“No, I’m not. I’m convincing your crazy-ass girlfriend to calm down,” Nikki yelled over the phone line.
He nodded. Thankfully I was far enough away that he couldn’t hear my opinionated friend.
“Tell her I said hello.” He loved my friends, but Nikki was his favorite. The way we bickered and teased each other, we were more like sisters than best friends. Cam had often joked that we needed our own reality show, but today I wasn’t in the mood for the Raina and Nikki comedy hour.
“Hell, he should just do the James Grayson plan and knock you up.” The former wild child was referring to her husband, whom she’d married after an unexpected pregnancy.
“Shut up.” Instead of using my usual sharp tone when it came to Nikki’s craziness, I lightened it up and added a fake, airy laugh. I put my hand over the receiver and returned my attention to Cameron, who was still focused on me. “She’s so crazy. Let me just step outside real quick and then I’ll help unpack.” I blew him a kiss and he caught it. “Be right back.”
“Hello? Raina. Raina,” my friend said in a singsongy voice while I made my escape out the door, down the porch steps, and a little past the curb near our mailbox.
“Shut up, you psycho. Say what you need to say so I can get back to unpacking.” I whispered despite my distance from the house.
“So you aren’t zoning out? Thinking about an escape plan or comparing Cam to your bum-ass daddy or comparing yourself to your mom?”
“What if I am?” I challenged her. “I’m just being smart.”
Naïve women like Ma gave second and third and fourth chances to men who didn’t deserve even one. I liked to think I was different, but it turns out that Ma’s dark skin, oval face, and Coke-bottle shape weren’t the only things I’d inherited. And like her, decades-old daddy issues were firmly shackled around my ankles, and attempting to loosen them had just tightened them more.
“There’s nothing wrong with being smart, but he hasn’t given you or us any red flags. And you know I can sniff out crazy.”
“Yeah, but people change.”
“True. And if he changes for the worse, you’ll deal and I’ll break his knees with my bat. Unwind the bubble wrap you’ve got tight around yourself and live a little.”
“Why, thank you.” I rolled my eyes. “What would I do without you?”
“I honestly don’t know. But as your bestie godmother, I’m here to save you from your damn self.”
“Ooh-wee, Mommy! You said ‘damn,’” I heard Nikki’s little girl, Bria, say in the background.
“Don’t say ‘damn,’ precious. And I wasn’t cursing. I was talking to Raina about a beaver building dams in her new neighborhood.”
“Oh, can I meet him?”
“No, baby, he’s rabid.”
“Rabid?” Her little girl sounded alarmed. “What’s rabid?”
“He’s crazy. Sniffs his own butt.”
“Speaking of being a damn lie . . .” I muttered.
Nikki must’ve covered the phone because what she said was muted.
She got back on the line. “All right, girl, I’ve gotta go, but before I do, I’m gonna give you a dose of your own medicine and tell you the deal. Just because you’re living together doesn’t mean you have to get married or have kids anytime soon. Just enjoy this new chapter in your life and move forward one day at a time. Okay?”
I instantly felt soothed by Nikki’s words. I could do this, and it was sound advice. The very same recommendation I’d given out myself to my listeners.
As a radio host, I’ve heard my share of heartbreaking stories. There are a lot of crazies who call in. But there’s a pattern in the female callers—women who turn away good men due to their past scars. I could change, and I had to—for Cameron and for myself.
I sighed. It was heavy, yet cathartic. “You’re right.”
“I know I am.” Nikki softened her tone. “And you’re welcome.”
“I didn’t say thank you.”
“You want to and I accept. Anyway, I gotta go make the kids their lunch. Talk soon.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll text y’all after I get settled. Kiss your babies for me.”
“You’ve got it. Bye, girl.”
I ended the call and returned to my new home. The movers had neatly lined up our boxes against the walls in all the rooms. I walked to the middle of the room, sat on the floor cross-legged, and began unpacking lamps, books, and pictures. I was interior-design challenged, but even I got excited thinking about decorating my first home.