Climbing out of bed, I headed into the bathroom. After showering, washing my face, and brushing my teeth, I quickly get dressed and follow my nose. The moment I come around the corner into my living room, I’m stunned into silence. Sitting in my living room are Jada, Pamela, Destiny, Kyra, little Ari, and Meagan. The ladies are talking amongst themselves and have yet to see me.
Mama walks out of the kitchen with her apron on and a pan of fried chicken.
“Oh, look who’s up?”
All the girls turn to face me before jumping up and coming to hug me. One by one, the ladies wrap their arms around me, offering me comfort and strength.
“What are you guys doing here?”
“I called them,” Mama says, placing the pan of chicken down on the table. I notice that already on the table is a pan of baked macaroni, cornbread, candied yams, fried cabbage, green beans, and baked chicken.
“Nothing fixes a heartbreak more than good company and good food.” Mama winks at me before turning and heading back into the kitchen.
“Mama Faye called and told us you needed us,” Jada says, leading me over to the table. “We came right away.”
I take a seat, and immediately my mouth waters looking at the spread of food. I watch as all the ladies take their seats. Even baby Ari is in a highchair that I’m sure Kyra brought with her.
Taking a deep breath, I look at all the faces around the table. These women have been so crucial in my life. Our friendship is new compared to normal standards. I’ve only known them forabout a year and a half. But I swear I wouldn’t know what to do without them.
“I have to tell ya’ll something.” I wait until I have all their attention on me. Once I have their full attention, I take a deep breath and share my truth. “The mystery man was Mitch.”
The room is silent. Mama walks in and places a pitcher of her tea on the table. She too seems to stare at me.
“Can someone pass me the green beans?” Meagan says, unbothered.
Pamela grabs the tray of beans in front of me and hands it down.
“Wait,” I shake my head. “That’s it? No one has anything to say?”
They all laugh.
“Girl, we already knew.”
This has my jaw dropping open. What do they mean they already knew? Mitch and I were so careful.
“What? When? For how long?”
Kyra pours herself some tea and takes a sip. “Since the day you called and told us about the mystery man. We all figured it out."
“I even won twenty dollars,” Jada brags filling her plate with macaroni.
“You won by two months,” Destiny says, biting into her chicken leg. She blows the hot chicken while it was still in her mouth. “If you’d slept with him a few months earlier, I would’ve won.”
I chuckle as I realize what they bet on.
“You guys had a bet that I would hook up with Mitch?”
They all laugh.
“Honey, the first day we met him, I thought you two were already screwing,” Jada jokes. “The chemistry between you two was off the wall.”
“Yeah, I couldn’t understand why you two didn’t see it,” Kyra adds, stuffing her mouth with cabbage.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I mean, I won’t pretend as if I didn’t have a crush on Mitch, but I thought I was doing a great job at hiding it. And until the night he and I actually slept together, I wasn’t sure he felt the same way I felt.
“I saw it too,” Mama says, handing me the plate she’d fixed for me.
“Oh no,” I tease. “You’re the one who said I was spending too much time with him and that he couldn’t be trusted.”
