Free Lady J by L. Divine Page A

You’ll learn.”
    â€œWell, I don’t like razor bumps or ugly armpits, so if that’s what it takes to keep a man, I’m cool,” I say, taking my shoes off and stretching across the cozy couch. After eating my big dinner, all I want to do is pass out.
    â€œJayd, you’re so silly. How does this look?” she says, stepping out in a long, white wraparound linen dress and her gold Kenneth Cole heels. Of course she looks flyy and knows it. Her turquoise jewelry serves as the perfect compliment to both her outfit and her eyes.
    â€œYou look beautiful, Mom. All except for the naked armpits.” Which are clearly visible in the sleeveless outfit.
    â€œShut up, little one,” she says, throwing her wet towel at me. “I need you to touch up my edges and my kitchen,” she says, referring to the kinks in the back of her hair. “I sweat out my press and curl on the court.” I need to do my hair tonight too, so I might as well start heating up my oven and tools now, even though it’s going to be difficult getting up from my comfortable position.
    â€œNo problem, Ms. Jackson.” I still don’t understand why my mom kept her married name after she and my dad divorced. She says it was because of me. I say it’s because she wanted to torture my dad by keeping his last name: it’s the one thing he couldn’t steal from her during their settlement, other than me, of course. But, as they both know, I don’t belong to either one of them, just to Mama. And no one in the world would dare try to steal me from her.
    â€œHow’s your headache?” she says. She must be reading my mind again because my head is banging.
    â€œI need to take something for it,” I say, rubbing my head before rising to retrieve my hair bag from the hall closet and set up shop in the dining room.
    â€œNothing’s going to take that pain away, girl. Esmeralda’s got you on lock now. Your head’s going to be pounding until she feels like letting go, or is forced to,” my mom casually throws out.
    â€œI knew something was wrong,” I say, plugging the iron oven into the wall socket across from my mother, who’s already seated at the table. I take my towel out of the bag and drape it around her shoulders.
    â€œIs this towel clean?” she says, inspecting the various burns and other marks on the oversized purple cloth. “I don’t want anything to get on my new dress. It still has the price tags on it just in case I need to return it to Ann Taylor.” There’s no shame in my mom’s game.
    â€œMom, you know me better than that,” I say, placing two hot combs in the oven before parting her soft, thick hair. “And what exactly did you mean about Esmeralda having me on lock?”
    â€œGirl, looking into her eyes is like drinking a cold drink too fast; you get brain freeze. And in this case, it’ll take longer than a few minutes to subside.”
    â€œIs she more powerful than Mama?” I naively ask. If Netta were here, she’d slap me herself for that question. She is Mama’s oldest and closest friend.
    â€œHell no,” my mom emphatically says as she rolls her jade eyes at me. “Although Mama would say that all power is relative. But trust me, anything Esmeralda throws out there, Mama can handle. But why should she have to if it’s not necessary? She’s got enough on her plate as it is.”
    â€œI know she does. I feel bad about waking her up this morning, but Esmeralda really freaked me out,” I say, tilting my mom’s head to the side, quickly running the warm comb through the rest of her hair now that I’m done with the back.
    â€œHeed Mama’s warnings, Jayd. Always. Learn from my mistakes, girl, I’m telling you. It’s easier than going the long way around the lesson, which is to not listen and do what you want, even when it seems like the right thing to do. Mama