Can't Be That Other Woman

CAN’T BE THAT OTHER WOMAN

BY: AMBRIA DAVIS

Copyright © 2016 by Ambria Davis

Published by Tiece Mickens Presents

All rights reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright laws. This is a work of fiction. Any similarities to any person dead or alive, events or places are purely coincidental.

No parts of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

DEDICATION

     This book, like every other one of my books, is dedicated to my beautiful daughter Nevaeh H. Davis and my handsome son Kayson J. Weber.

      I want to thank God for blessing me with the two of you. Y’all are the reason for my constant strive towards success. Without y’all I honestly don’t know where I’d be. The love I have for y’all is undeniable and unconditional, don’t ever let anyone tell y’all different. I do everything for you two, always have and always will! Forever my babies, Mommy loves y’all with every fiber in her. Muah1 *143*

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I want to give all thanks and praises to the man up above. Without him, none of this would even be possible.

           To my parents; thanks for being so hard on me when I was a child. I now know why y'all were doing it. I love y'all.

          To my sisters; this past year hasn't been easy, but thank God that we're still here. I love y'all and I thank God every day for y'all.

          To my aunts, thank y'all for everything. I appreciate y'all and even though I don't say it much, I love y'all.

           To my cousins, I know we may fuss and fight a lot, but no matter what, we're always there for one another. We're not just Fam(ily), we're best friends also. I love y’all; never let no one tell y'all any different.

           To my sissy Racquel. Words can't explain how much you mean to me. Thanks again for giving me a chance. I love ya sis.

           To my readers; Thanks to each and every one of you, because without y'all, I'd be nothing. I appreciate the support and I'm highly grateful for everything. My readers Rock!

          To Rochelle Simmons; thank you for supporting.

           Shout out to My Tigerville Family.

           Free Pat-Meat, Big Dog & Casimere 3rd

            R.I.P Lynetta, Earline, Geanetta (Black Gal), Mark, Lil Adam, Teresa, Rowland Morris, Casimere Jr., Ralph, Juan, Gee Gee, Frank & Leontine. Continue to Watch over and smile down on us. We love and Miss y'all.

Chapter 1

Delaney

"Laney, Laney!” I heard my name being called repeatedly. It felt like that sleep was just getting good, only for them to come and fuck it up. Frustrated, I threw the covers over my head, looked at the clock and noticed that it was a little after 7:00 in the morning. I was never able to sleep in on a Saturday morning. It was either I had to work early, or this shit was always happening. Lord knows I was beyond tired. I closed the store last night and I did not get in until almost 12:30, because I ended up missing my bus home. Then to top that off, when I did get inside, it was filthy. Therefore, I had to pick up everything and clean up. I would be lying if I said I was not tired of doing the same thing repeatedly, because I was, and it looked like the shit wasn't getting any better. Every day, I had to come from work or school and have to clean up. Bad thing is, my little sister, Daija, was 16 years old, so she knew better. Her little fast ass was too busy out here running these streets, and chasing after these no good ass niggas to even care. She doesn’t even go to school anymore and my mother was so tired of the people at the school calling her, that she ended up giving them my cell phone number. Almost every day, I had to tell her something about not going to school, and she would always pretend that she was listening to me. Honestly, everything I was saying to her would just go through one ear and out the other. It was obvious that she was more grown than I was, so I stopped wasting my time with her and decided to put more energy into my other three siblings. It made no sense to try to help someone, when they didn't want help.

Throwing the covers back, I got out of the bed and went to answer the door for whomever it was knocking. Opening the door, I was ready to cuss whoever it was out, when I noticed who it was. I smiled at the sight of my two brothers and little sister, Dedrick, Derrick, and Dallas all standing there in their pajamas that I had gotten for them last week.

"Laney, we're hungry," Dallas said, rubbing her eyes. I smiled at her batting those long eyelashes of hers, which had immediately melted my heart. Baby girl was my heart, all of my siblings were, but Dallas and I had this deeper bond. She was a loving and caring person for someone so little, and she would always listen the first time I told her to do something. Unlike my little brothers, who I'm pretty sure had woke her up and made her do this. They knew Dallas was my weakness. Anything her little heart wanted, I tried my best to give it to her. She was my baby and I had her spoiled. At a young age, I could tell that Dallas was destined for greatness. She wasn't like the rest of us, I only hoped that she would be the one to get up out of here one day and make something out of her life. I hope that she goes to college, gets a degree, a nice paying job and have a wonderful family. All of the things that I would like to do, but I cannot, because of my situation.
Maybe she can be the one to break the cycle in this family
, I thought.

"Let me wash my face and mask my breath, then I will come and cook you all some breakfast," I told them. They immediately began dancing and cheering all at once, like I had just told them I was taking them to Chuck E. Cheese’s or something. "But first, tell me if y'all brushed y'all teeth or not."

They instantly stopped dancing and stood there staring at each other, which let me know that they hadn’t. I almost busted out laughing at how scared they were now looking. "How about y'all go brush those teeth first, and I'll go get breakfast started."

"Yay!" they all yelled at once, before they took off running towards the bathroom. Shaking my head, I headed to the kitchen.

On my way to the kitchen, I stopped by Daija's room. When I got in from work last night, I noticed that she wasn't there and when I finished cleaning up, she still hadn't made it home. Therefore, there is no telling what time she got in this morning. Peeking through the door, I noticed her sound asleep under the covers.
I wonder what kind of trouble she got into last night
, I thought, as I continued to watch her sleep.

Although she was heading down the wrong path and making bad decisions already, Daija was a very pretty girl. She stood a few inches shorter than I was, at 5’3”, she weighed in at about 140 to 150 pounds, with a perky set of 38-C cups and an all right booty. To me, her body made her look much older than her true age, which is why niggas were always up in her face. I could only wish she was smart enough to know better, but I know she wasn't. Daija was a rebel! She would do anything to cause trouble, that’s how she demanded attention. Unfortunately, I knew she wasn't a virgin, which saddens me, because had she just looked around at everything, and saw the bigger picture, things could've probably been different.

"So are you going to just stand there and stare or are you going to say something?" Daija asked, scaring the shit out of me. I hadn't even noticed that she was up. Hell, her eyes were still closed. So how did she know I was even there?

"Umm, I came to tell you that breakfast will be ready in twenty minutes."

"Well, you wasted your time, because I'm not hungry. Now get out of my room and close my door behind you," she said, pulling the covers over her head. I didn't miss the attitude she just had either. Shaking my head, I stepped back getting ready to close the door, when I stopped. I was tired of her and that flip ass mouth of hers.

"You know what, Daija, that little attitude you catching, you can keep. Know that I will never kiss anyone's ass, I don't care who it is. You getting an attitude for nothing, but that’s cool and all. I only came up here to let you know, so you can put something in your stomach and here you want to bitch. Just remember when your little ungrateful ass comes to me and ask for something, my answer is no!" I yelled back at her. I was sick and tired of her ass playing with me, as if she was so fucking grown. If she were fucking grown, she wouldn’t be out here making those silly ass mistakes she keeps making, and take her stupid ass to school.

"I don't care, Delaney, I don't need you. I can go out there and get my own shit. You don't have to do shit for me. You're not my momma, Sonya McGuff is." She yelled hopping out of the bed. She walked; more like ran to the door. She stood only a few feet away from me, rolling her eyes with her arms folded across her chest. I don't know if she thought she was intimidating me, but just to be spiteful, I folded my arms across my chest and began rolling my eyes back at her. I wanted to see if her bite was half as big as her bark.

"You're so dumb, you don't even know better and I feel sorry for you. I know that I'm not your mother, and I'm not trying to be. I'm just your sister, who's actually trying to look out for your little stupid ass, but all of that ends today. Since you're so grown, make sure your ass fends for yourself. Pads, tampons, food, clothes, shoes, hair needs and everything else, make sure you take care of that shit on your own. When you're out there being fast and carrying on like you don't have the sense God gave a billy goat, make sure you call on somebody else when the police have you. Do not call my phone for anything, because I won't be helping you. You don't need me, and I'm not trying to help anyone, who obviously doesn't want my help. So since you're grown, stay grown!" With that said, I left out of the room and headed straight to the kitchen to get breakfast started. I didn't have any more of my time to waste on Daija. She was on her own from now on.

It took me a total of thirty minutes to finish cooking breakfast. Since I still needed to take care of my hygiene, I decided to do that first. When I was done, I walked into the living room, where the kids were sitting down watching their Saturday morning cartoons.

"Come on y'all, let’s go eat, before the food gets cold," I said to them. My brothers took off running for the kitchen. "Hey, y'all walk now and don't touch nothing. I'll be there in a second."

"Come on, Laney, let's go eat," Dallas said in an innocent little voice that melted my heart. She grabbed my hand with hers as we began walking to the kitchen. Once we made it to the kitchen, she released my hand and took her seat, which was always next to the chair that I would sit in. Again, I smiled at her, before I went about the task of fixing their plates. There was a little bit of everything, from grits, eggs and bacon, to sausage, ham, toast and waffles. I wanted to make sure that they were nice and full, until it was lunchtime. Once I finished fixing their plates, I fixed one for myself and sat down with them. We prayed and gave God thanks for our food, before we dug in.

As we sat there and ate our breakfast, we talked about day-to-day things. Like what was going on in school, the kids’ grades, cartoon shows and things that were happening around the neighborhood. What the kids wanted to be when they grew up, and we talked about more stuff. I wasn't surprised when Dedrick and Derrick said they wanted to be professional football players. Hell, they ran around the neighborhood playing football almost every day. I knew that by the time they grew up, they were going to be awesome football players. Dallas, on the other hand, said she wanted to be a doctor, which came as no surprise to me, because she was always trying to help others.

Once we were finished eating, I ushered the kids into the living room, while I went to clean the kitchen. After I was finished washing the dishes and putting them away, I went to throw out the trash and get the mail. Walking back into the house, I threw the mail on the counter and went back into the kitchen. I was about to sweep and mop the floor, when my mother walked into the kitchen. I immediately became disgusted at the sight of her. She stood there in a dingy white T-shirt that actually looked like it hadn't been washed in days. She had on a pair of sweatpants, which were too big for her, with her hair all over her head. I'm pretty sure that her breath was stank, because she hadn't used either one of the toothbrushes that I'd brought her. Nor had she used anything else I gave her to take care of herself.

"Why didn't you wake me for breakfast?" she asked, walking over to the now empty stove. Rolling my eyes, I didn't even answer her.
Why the fuck would I feed you, when you're always leaving us hungry
? I thought as I began filling the mop bucket with water. "Delaney, I know you hear me. Make me slap the fuck out of you, hear?"

Stopping what I was doing, I stood there and I just looked at her. I hated when she started trying to play Momma all of a sudden. Like where the hell was all this motherly shit, when we needed it? Like when we didn't have any food to eat, or soap to take a bath?  Where was the “mothering” when she let the light people come and turn off our lights? I could think of a few other times when we needed her to act all motherly, but right now was definitely not one of those moments.

"What, you got something to say, Delaney? Well, go on ‘head and say it." She posed, with her hands now on her frail hips. She was moving so much that I was afraid she was going to break them. Opening my mouth, I immediately closed it back when no words came out. Whom was I kidding? Even though my mother wasn't shit, I still loved her and no matter how much she didn't do right by my siblings, and me she was still my mother. No matter what she said to me, I wasn't going to disrespect her, so instead of telling her anything, I simply walked off to my room.

As soon as I walked through the door, my phone started to ring. Walking over to the dresser where it was, I picked it up and noticed that it was the number to my job.
But today is my off day
, I thought, as I debated on whether or not I should answer. After a few seconds of debating and the phone still ringing, I decided to answer it.

"Hello," I said, taking a seat on the bed.

"Good morning, Delaney. It's the assistant manager at the store. I know today is your off day, and I'm sorry to be calling you, but Leila wasn't able to make it to work today. So I was calling to see if you could come in and work her shift."

"Well, what time does it starts?" I asked, a little annoyed, I had made plans to chill with my friends today, but now it seems like I have to cancel.

"It starts at eleven this morning," Christina, the assistant store manager, replied. I looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost ten, which meant that I would have to hurry if I wanted to be there on time.

"Okay, I'll be there," I told her.

"Oh, thank you so much, Delaney. I had already called two other employees, who weren't able to come in. So this really means a lot. Saturday is our busiest days, I couldn't fathom being here by myself all day," she said, sounding relieved.

"Okay, I'll see you in a minute, Christina."

"Okay and thanks again," she said, hanging up the phone.

I sat there for a few minutes after getting off the phone with Christina. I was still tired from last night, but Lord knows I needed all of the money that I could get. I know my friends were going to be mad with me, but the money came before anything, so they were going to have to wait. I could hang out with them some other time. Right now I was about to head to the money.

Unlocking my phone, I went straight to my contact list. Once I found the name that I was looking for, I clicked on it and hit call. Placing the phone to my ear, I began getting my things ready for work as I waited for my friend to answer the phone.

"Hello," she said, answering the phone and sounding as if she was asleep.

"Damn, it took you long enough to answer the phone. I bet your ass was still sleeping huh?" I said, before I busted out laughing.

"And you know this, which is why I don't see why you called me this early," she said in between yawns.