Free PullMyHair by Kimberly Kaye Terry Page B

throughout most of Liza’s life as a child.
    Her mother had never attended any functions as Liza was
growing up. For that, Liza had turned to Karina and her family. She could
always rely on Karina’s Big Momma and mother to come and see her in plays and
recitals that every child looked forward to having a parent attend. Edna would
claim she had a headache from working, or would simply coldly reject the
possibility that she would come with little or no explanation.
    At times like that, Liza would imagine that she had a father
who was far away. A father who, for a variety of made-up reasons that only a
child could come up with, couldn’t rescue her from her mother.
    But, had he been able to, not only would he have taken her
away, neither would he’d miss her recital for anything in the world. And like
Karina’s grandmother and mother, he would be there with a small bouquet of
flowers just for her at the end of the recitals.
    Liza continued to run around the track, wiping her face,
ignoring the fact that it wasn’t only sweat that she wiped from her flushed cheeks.
She ignored the fact that the burning sting in her eyes had nothing to do with
the exertion from her run, but instead had everything to do with her trip down
memory lane.
    As she ran, she picked up speed, pushing herself to the
limit, unconsciously trying her damnedest to outrun the ugly ghosts from her
past.

Chapter Eight
     
    “That went well, don’t you think?” Greg held the revolving
door open for Renita, as they left the courthouse. They both put on sunglasses
as the bright afternoon sun shone brightly on their faces. It was spring and
although the sun was out, there was still the smallest nip in the air to
signify that the time for shorts and t-shirts was still a bit of a way off.
    “I was quite surprised at the ease with which opposing
council agreed with most of our selections,” Renita agreed, referring to the
jury selection process for their upcoming trial. She pulled the light jacket
she wore over her navy blue suit closer around her body to ward off the chill
from the spring day.
    “Yes, so was I. I thought for sure that we’d be there the
whole day. It’s just past noon,” he said after a quick glance down at his
watch. As they continued to walk, Greg glanced down at his paralegal and hid a
smile.
    Renita was so formal in her speech and dress. She was the
ultimate professional from the top of her close-cropped curly hair, to the
soles of her dark blue, pumps. He knew they were Prada’s because Liza owned at least a dozen pair of the designer’s shoes. If nothing else he’d learned of his
wife’s utter fascination and love of designer footwear after seven years of
marriage.
    It was too bad that he’d recently realized he was lacking
more vital information. Information that was much more important than her
obsession with shoes.
    He thought of how little he’d actually known about his
wife’s life. Any real knowledge that he had of who she was before they were
married began at the age of eighteen. She shared brief information about
anything before that time. He was clueless about what her life had been like,
truly.
    That was until a week ago, before he’d received the strange
call from Liza’s mother. Within moments of his surprise to hear from his wife’s
estranged mother, he’d been left stunned after she’d asked him for money before
preceding to go into details about how hard it had been to raise Liza single
and alone, and how nice it was that Liza didn’t have to worry about working and
trying to raise a child all alone.
    “You’re right, it is lunchtime. I know of a really nice
lunch counter just a few blocks south of Hub. Would you like to go?” she asked.
Hub Street ran throughout the entire large city.
    Greg glanced once again at his watch and debated calling
Liza. She’d asked him that morning if they could have lunch, and at the time he
hadn’t thought that he’d have the time. It had been almost a relief to tell