What's Done In the Dark by Reshonda Tate Billingsley Read Free Book Online

their surprise.
    “Yeah, we know they’ve been a handful,” Tahiry added, pointing at her brothers, “and so we wanted to do something nice for you.”
    Twenty-four hours ago, I’d been dreaming about what it would be like to be childless, and now my kids were reminding me why I loved being their mother.
    “Don’t be mad at the mess. We’re going to clean it up,” Tahiry hurried to add.
    I couldn’t help but smile as I walked over and hugged each one of them. “I’m not mad. I’m actually very happy”
    “You don’t seem happy,” Mason said.
    I squeezed him tight. “I am,” I replied. “Let’s just enjoy breakfast.”
    “You don’t want to eat in your room?” Tahiry asked.
    I pulled out a chair at the kitchen table, where my mom was sitting, reading the newspaper. “No, I want to eat right here with my family.”
    “Where’s Daddy?” Marcus asked, climbing into the chair next to me.
    “He had to go into work early.”
    My mom side-eyed me. She could tell I was lying. But we all sat down, and they filled me in on the latest newsfrom their school. The meal was less than stellar, but the fact that my kids had cooked it made it feel like a gourmet breakfast.
    After we finished eating, Tahiry gathered the boys and announced that she was taking them upstairs to play on the Wii and watch a movie. She would make sure they were quiet so I could enjoy the rest of my day. I studied my daughter and my three sons, who were all standing there looking angelic, and I wondered what they were up to.
    “Okay, what’s going on?”
    “Nothing. Granny just told us that you were sad and so we’re going to be on our best behavior today,” Tahiry said.
    “Yeah, but we can’t make any promises for tomorrow,” Stevie added.
    I laughed as Tahiry shuffled them out of the room. I picked up my cell phone and called Steven again. I’d already called him twice this morning. He still didn’t answer, but this time I left a message.
    “Hey, babe. It’s me. I’m so sorry about last night. I want to talk to you about what’s going on with me and figure out how we can fix this. Okay? Love you. Please come home.”
    I hung the phone up and wandered into the living room to watch TV. I started flipping through the channels until I came across the movie Love & Basketball . I smiled because that was Steven’s favorite movie. As the familiar scenes appeared on the screen, my mind drifted back to our first date. He’d done the cooking as we watched Love & Basketball .
    “So, how was the food?” Steven had asked.
    I smiled and patted my stomach. “You don’t meet many college students that can cook.”
    “Yeah, I wanted to be a chef, but my parents weren’t trying to hear that at all.” He grinned. “But I like cooking, and I like having someone to cook for.”
    “Well, aren’t I the lucky one?” I had come to his tiny Georgetown apartment. It was sparsely decorated—a sofa, coffee table, TV, and a Muhammad Ali picture on the wall. But that didn’t faze me. I was just enjoying his company.
    “I’m trippin’ that we never got to meet in the entire four years I was at UT,” Steven said. “Felise said you guys used to be the best of friends.”
    I shrugged. “We are from DC, but my dad moved us to Houston when I was little. Felise and I became best friends in middle school. But then she went to UT, I came back up here to Howard, and we kinda drifted apart. Once my dad remarried, I didn’t go back to Houston much. But that’s the good thing about real friends. You can go forever without talking and still pick up like you were together yesterday.”
    Steven and I chatted all evening. He told me about him and Felise, and it sounded like he really cared about her. I recalled the times she’d told me about him, and she’d always made it clear that they were just friends. Watching him, though, I don’t know why she wouldn’t want more with him. He was intelligent, funny, charismatic, handsome, and just an