The One That Got Away Read Online Free Page B

“red bone” or “too light to be right” box. At various points she’d sheared her head bald, visited tanning booths, or wore lipsticks that enhanced the fullness of her “soup-coolers.” Anything to hide the relatively recent European strains (French on her father’s side, Irish on her mother’s) running through her.
    The affirming conversation turned testy for a few minutes, as the friends debated what role, if any, complexion played in Dawn’s troubling behavior. Jade, whose own ethnicity was a melting pot of Jamaican, Colombian, and Korean strains, insisted on making her point. “Like it or not, girl, we all know this society still ranks people, especially women, by how close we come to thewhite ideal. And little Sydney is closer to it than our precious Dawn.”
    â€œI just don’t agree with you,” Serena said, shaking her head but wondering whether it wouldn’t be easier if her girlfriend was right. The more she thought about it, Jade’s theory on Dawn’s behavior beat the alternative. There was only one other good explanation for her daughter’s acting out: the same demons that stalked Serena’s own youth, the ones that left her temporarily unfit to raise baby Dawn. Not only had they made life hell then, they lay in wait for her today, daring her to skip a few days’ pills. Were the same demons creeping up on her daughter now? Serena wasn’t mentally prepared to go there.

3
    A s she held on to Jade’s embrace, Serena whispered a prayer for mercy and strength. She’d get Dawn and Sydney through this rough period, but she had to have Jamie’s help at parenting. At times he acted like Dawn was her responsibility alone, but Serena never hesitated to remind him that while Sydney was his only biological child, Dawn was his, too; the adoption had been a condition of her agreement to marry him in the first place.
    â€œYou don’t have to solve all this tonight,” Jade said, rubbing Serena’s back with warm, deep strokes. “Let’s get you into bed.” A wry smile crept onto her face. “Once you drop off, maybe I’ll get a call from that fine man I met at the reception.”
    Just that quickly, Serena felt the appreciation welling up in her seep away. “Are you talking about that white boy who was with Tony Gooden?” He had been cute, but if he was friends with Tony he was probably trouble.
    â€œOh.” Jade frowned and looked away like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “Well, yeah. I swear, though, I didn’t know he was with Tony until after he got my number.”
    â€œI don’t know the guy,” Serena said dismissively, “so do your thing. It’s none of my business.”
    Jade let her comment go, then asked, “You really didn’t feel anything, positive or negative, after seeing Tony tonight?”
    â€œJade, did you hear me earlier or not? I’ve got bigger things on my mind than some man who crashed my wedding a decade ago.” Lies, all lies, but she was working overtime to convince herself they were true. After years spent suppressing her most embarrassing emotions, Serena was convinced that had been a complete stranger shaking Tony’s hand in the receiving line. Yes, a weak-willed stranger, full of secret hopes that her ex would pursue her all over again, as if the ten years since her aborted wedding had never passed. What a fool the woman was; rejecting several dance invitations from handsome groomsmen, she’d rushed to the nearest ladies’ room and dialed Tony’s cell number, her mind intent on accepting his apology with a little more class. If she could lie to herself, how could she tell Jade the truth?
    â€œWell, I still think he should have stayed away today out of respect for you,” Jade replied. “But I know sometimes the heart overwhelms the head, especially when you haven’t seen someone in a