Free Snapped (Urban Renaissance) by Tina Brooks McKinney Page A

him to stay, but the other part of me really didn’t want him around. With him out of the way, perhaps I could pick up the pieces of my life and try to put them back together.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
     
    GINA MEADOWS
     
    “Tabatha, I need to talk with you. Pick up the phone.” Three times I had called Tabatha and each time she ignored my call. I really needed to get her opinion before I accepted Gavin back into my life.
    She picked up right as I was ready to hang up. “Bitch, why you blowing up my phone?”
    A part of me wanted to get mad, but the other part of me was grateful she was on the line.
    “Girl, stop playing. You know I love you. I just need some advice.”
    “I should have known that your ass wasn’t just contacting me because you missed me.”
    It had been a few months since I’d talked to Tabatha and, truth be told, I did miss her in my life, but I was not about to tell her that. She was nosey enough without that little bit of information.
    “It’s Gavin. He’s out of prison and I don’t know what to do.”
    “What do you mean you don’t know what to do? Shut the fucking door in his face. That boy is bad news. After all the shit he did, I’d be scared to have him around me.”
    “Tabatha, he is my son.”
    “Son of a fool. You don’t owe that man anything.”
    “Tabatha, you’ve never had children. Even if his father was an asshole, I still owe his child.”
    “Tabatha, Gavin’s twenty-five years old. The debt has been paid.”
    There was some truth in Tabatha’s words. I didn’t have to continue caring for the child of a man who’d dogged me all these years, but I still loved Ronald and we continued to see each other. “You have a point. He just showed up at my door as if I owed him something.”
    “I don’t see why. As hateful as you’ve been to him and Merlin, I don’t see why he darkened your doorstep in the first place.”
    “I was not hateful.”
    “Bitch, please. Ever since you aborted your baby you’ve been a hateful heifer to them boys. And you’re still a hateful bitch behind that shit to this day.”
    “Tabatha, I didn’t call you for all of that.”
    “The truth hurts. Why you think you and Merlin haven’t spoken in all these years? If you did that shit to me, I wouldn’t be bothered with your ass either.”
    “I’ve got to go, Tabatha.” I hung up on her without waiting for her reply. Her words hit home and hurt me deeply.
    I sighed and thought back to the day Merlin and I fell out. We had been drifting apart ever since he started dating Cojo in his senior year of high school. He spent more time at her house and less time with me. Things really hit the fan when he announced that he was getting married.
    “What do you mean you’re getting married?” I yelled. I felt like he was much too young to get married.
    “Yes, I’m getting married.” He poked out his narrow chest and stared at me.
    “Is Cujo pregnant?”
    “Her name is Cojo, not Cujo. And no, she is not pregnant.”
    I wasn’t really trying to piss him off, but he had thrown me for a loop. “Then why the big rush to get married?” I demanded.
    “We’re not rushing. We just know what we want and there is no point to waiting.”
    “Yes, there is. You hardly know this heffa.”
    “If we are going to continue this conversation, I would appreciate it if you would stop calling my future wife out of her name.”
    I was stunned. This was the first time in Merlin’s entire life that he ever stood up to me. I reached back and slapped the shit out of him. He rubbed the side of his face but he didn’t back down. I immediately regretted hitting him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.” He did not respond right away, and I assumed that he was trying to get his emotions under control before this conversation went to a whole different level.
    “We’re getting married on May twenty-third, one week after we graduate. I’d like you to be there, but if you don’t feel like it, I will try to