Better for Us Read Online Free Page A

whipped cream.”
    Jaylen jumped for joy. “Just like we put on the waffles. Is this a special day or something?”
    Okay, maybe she went a bit overboard, but it wasn’t every day that a little girl met her father for the first time. Noel had been so angry last night that he hadn’t told her what time he would be back today. But she wasn’t concerned about that, because if she knew nothing else, she knew that Noel Carter would be ringing her doorbell at his earliest convenience today. “It’s not a special day, honey. But let’s hurry up and eat, because there is something I’d like to talk to you about.” Ryla turned and looked at her mom with imploring eyes. “Do you think you can hang out with us for a little while this morning?”
    Juanita Evans-Berkley gave her daughter a big Texas smile as she sat her Coach purse down on the counter. “Are you kidding? For French toast with strawberry syrup, I’ll hang out with y’all all day.”
    “Thanks, Mom,” Ryla said, grateful that she would have a shoulder to lean on today. “Well, ladies, help me set the table so we can eat.”
    Ryla went to the refrigerator and took out the apple juice and orange juice, while Juanita took the plates out of the cabinet. Jaylen grabbed the napkins and forks. As Ryla put three glasses on the table her hand was shaking a bit.
    Juanita glanced at Ryla. “Is everything okay?”
    Ryla poured apple juice for Jaylen and then picked up the orange juice to pour herself and her mother a glass. “Sure, everything’s okay,” she said. But then the doorbell rang and Ryla almost dropped the juice. She gripped the orange juice bottle with a firmer hand and poured the juice in the glasses. She then put both juices back in the refrigerator and started chewing on her index finger.
    “What’s wrong?” her mother asked.
    “Nothing’s wrong,” Ryla hurriedly said. “Why do you think something’s wrong?”
    “Well, for one thing, you’re chewing on your finger. You only do that when you’re trying to figure out how to get out of something. The doorbell has rung twice so far, but you haven’t yet moved an inch to answer it.”
    Ryla took her finger out of her mouth and stepped away from the stove. “Can you fix Jaylen’s plate while I go and see who’s at the door?”
    “Sure thing, hon,” her mother said with a lifted brow.
    Ryla took baby steps all the way to the front door. She fully expected Noel to show up again today, but not at ten in the morning. She had hoped he would at least give her until noon to break the news to their daughter. But as she looked out the peephole at the double-fudge fine black man standing on her porch, her suspicions were confirmed. She had to take a moment to study his face before opening the door. From his short fade to the well-manicured goatee, to his Hershey’s Kiss chocolate skin, everything on Noel was perfection.
    Well, everything but the scowl on his face as he pushed the buzzer several times in a row. Ryla swung the door open. “My goodness, do you really need to wake the neighborhood?”
    “I’ve been standing here for five minutes. And I know it doesn’t take that long to get to the front door in your house.”
    Was that supposed to be some sort of crack about the size of her house? She put her hand on her hip and protested, “I was busy. And you did come over here without calling first.”
    “Do I have your number?” Noel rhetorically asked.
    Noel’s voice was rising, so Ryla stepped out on the porch and closed the door behind her. “You might want to keep it down a bit.”
    With nostrils flaring, Noel said, “I didn’t come over here to play games with you, Ryla. Is Jaylen home this morning or not?”
    Nodding, she said, “She and my mother just arrived. But I haven’t had time to tell her about you yet.”
    “When do you suppose you’ll get around to that?” he asked, in a sarcasm-infused tone.
    “She’s eating breakfast right now. I was going to tell her as soon as