I almost choked on my wine when he said roster.
“Stokely, I don’t have a roster. Are you serious?”
“Ma, you date multiple men at once. I didn’t know what else to call them.”
“Are you trying to say your mama’s a ho?”
He frowned. “No. Why would you ask that? Are you having sex with all these men?”
“First of all, don’t mind my sex life. Secondly, allwhatmen? I’m seeing three men, that’s it.”
“You’re getting mighty defensive, Ma. What’s going on?”
Stokely and I talked about a lot and were pretty open with each other. Of course, we didn’t discuss every gritty detail, but we valued each other’s thoughts and opinions. I shared parts of my conversation with Nyomi, and he listened without interruption; however, his expression said a lot.
“Auntie Nyomi ain’t wrong, Ma. Knox let you know he was interested. You weren’t, so he moved on, and I don’t blame him.”
“Wow, Son.”
“What did you expect him to do?”
“I don’t know, but I imagined him sitting idly by, waiting for me to come around.”
He laughed until he noticed I wasn’t laughing with him.
“Oh, damn. You’re serious.”
“Not really, but kind of.”
“You’ve been living your best life, and you thought he wouldn’t be doing the same thing. Ma, how many degrees you got?”
“Are you trying to call me dumb without calling me dumb? I will knock you clean across this restaurant.”
“Chill, Ma. That’s not what I was doing . . . Well, not really.”
I lifted my hand and leaned toward him as if I was about to hit him. He flinched, but I put my hand down.
“I’m still your mama, boy. Don’t get too crazy.”
“My bad, Ma. You know I’d never disrespect you, but you gotta be for real. I don’t know why you can’t just admit that you like the man. Add him to your roster, and if you find that you don’t like him, give him the boot.”
“I keep telling your knucklehead ass I don’t have a roster, but if we start dating and it doesn’t work out, it could create some very uncomfortable moments considering he’s my best friend’s brother-in-law.”
He shrugged. “Ya’ll grown and should be able to handle it.”
“We should be able to, but I’m not sure if I can. Once I’m done with a man, I don’t want to see him anymore.”
“What if you get lucky like Auntie Nyomi? Y’all could get married, have a couple of kids, and ride off into the sunset.”
“Where’s our food, because you’re talking crazy now.”
“Am I?” I nodded. “I disagree, but hey, what do I—umm, guess who just walked in?”
Stokely and I were sitting at a small table near the wall, and we both had a good view of the entrance. I looked up and saw Knox with a woman I didn’t recognize, making this the third woman he’d been with in the last two weeks.
“If looks could kill, Knox and ole girl would be dead. You like him, Ma. Just admit it.”
Yeah, I like him, but so what?I thought.