Page 36 of What I Needed

“What does that have to do with you, and why does it feel like you forgot to tell me something?”

“I didn’t forget to tell you anything, but what River is doing with his time isn’t worth mentioning.”

“Spill it!” she demanded.

“Fine! The first night I was here, he left after dinner and didn’t come home until close to midnight. Since then, he comes home late from practice a couple times a week, and lo and behold, the next day or the day after, there are pics of him in the blogs with a different woman.”

“I mean, we know he’s a ho.”

“That he is. I love this job, and the last thing I want to do is go back to waitressing. As tempting as it is to sleep with him, you know I won’t be able to keep my feelings out of it. I’ll crash out the first time I see or hear about him with another woman, and then he’ll fire me.”

“That nigga ain’t gon’ fire you, sis. He needs you too much, but I understand what you mean. When are his mother and sister coming?”

“Tomorrow. I’m kinda nervous, but they both seem cool. You should come over to help me stay calm.”

“If you need me, I’m here, but there’s nothing to be nervous about. You ain’t his woman, and you’ve already proven to be a great nanny for Rivvy. Let’s eat.”

We made it back downstairs and went to the kitchen. While she kept Riverlynn entertained, I made our plates. My grandmother had a delicious chicken salad recipe that I’d perfected, and I made a big bowl of it to eat for lunch and dinner today.

“I see the hoopla around that post about you and River on Keeping It in the Closet has finally died down,” she said.

It had been a couple of weeks since someone had sent pictures of River, Riverlynn, and me having dinner to the gossip blog page. There was quite a bit of speculation about who I was, and if Riverlynn was his, but I guess the nosy neighbors didn’t find anything worth reporting.

“Yeah, it became old news fast, but when he’s giving the blogs plenty of other shit to post about, why would they dwell on that one thing?”

“I’m surprised Jeremiah didn’t blow up your phone from an unknown number after that was posted.”

“You know what, I got a few calls from an unknown number that could’ve been him, but I didn’t answer. After that read I gave him at the day party, I would hope his ass would leave me alone for good.”

“Are you really over him, sis?”

“It only took too damn long, but yeah. I let the comfort of having a man, as trash as he is, blind me. I can see clearly now, the trash is gone.”

“I know that’s right. What about Donovan? Did you end up rescheduling your date?”

“He didn’t want to wait until next weekend to see me, so we’re going to dinner Tuesday night. I need to let River know so he’ll come straight home after practice.”

“You could also forget about Donovan and let River blow your back out.”

“I’m not fucking that man, Kira. Let it go.”

Shakira and I enjoyed lunch before we left to run some errands. There were a few stores at the mall she wanted to go to, and she hated shopping alone. Now that I had some disposable income, I could buy a few things to add to my basic wardrobe.

“Damn, this truck is nice,” she complimented when I slipped into the driver’s side of the SUV.

“It is. River insists that I drive it whenever I have Rivvy with me. He thinks my Camry is trash.”

Shakira laughed before saying, “It’s not trash, relatively speaking, but compared to this luxury vehicle, it’s trash.”

I playfully pushed her shoulder before backing out of the long driveway.

“True, but you know I love that car. I was low-key offended that he was talking shit about it.”

“I’m sure you were. I know how you get about that car.”

We spent the next hour shopping, and Riverlynn was a perfect little angel. She barely fussed while we were out, but when we got home, she was a little cranky. Once I got her settled, she was her usual happy self.

River got home later than usual. It had started raining about an hour ago, so I was glad he’d gotten home safely. I’d already eaten and given Riverlynn a bath, and we were in the family room. I had reruns of old Black sitcoms playing on the TV in the background while I read A. Blossom’s latest book, After the Knockout.