Read Getting Played for Free Online

what I guess my mom would have looked like had she lived to old age.
    â€œIs that for us? Please, please tell me that’s for us.” My grandmother is forever baking cakes or making potato salad, a ham or frying chicken for somebody else. Whenever there’s a problem in the neighborhood, you can tell because she’s cooking something for somebody. I hover close as she sits the hot cake pan on a wire rack. The aroma is incredible.
    â€œNo. It’s for the family down the street. I don’t know if you know them—Charlotte Russell.”
    â€œI know Ms. Lottie.”
    She nods. “Charlotte’s brother passed last night. He’s been sick for a while.”
    â€œOh, I’m sorry to hear that. Did you know him?”
    â€œLord, yes, Laurence and I go way back. We went to school together. He was a good man. He was kind and considerate. No matter what, he always had a pleasant word to say. Just seeing him sometimes would brighten my day.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” I say, not knowing exactly why I should be.
    She starts talking again. This time about how she remembered him years ago when they were young together. Shegoes on and on. Stories like this just lose me. So I really am not paying much attention. I have my eye on the cake again. Then she says something about marriage. “Wait, so he was like your serious boyfriend a long time ago?”
    She smiles and nods. “Yes, a very, very long time ago. He was much older than I was and it was way before I knew your grandfather.”
    It was weird. I can’t seem to imagine my grandmother having a boyfriend. “How close were you two?”
    â€œVery close,” she says.
    I look at her. It wasn’t so much what she said, but how she said it. I got the feeling they were more than just friends. “Did my grandfather know about him?”
    â€œOh, yes, he knew,” she says, then laughs. “He hated the fact that we were still friends even after everything that happened.”
    â€œWhat do you mean even after everything?”
    She turns and looks at me. “What, do you think you’re the only one who’s had drama in their life? Missy, I know drama. I know drama very well.”
    Okay, this is just getting weird. It is sounding more and more like a love triangle to me. The oven timer sounds and I hurry to stop it. I want to get back to the conversation we were having. “What kind of drama?” I ask.
    She laughs again. “You young people think you invented the concept of drama. Lord knows I had some twisting in my day. But that’s a story for another time. Right now I need to get myself out of here and get this cake delivered.”
    I couldn’t believe she’d open the door and then just drop it like that. “Grandmom, you can’t just leave me hanging.”
    â€œUse a toothpick, check the cake and see if it’s done.”
    I open the oven door. The smell of lemon vanilla hits me in a hot flash in my face. I lean back, but I can still see a smaller pound cake in the oven. I love it when my grandmother cooks lemon pound cake. I grab a toothpick and stick it in the center. It comes out clean. The cake’s done. I grab oven mitts and take it out and sit it on the other wire rack on the table.
    â€œMan, this smells so good.” My nose is practically on top of the cake. Lemon and vanilla, there’s nothing like it.
    â€œThat one’s for you.” She nods.
    I smile. Damn, this made my day. “Thanks, Grandmom. This is the first good thing to happen all day.” I give her a hug, and I surprise myself, ’cause I have a hard time letting go. I just hold on to her.
    â€œHad a bad one, huh, baby?” she asks, gently patting my back.
    I nod. Suddenly the thought of everything begins to weigh down on me—no transfer papers, Darien maybe getting out and now Gia. “Yeah, something like that,” I say, pulling a chair out.
    She stops what