Hold Me While You Wait

by Kimberly Brown

God, I hated the duck lip phase.

Currently my story… so over the duck lip 🙄

“Just be yourself, baby. What did Bernie Mac say? If people don’t like you for being yourself, fu—”

“What’s your name?” I asked. She sighed. “Deanna Danielle Tripp.” “And who are you?” “The daughter of a king.” “And that means you’ll grow to be what?” “A queen.” “Do queens tip their crowns?” “No.”

“I am strong. I am beautiful. I am kind. I am intelligent. I am important.” “Tell me four things you love about yourself.” “I’m a straight-A student. I’m creative. I’m a good cook. I’m organized.” I smiled. “Now, tell me three things I love about you.” “My laugh. My smile. My hugs.” “Two things I always tell you.” “You love me and you’re lucky to be my daddy.” “Last thing… Who has the power to make you feel bad about yourself?” “Nobody.”

The moment I got another clear view of her face, I committed it to memory. She was beautiful.

Every day when I dropped her off for school, Jazzlyn was waiting to walk her into the building.

“Listen, Carmen, you can take the man out of the hood, but you can’t take the hood out of the man.

every little girl needs a mother,

Getting out of the hood wasn’t just for my kid, it was for me, too.

“Oh! So, you wanna ditch me, then come home and spend my money? See how you do me?”

My eyes passed over her thick frame as I licked my lips. She was definitely collard greens, fatback, and cornbread fed.

He stared at her the whole car ride home. When I told him it was rude, he said he couldn’t help it because she was so pretty. That made her blush. When she called him cute, he couldn’t stop smiling.

“Are you okay with having a strange man in your house?” “Oh, I have bullets, sir. Plenty of them.” He laughed loudly. “Damn, it’s like that?” “It can definitely be like that if it has to be.”

“Everything from there is dripped in crack. It doesn’t matter what you get.”

“Mommy?” EJ asked innocently as he climbed on a bar stool across from me. “Yes, baby?” “What’s dripped in crack?” I laughed. “It just means something has an addicting taste. Don’t you go around saying that though.”

feel like home is where you’re surrounded by a family that loves you.

“Well, what’s your favorite comfort activity?” “Oh, that’s easy. Reading.

I’d never ruin any relationship that is important to you. Above all else, your happiness is my top priority.” “So, you’ll treat Ms. Hilton like a queen, right?”

He grinned as he opened the driver’s side door and got out. Just as I touched the handle to open mine, he stopped me. “I dare you.” I saw the seriousness in his features and pulled my hand away, raising my palms in surrender. He closed the door and walked around to let me out.

“I’m a gentleman, Ms. Hilton. I open doors. I pull out chairs. I treat you like a lady until it’s time to be otherwise. You feel me?”

“Ms. Hilton… are you lusting after my flesh?” he asked, amused.

“The attraction is mutual, baby.”

“You’re a real mother. The type of mother that would go to bed hungry to make sure her kids could eat.”

“So this reading hobby. What is your collection looking like?” “You really wanna know about my books?” “I wanna know everything about you, baby.”

“Well, I mostly read black romance.

I read a lot on my kindle, but I prefer a good old fa...

Always hype yourself up. What do I always tell you? Don’t let nobody have the power to make you feel bad about yourself.”

The Juke Joint

“A bookstore!” I exclaimed. “A twenty-four-hour bookstore. You said you loved to read. I thought I’d add to your collection. Maybe I’ll get a book or two for myself and we can read it together.”

Bookish Bliss was a black owned bookstore that carried books by black authors only. It was beautiful to see titles that centered around my people all in one place.

“Wanna have some fun?” “You brought me to a bookstore. This is the fun.” “It’s only part of the fun.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and went to the stopwatch. “You have five minutes to look around for any book your heart desires.” “Five minutes!” “Five minutes, woman. After that, you have two minutes to go back and pick them up. Whatever you collect at the end of those two minutes, I’ll buy.”

I was a cover girly, so I rarely ever read a synopsis. Most of the time, that benefited me.

We walked around for a little while longer, and I was surprised when he picked out a book for us to read together.

“I know. I’ll stop reading until you catch up.” He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me into his chest. “Once you do, we can lay up and read together. How about that?”

Over the years, she’d healed part of the little boy in me that longed to be loved and acknowledged by the woman that birthed me.

it reminded me of Kevin Hart saying his mama made his daddy a stepparent by not allowing that man past the second step.

“I’ve got you.” “I’m right here.” “Let me have it, I’ll carry it for you.”

We are reading together, woman. You’re here. I’m here. The books are here. You just reading slow. Catch up, shawty.”