Skeletons by Shimeka McFadden Page A

Jovanna sitting under the dryer and Keith was sitting in Keisha’s chair while she gave him a lining.
    “What’s up Asteria?” Keith spoke when he saw me. “How is Latif?”
    Wanting to cut my eyes at him, I answered, “Latif is doing fine; too bad his no good daddy doesn’t get to see him often or he’d see how big he has gotten.”
    Keith’s jaw tightened, “That is too bad, but you have to do what you have to do. Maybe next time you will find you a man that is willing to marry you before you have his baby.”
    That was low. “Maybe I will Keith, maybe I will.”
    “Asteria, after I finish Mya I’m heading out for the rest of the day.” Pandia said.
    Since she was almost finished with her last client there was no issue with her leaving early. “That is cool, girl. What’s going on with you and Keith tonight?”
    “Nothing much, he is going out with the guys and I’m staying home, but it won’t make any sense for me to drive all of the way out on Watson Road to Monkey Joe’s then try to make it back here when I don’t have anymore clients.”
    “You are right, have fun.” I smiled, “I’m going back in the office, and I have paperwork to get started on.”
    Looking at Keith flirt with Keisha made my blood boil, “Keith, it was nice seeing you again.”
    “You too; take care.” He said without taking his eyes off of Keisha.
    Later that night after putting Latif to bed I sent Keith a text:
    Hey baby, why don’t you ditch the boys and come over I’ve got something that I want you to see.
    After waiting fifteen minutes and no response I laid across the bed, spread my legs and took a picture of my freshly shaven pussy and sent it to Keith. After waiting another ten minutes and no response I decided to do some investigating to figure out where he was.
    “Hello?” Pandia answered the phone.
    “Hey girl what are you doing?”
    “Nothing, just sitting here watching television; I just put little Keith to bed.” She yawned.
    “It sounds like you are waiting for Keith to get home.” I joked.
    “Girl please, I’d be waiting up all night if that were the case.” She said, “You know how he is. He didn’t come home until the sun came up last night.”
    He was not with me, fuming I asked, “Where is he at now?”
    “He said that he was going to the Skybox with his boys.”
    “Do you believe him?”
    “Yes, I just called him and text Stony’s wife and she confirmed that he is at the Skybox and Keith is with him.”
    “That is good; at least you know that he is not knee deep in some pussy.”
    “For now that is, I am so sick of this to be honest with you; some days I just want to give up, leave him and move out of town.” She sighed, “And do you want to know what? I doubt that he would even miss us.”
    I did not know what to say to her, on one hand I wanted to tell my sister that I would take her to the divorce lawyer in the morning and buy her a plane ticket in the afternoon, but on the other hand it really hurt me to know that Keith was treating her this way.
    “You just have to do what is best for you and your piece of mind Pandia; you can’t keep pleasing someone else while you are unhappy.”
    “I understand what you are saying; I have to learn to put myself first. I don’t see how you did it.”
    “Did what?” I asked.
    “How you just let go of Latif’s dad like you did and chose to raise your son by yourself. I wish that I was as strong as you are, Asteria; I’ve always admired your strength.”
    I wanted to tell her that I haven’t let my son’s father go, I wanted to tell her that I was about to go out and find her husband, my son’s father and bring him home with me tonight, but instead I said, “I don’t know how I do it sometimes either, but I guess I got my strength from mom.”
    My twin laughed, “Yeah mom was the epitome of strength with all of the shit that she put up with from daddy.”
    “Love makes you do some crazy things.” I smiled thinking of our late