Naughtier than Nice Read Online Free

need—hold on. Just hold on.”
    He went to the hallway and called for Monica. She woke up and came to her door, then came down the hallway. He handed her the phone. She started talking, then walked back toward her bedroom.
    Blue looked at me, saw me shaking my head, my tongue behind my upper lip.
    I said, “You did it again. You gave in to her.”
    â€œI don’t ever want it to be said that I tried to come between Mo and her mother.”
    Frustration tightened my throat, burned my eyes. Before Mo could see, I took the book I had been reading, escaped to the bathroom, and locked myself away from the drama. I flipped the novel over and stared at the photo of the writer, Beale Streets. Young face. Pretty eyes. His bio said he had no children.
    Back in the living room I put the book down, said, “Blue, I’m going to go by Frankie’s.”
    â€œWhat’s going on?”
    â€œ
Grey’s Anatomy.
Scandal.
How to Get Away with Murder.
”
    â€œLast night you went to watch
Empire
with Livvy. Thought you were staying in tonight.”
    â€œChanged my mind.”
    â€œWhy the attitude at such a high altitude all of a sudden?”
    Monica came back with the phone in her hand. She had finished her call with her birth mother.
    She looked at me and said, “Can I go with you, Mommy?”
    â€œNot tonight. Tomorrow is a school day.”
    â€œCan we have a McBroom sleepover tomorrow or Saturday?”
    â€œI will ask your aunties tonight. Now, go back to bed. I need to talk to your father a moment.”
    â€œLove you, Mommy.”
    â€œI know. Love you too, Mo.”
    Blue asked, “What am I, chopped liver?”
    â€œLove you too, Daddy. You know I love you more than anything in the world.”
    I wondered if she felt torn, trying to please one mother too many.
    She went back down the hall singing “Single Ladies,” dancing and doing hand movements and all.
    I told myself that I was overreacting. But I was angry. I felt as if I had no power, as if I weren’t being taken seriously. I touched the mark on my face, the mark that was the size of a quarter, where my first boyfriend had burned me. Blue came to me, upset, but only one thing was on my mind.
    I said, “Blue, I’m not getting any younger. This uncertainty has left me anxious and scared.”
    â€œI know. I can tell that it’s always on your mind, Tommie. I see it in your eyes.”
    â€œWhen are we going to talk about it? Our future as a family can’t be put on hold indefinitely.”
    â€œYou’re leaving to go kick it with the McBrooms.”
    â€œI could stay, if you want to talk about it, see how we can get past this and finally plan for the wedding, because I am tired ofpeople seeing this ring, knowing we’re engaged, that we live together, and we haven’t circled a date. People think we’re going to end up like Frankie and Franklin, that something is wrong, that maybe you have some secret. I’m playing the role of wife and stepmom in public, and then I’m the Shay to your Roc at night. I love you, Blue, and I need to . . . I want us to be on the same page, in agreement. Let’s make a plan, see how we can fix this, marry, and become parents, give Mo a little brother or sister before she gets older and the age difference puts them in separate generations.”
    â€œDo you think about anything else?”
    â€œYou should have talked to me first, and you know that left me feeling like an also-ran.”
    I had come home one day and found Blue on the sofa, bags of ice between his legs because he had gotten a vasectomy. His unilateral decision had left me in shock and perplexed. I wanted to let it go, but he had done something major and never consulted me. He could get his vasectomy without my consent because we weren’t married. From what I had heard, a wife would be asked to sign off on the procedure so the doctor wouldn’t