Free The Perfect Mistress by Reshonda Tate Billingsley Page A

her to get her nails done.
    â€œSo, baby. Wouldn’t you like me to be your mother?” she asked her as she paid for Lauren to get extra rhinestones on her pinky finger.
    Lauren wanted to tell her that she had a mother and didn’t need a replacement. But she just smiled.
    â€œYeah, we would do so many great things,” Miss Callie continued. “I’d make your dad really happy.”
    Lauren didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t going to become part of Miss Callie’s campaign to break up the family. Later, when Miss Callie had brought that up, things got heated.
    â€œHow long do you think I’m going to hang around and just be your side piece?” Miss Callie had said to Vernon.
    â€œBaby, you knew that I was married when you met me.”
    â€œI know, but you said . . .”
    â€œCome on, Callie. You know how I feel: the best mistress is a quiet mistress.”
    And just like that, Miss Callie had sat back in her seat and shut up.
    Instead, Miss Callie focused on making Lauren and her father happy. Like today. They were out shopping for a dress for Lauren to wear to the homecoming dance. Miss Callie had been all too happy to step up when Lauren mentioned that her mother wasn’t feeling up to shopping.
    Lauren felt a twinge of guilt when she shared these special moments with Miss Callie. She knew her mother was just in a bad space, but what was Lauren supposed to do? Wait and hope that her mother returned to normal? At this point Lauren felt like this deranged, depressed attitude was the new normal. And if that was the case, where in the world did that leave her?

F or the past year, depression had consumed Joyce. The pain of losing her baby had torn apart her soul. Making matters worse, a DNA test revealed that Cecile’s baby wasn’t Vernon’s. He wasn’t lying—at least about her trying to pin the paternity on him.
    But the fact that they even had to have a test meant nothing had changed. He hadn’t changed. And she’d lost her own child over Cecile’s lie.
    Then her father’s death had sent her spiraling into oblivion. Outside of his support of Vernon, she had adored everything about her father. He had been strict growing up, but he’d never hesitated to show her how much she was loved. The sudden stroke that took his life had been devastating.
    Julian was gone. He rarely even called home. Joyce knew Lauren needed her, but she seemed to have lost all motivation. She had to make a monumental effort even to get out of bed on a daily basis.
    Vernon had tried to get her to see a doctor, but unless they had a prescription for a broken heart, no one could help her.
    But the call Joyce had just received was enough motivation to get moving.
    â€œYour mother is in bad shape.”
    The call had come from her mother’s longtime friend. Esther had moved in to help care for Joyce’s mother after her father died last year. She’d called twenty minutes ago to tell Joyce that her mother had been rushed to the hospital.
    Of course, no one was at home with Joyce. No one was ever at home. Both Vernon and Lauren stayed gone, no doubt trying to escape the gloom that pervaded their home. Joyce thought she heard Lauren say she was spending the night at a friend’s, but honestly, she wasn’t sure.
    Joyce fought back tears as she navigated her car into the Duke Memorial parking lot. She hadn’t driven in six months, but when she got the call that her mother needed her, Joyce put anything she was feeling to the side.
    â€œOh, Joyce,” Esther said, jumping up from her seat once Joyce arrived at her mother’s hospital room. “I’m so glad you made it.”
    Joyce couldn’t bother with formalities. “What happened?” she said. Her mother was lying in the hospital bed, her eyes closed. “Is she . . .”
    â€œShe’s resting,” Esther said. “She passed out and we had