BFF's 2 by Brenda Hampton Page A

about calling her, but since I’ve been in touch with Jacoby, he says that she’s doing okay. I’m giving her time to sort things out. She has a lot on her plate with Cedric. I assume that she doesn’t want to be bothered.”
    â€œWe all have a lot going on, but you already know how Kayla is. Her problems are always bigger than everyone else, and we’re supposed to stop what we’re doing to see about her. I haven’t talked to her since the incident at the grocery store. I guess she hasn’t been in the mood for another one of her so-called conversations that consists of her slapping me.”
    â€œNo comment. I’m not touching that thing with you and Kayla. Maybe one day y’all will work it out.”
    â€œI doubt it. It doesn’t matter to me either way, but I’m going to let you get out of there and go to the studio. Have fun and remember what I said to you about Keith. A dog will be a dog, and sometimes, you have to let him bark and dig his own grave.”
    Trina said good-bye. I hoped she had washed her hands of Keith, but I knew how my BFF’s were. They didn’t always want to walk away from relationships, even when they knew they should have.
    I drove to my next destination, which was only five minutes away. That would be Keith’s house. I hoped he was home.
    I parked my car and strutted to the door. After ringing the doorbell, I waited for him to answer. Minutes later, I saw him coming down the stairs. He appeared upbeat and was dressed in a pair of white cargo shorts that were unzipped and hung low on his waist. They looked dynamite against his chocolate skin, but unfortunately for me, he had on a wife beater that covered up part of his chest. Still, the man was sexy as ever. Trina had better get herself together — fast. No man wanted to be involved with a woman who kept up a lot of foolishness. She whined too much, and he couldn’t be happy about her appearance that didn’t seem to be her priority. She never wore name brand anything. The least she could do was carry a name brand purse. Every real woman had at least one.
    Keith swung the door open with a grin on his face. “What’s up, Evelyn? Trina’s not here. If you need to reach her, you may want to hit her up on her cell phone.”
    â€œOh, I know she’s not here. She told me earlier about the brutal argument the two of you had. Since I was in the neighborhood, I wanted to stop by to see if I could convince you to give me your brother’s telephone number? The other day, Trina didn’t seem as though she wanted me to have it. I don’t know what’s been up with her attitude, and I don’t appreciate her being all up in my business. She’s been acting real funny lately. I think it may have something to do with . . . never mind. Forget it.”
    As I predicted, Keith opened the door wider for me to come inside. He wanted to know what was really going on with Trina. I would happily fill him in.
    â€œYou don’t have to stand out there. Come in.”
    â€œAre you sure?” I said already stepping inside. “I mean, you weren’t busy, were you?”
    â€œI was upstairs in my studio, painting. Whenever I have a lot on my mind, it’s usually what I do.”
    Awww, they were like two peas in a pod. Trina had just said the same thing; they clearly had something in common.
    â€œYour studio? You have a studio in here?”
    â€œYep. On the third level. Would you like to see it?”
    See that and then some, I thought. “Yes, I would. Trina told me what a great artist you are. I thought the two of you worked together; and didn’t you meet her at that, uh, studio on Delmar?”
    â€œYes, I did. I haven’t been there in a while, though, but I may stop by next week to attend an art show.”
    I wanted to yawn. How boring. I focused on something other than his conversation, as he made his way up the stairs in