out for me. I spin away in the skyscraper heels she’s drooled over.
“You’ve said that line since we were twelve. Dayum, Gina,” she says in a tone that pays homage to Martin Lawrence, from the classic sitcom.
“So, Gina, new boo?”
“You said three months, Shanda. The history has been slightly established.”
“Okay, is he old boo as in things are getting serious?”
The muscles in my mouth curve upward without consent.
“You have feelings. Cruella Davila has—”
I start walking.
“Get back here, sheesh. As I recall, his name was Sant . . . Santiago?”
“Santino.”
“A bit ethnic.”
I offer a blank stare, and she chuckles. Although Shanda and I grew up together, her family didn’t run in the same prestigious pack as ours until she and her siblings became teens. Shanda’s older sister joined Gabriella’s clique, thus revoking my older sister’s ‘token’ black girl title in her snobby squad. I shouldn’t admit this, but I prefer Steven to the troubled Gabby, who ran with Shanda’s sister, and their crew.
Shanda says, “I’m just thinking in regard to yo’ daddy. My parents were fine with my husband coming from a different area code. You, on the other hand, have to marry—”
“Don’t mention Gabby! Steven’s family cleaned her coke-snorting, bitch image. Now, she’s gone too far. ‘My son is 98–’”
“989 days today,” we say in unison, with pompous masks on our faces.
When my shoulders twitch, Shanda directs her focus to where I’m staring at a Halloween decorated tree. The damn thing reminds me of a Christmas tree.
“Gina, are you still afraid of . . .”
“No . . .” I grumble. “Shanda, I’m not afraid of Christmas—ahem, trees. Just because I burned one down, that was an accident. I was just shocked, is all. Enough on that, Halloween is in a week.”
“Yeah, so Christmas?” She arches a brow.
I raise a palm. “This Christmas will be different than all the others.”
Her palm lifts high. “Yes, Lawd! Speak it into existence, girl! I’ll go ahead and assume this new mantra aligns with New Boo. Now, who’s aware of your impending whereabouts for this weekend?”
“We were supposed to go last weekend, then—”
“Steven? Damn, he’s an idiot.”
I nod. “Had to postpone. However, my mom has the address.”
“It’s in the middle of the woods?”
“Yeah. The weather calls for cold. I’ll be wrapped in my man’s arms. Shanda, I can’t fathom how I lived without him—ahem, his arms in my life.”
“Him or his arms?”
“Santino’s arms are this big!” I pose my palms about my thighs, giving enough room to display the ample girth.
“Ohhhh, we should go to the strip club—The Pipeline. I haven’t seen arms like that since my bachelorette party. Please, Gina! And his dick—”
“Shanda, he has a huge, huge, huge . . . Heart.” He’s got a Godzilla dick too, but my name’s written all over it.
18
Santino
I clock out and walk down the stairs of a trailer on the construction site. The sound of power tools are in the background, but I can’t wait a second longer to call my woman. “What are you doing tonight, Bella?”
“Mmmm, the sound of that voice. Sounds like I should be doing you?”
“My place or yours?”
“I’ll consider your suggestions and raise you one weekend all to ourselves. A cabin in the woods, but I’ll need you to protect me?”
I flash a warm, disarming smile. “I’ll always protect you, Bella.”
“Thank you. I’ve said this a few times, but tomorrow I’m all yours. We’re leaving at eleven?”
“No. On