Free My Bestfriend's Man by P. Dotson, Latarsha Banks

the way you did.”
    “Can we just change the subject, please?” I asked not in the mood to
talk about Brandon any longer.
    “Okay,” she said lifting her
hands up in the air as a sign of surrender. She gathered up her dirty dishes
and placed them in the water.
    “You want me to wash them?” I
offered.
    “No,” she said shaking her head.
    “Mom, why do you insist on
washing them when you have a dishwasher?”
    “Because, I don’t trust it. I
know it’s clean if I wash it. See, we didn’t have all this fancy stuff back
when I was growing up. We didn’t know anything about a dishwasher or washing
machine. We had to do everything by hand.”
    “Okay mom, I get it,” I sighed.
    “I’m just schooling you.”
    “Alright mom,” I said shaking my
head. I swear we have this conversation every time I come over.
    “So what about these men
problems?” She asked with her back to me.
    “Well, I’ve been seeing someone.”
    She stopped, turned around and
looked at me. “Oh really.” I nodded my head yes. “How long has this been going
on?”
    “About five months.”
    “What’s his name?”
    “Brian.”
    “Can’t stay away from those B’s
can you?”
    “Mom,” I laughed.
    “How old is he?”
    “Twenty-nine.”
    “Does he have any children?”
    “Not that I’m aware of.”
    “What does he do?”
    “He owns that popular club,
Envious.”
    She shook her head. “That club is
bad news. Too much going on in there.”
    “Mom, he’s clean,” I said ready
to defend Brian. “You probably talking about his dad, Big Brian. His father
doesn’t own the club anymore.”
    “I know what I’m talking about.
Matter of fact, he was in the news about something about a year or two ago,”
she said looking towards the ceiling in deep thought.
    “Once again you are probably
thinking about his dad.”
    “And once again I know what I’m
talking about,” she said with the roll of her head.
    “Okay mom,” I said shaking my
head. I wasn’t about to argue.
    “You like him?”
    I sighed and placed a hand on my
chin. I sat there for a minute trying to answer the question. Brian is cool and
we have fun together, but as far as something serious, I couldn’t see him in my
future. I didn’t want to begin to think about putting myself through another
episode like last night.
    “Does he know that?”
    “Mom I didn’t even answer the
question.”
    “You don’t have to,” she said as
she turned around, getting back to washing dishes. “Just know that men deal
with their emotions differently than women do. I think you should tell him how
you really feel Savannah, before someone gets seriously hurt.”
    “Okay mom,” I said half
listening.
    “How’s my baby girl?”
    “Daddy,” I jumped up and wrapped
my arms around his neck. I loved my mother with all my heart, but there’s no
doubt I was a daddy’s girl. He wrapped his arms around my waist and lifted me
off the ground. My daddy is handsome with his smooth caramel skin, light brown eyes, and waves for days.
    “Gerald, you better stop all that
foolishness. You know you’ve been having problems with your back,” my mother
said over her shoulder as she tried to watch us and wash the dishes at the same
time.
    He put me down and kissed me on
the cheek before walking over to my mother and patting her on the backside. She
frowned and shook her head.
    “Stay out of my business woman,”
he joked.
    “You are my business, especially
when it keeps me up at night.”
    “Just get me my breakfast. I’m
out here slaving, doing what a man’s supposed to do and you want to give me a
hard time,” he said winking at me as he sat down at the table.
    I couldn’t help, but smile as my
parents went at it. They went at it like this all the time. There was
never a dull moment in our lives. As I listened to them, I couldn’t help but think this could have been me and
Brandon. I’m a hopeless romantic and as a little girl I always wanted a happily
ever after with a