in her face.
"I'm sorry momma," Jamal apologized. "I can't see you down there." The small boy stood propped on a stool beside his mother.
"Just be careful," Keisha said, softening her tone. She hadn't meant to snap on the poor thing.
She heard Lamar laugh somewhere behind her. "Ha-ha, Jamal getting in trouble," he teased.
"Shut up Lamar!" Jamal snapped.
"Both of y'all be quiet!" Keisha demanded, concerned about her head. Let the two little niggas fight when she wasn't in danger of burning out her scalp. Her head had been stinging before she had rushed to the sink to get the chemicals washed out.
After her hair had been rinsed out and neutralized, she thanked her baby and went into the bathroom to get a look at her relaxed locks.
"It looks like it took good," she said with relief, running her hand through all the waves that flowed down to the middle of her back. It felt super soft and manageable. Now it would be easy to straighten.
She made a face at the mirror, tossing her wet hair about. "Telling me to straighten my hair. Well, I got something for her valleygurl lookin ass."
Later that evening, when Davonte was home from work, eating his dinner she had cooked for him, he nodded at her head, which was now wrapped in a silk scarf. "What's with that shit?"
Davonte had become overjoyed at the news that she had gotten a job and was now in a good mood. While Keisha was pleased that he was happy, she still felt slightly ill towards him for how callously he treated her during their argument they had last week.
Regardless of whether she had reacted irrationally, that was no excuse for what Demarion had did.
Tearing her eyes away from the dish she was scrubbing, Keisha asked, "What's with what?"
Davonte made a face. "That rag on yo head."
Keisha quickly told him about how the audacious secretary had the nerve to suggest she change her hairstyle.
"It makes sense," Davonte said, noisily chewing on a pork chop. "I would have suggested the same thing if I were in her position. You know that school is like ninety-nine point nine-percent white. It comes with the territory."
That was something Keisha did not want to think about because it was making her nervous. Knowing how ignorant some white kids could be, she worried that she might have to quit her new job with a quickness if any of her new students dared act racist towards her.
Getting disrespected by bad ass kids just because they had no home training was one thing, but getting disrespected by some mean-spirited, ignorant white kids who had home training, but were raised to be ignorant by their parents, was another.
"I'm just happy you did something different with your hair for once," Davonte said.
Turning back to her dishes, Keisha said softly, "Well I'm not."
Later on, while she was doing laundry, she noticed some white, crusty stains on Davonte's silk boxers, gluing the slit entrance together. Now Keisha was no fool and instantly recognized the stains for what they were.
Is this nigga jacking off at work? she wondered.
If he was, she could hardly blame him. She hadn't been attentively lately, which she was going to have to work on. Though it puzzled her, how he could be whacking off at his job with the work environment he was in.
Maybe he does that mess in the bathroom.
She stood there for a moment, staring at the obvious cum stains, wondering if she should confront him about it.
Why bother? she thought. He's just going to lie anyway. And I know he can't be cheating on me with how busy he is at work, so it ain't that big of a deal.
She had to believe that.
When it was time for bed, she lay against Davonte's bare chest in her flimsy night gown, her anxiety in over drive.
"I'm sorry about how I acted last week," Davonte apologized, gently rubbing her arm, sending goose bumps along her soft skin.
Keisha looked up into his green eyes, surprised. This was the first time he had mentioned their argument.
"Really?" she asked.
Davonte nodded, kissing her softly