Page 29 of Surrogate For My Best Friend’s Man 2

“Ma!”

“What?”

“You were supposed to tell me I was wrong.”

“I’ll get to that.” She took a sip of her coffee. “But I’m not mad you defended yourself.”

I leaned back. “She had me fucked up.”

“I can see that.” Mama shook her head.

“But let me tell you something.”

I knew that tone here comes the life lesson.

“Men ain’t nothing but trouble.”

I laughed. “Here we go.”

“I’m serious, especially cheating ass men.” She pointed at me. “And before you start defending your husband…”

“I’m not.”

“Good.”

She leaned back. “Because your daddy cheated on me.”

I almost choked on my tea. “What?”

“Yep.”

“When?”

“A long time ago.”

“Why didn’t I know that?”

“Because I wasn’t about to put grown folks' business on my child.”

I stared at her. “What did you do?”

“What did I do?” She shrugged. “I cried, I cussed his ass out. I thought about leaving, then I stayed for a while.”

“Why?”

“Because I loved him.” Mama looked down at her hands. “But loving somebody don’t make what they did right. Your daddy made the choice to cheat. That woman made the choice to deal with a married man. They both knew what they were doing.” She looked back at me. “So don’t sit here blaming yourself because some woman decided to chase behind your husband.”

I nodded slowly. “But Kim knew about me.”

“Then she got her part too.”

“Exactly.”

But…” Mama held up her finger. “Don’t put all of it on her.”

I frowned.

“Deuce got a whole lot of blame too.”