something about her accent that let Aisha know she wasn’t from Jersey. Everyone rushed to congratulate Minerva immediately, including Aisha, but in the back of her head, she couldn’t help but wonder if the two Hightower women were somehow related to Patrick.
They said they were sisters-in-law. One could be his sister and the other could be his wife for al she knew. How awkward would that be?
Samantha introduced herself and apparently she was a doctor of physical therapy.
Soon it was Aisha’s turn to introduce herself. Not one woman in the group had mentioned romance novels in the lists of books they like to read. She was suddenly feeling out of place and wondering where the heck Toni was. What would these other, seemingly happily married women with interesting jobs and eclectic reading tastes think of a divorced single-mom kindergarten teacher who steals away snatches of time to devour African-American romance novels?
She needed to go into the back room, grab her son and break the hel out of there before she had a chance to find out what they thought.
Wait a second , she thought, halting al her negative ramblings. She was just as good and just as smart as anyone else. She certainly wasn’t ashamed of final y having the courage to break the cycle of violence in her family by divorcing her abusive husband. And she had worked darn hard raising a smal boy alone and going back to school to become a kindergarten teacher.
Building back her self-esteem after years of a verbal y abusive marriage had been hard, and it was clearly something she would have to continue to work on. She gave herself a mental shake to shore up her courage and introduced herself. Before she knew it, she was spil ing out her introduction and waiting for the first person to even look like she had something sarcastic to say.
What she found instead surprised her.
“Girl, I love romance novels, too, especial y the African-American ones. I’m addicted to them and my soaps, girl! I just love some love . I just didn’t know what you al would think about my reading choices.” Jenny gave an embarrassed chuckle. “So I left them out.”
“Shoot, I cut my teeth on Arabesque when I was a preteen. My mom was sick, dying of AIDS, and she used to have me read her novels to her because she knew I liked to read,” Minerva added.
“And these two got me hooked on them now. They keep me nice and romantical y ready for my handsome husband.” Samantha grinned widely when she mentioned her husband.
Aisha wondered if the man that put that smile on Samantha’s face was Patrick Hightower.
They bonded and connected for over half an hour about their love for romance novels. They al had their top ten and al of their top ten favorites included the two BJs, Brenda Jackson and Beverly Jenkins.
“Wel , since we al like African-American romance novels, I think we know what genre our first book wil be,”
Jenny folded her hands on her lap and smiled.
“Romance!” al four women said in unison.
After setting up the parameters of the book club and deciding on a first book, a few of the women sat in Jenny’s den chatting and continuing to get to know one another.
Toni final y showed up and Aisha thought about reading her the riot act, but she’d had too much fun with the other women and had a good vibe about the possibilities for some new friendships, so she decided she would let Toni slide this one time.
“So tel me how’s everything with you and that fine Hightower husband of yours. I bet he’s loving being a new dad.” Jenny playful y shoved Samantha’s shoulder. “One day I’m going to have to tel you al how Samantha pretty much owes being married to the hottest man next to my Walt to my persistence in getting her to give the fine Joel Hightower a chance.”
Aisha felt a gush of breath whoosh out of her mouth and it startled her. Why should she feel anything like relief just because Samantha wasn’t married to Patrick?
“I would have come around
They said they were sisters-in-law. One could be his sister and the other could be his wife for al she knew. How awkward would that be?
Samantha introduced herself and apparently she was a doctor of physical therapy.
Soon it was Aisha’s turn to introduce herself. Not one woman in the group had mentioned romance novels in the lists of books they like to read. She was suddenly feeling out of place and wondering where the heck Toni was. What would these other, seemingly happily married women with interesting jobs and eclectic reading tastes think of a divorced single-mom kindergarten teacher who steals away snatches of time to devour African-American romance novels?
She needed to go into the back room, grab her son and break the hel out of there before she had a chance to find out what they thought.
Wait a second , she thought, halting al her negative ramblings. She was just as good and just as smart as anyone else. She certainly wasn’t ashamed of final y having the courage to break the cycle of violence in her family by divorcing her abusive husband. And she had worked darn hard raising a smal boy alone and going back to school to become a kindergarten teacher.
Building back her self-esteem after years of a verbal y abusive marriage had been hard, and it was clearly something she would have to continue to work on. She gave herself a mental shake to shore up her courage and introduced herself. Before she knew it, she was spil ing out her introduction and waiting for the first person to even look like she had something sarcastic to say.
What she found instead surprised her.
“Girl, I love romance novels, too, especial y the African-American ones. I’m addicted to them and my soaps, girl! I just love some love . I just didn’t know what you al would think about my reading choices.” Jenny gave an embarrassed chuckle. “So I left them out.”
“Shoot, I cut my teeth on Arabesque when I was a preteen. My mom was sick, dying of AIDS, and she used to have me read her novels to her because she knew I liked to read,” Minerva added.
“And these two got me hooked on them now. They keep me nice and romantical y ready for my handsome husband.” Samantha grinned widely when she mentioned her husband.
Aisha wondered if the man that put that smile on Samantha’s face was Patrick Hightower.
They bonded and connected for over half an hour about their love for romance novels. They al had their top ten and al of their top ten favorites included the two BJs, Brenda Jackson and Beverly Jenkins.
“Wel , since we al like African-American romance novels, I think we know what genre our first book wil be,”
Jenny folded her hands on her lap and smiled.
“Romance!” al four women said in unison.
After setting up the parameters of the book club and deciding on a first book, a few of the women sat in Jenny’s den chatting and continuing to get to know one another.
Toni final y showed up and Aisha thought about reading her the riot act, but she’d had too much fun with the other women and had a good vibe about the possibilities for some new friendships, so she decided she would let Toni slide this one time.
“So tel me how’s everything with you and that fine Hightower husband of yours. I bet he’s loving being a new dad.” Jenny playful y shoved Samantha’s shoulder. “One day I’m going to have to tel you al how Samantha pretty much owes being married to the hottest man next to my Walt to my persistence in getting her to give the fine Joel Hightower a chance.”
Aisha felt a gush of breath whoosh out of her mouth and it startled her. Why should she feel anything like relief just because Samantha wasn’t married to Patrick?
“I would have come around
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