Crazy Summer Read Free Page B

up the step. She politely pressed the illuminated doorbell and then wiped the sweat from the boys’ faces with a burgundy hand towel. When the door opened, she was still bending over attending to the kids.
    “Damn,” someone said in a low tone.
    Summer quickly stood straight up and spun around to face the door. She was surprised not to see her friend Toni; instead, she was addressed by some guy who she had never seen before. The guy carefully scanned her up and down. As a matter of fact, he stared at her so hard that she felt a sense of nervousness flow through her.
    She was just about to ask a question, when the guy beat her to it.
    “You lookin’ fo’ Red Bone?”
    Red Bone was Toni’s nickname.
    “Yeah, tell her Summer’s out here,” she said, trying to avoid eye contact with the guy who had her skin crawling.
    “She ain’t here right now,” the guy responded, while opening the screen door. “Come on in. She’ll be right back.”
    She thought for a few seconds about this situation she was faced with. First, she didn’t know who the guy was, even though he was very attractive to her. Then again, she knew how Red Bone could get when it came to a man. She was always tripping when she was high, thinking a bitch wanted her man.
    Fuck it, she thought.
    She gripped the handle of the stroller and pressed down on it, making the front wheels pop up over the doorstep.
    The guy held the door open for her. “These lil’ niggas are twins, huh?” He couldn’t keep his eyes off her excellent shaped body.
    As she made her way into the living room, the smell of marijuana was light in the air, and she started to wonder if it was strong enough to affect her kids. She sat down on a plaid loveseat and pulled her boys close to her, while the guy closed the door and locked it just as quickly, for security purposes only. Summer cut eyes at him. He stood five-nine, which made him two inches taller than her. He wasn’t a handsome guy she realized. He was brown skin with bad acne; his nose was fat and his nostrils flared. He didn’t wear any jewelry, and he was dressed like he hadn’t had one red cent to his name.
      She took in all of this as he walked to the back toward one of the bedrooms or the bathroom. He came back, his eyes watching her again. This time, her eyes followed his.
    “Why you keep staring at me?” She flashed a half smile, hoping she didn’t strike a nerve with him.
    “Jus’ checkin’ you out,” he said, then added, “You must be Red Bone’s cousin or something.” He moved swiftly to the window and parted the curtain about an inch to look out into the street.
    “We best friends. How long she gonna take, you know?”
    “They should be on the way back now. They jus’ went to da sto’.”
    “Who she wit’?”
    “My patna.”
    “Who Ca?” Summer asked.
    He turned and faced her. “You da police or something?” He smiled to let her know he was just joking, and then he added, “I’m jus’ bullshittin’.”
    She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. The guy came toward her, pretending to be interested in the twins.
    “These lil’ niggas got some long-ass hair,” he said, looking at them. “You gonna let it grow?”
    He asked one of them to grab his finger, and then he lifted Jeremy from his seat. He held him up toward the ceiling and smiled. He brought him down to his face and smiled. He extended him toward the ceiling again. This caused Jeremy to laugh.
    Summer smiled and then pulled Jermaine from his seat, standing him up between her legs. That’s when they heard a car pull into the driveway.
    The guy marched toward the door with Jeremy in his arm. He opened the door just as Red Bone and his friend were stepping out of the car. They were carrying McDonald’s bags and a few grocery bags. When they finally made it to the door, they both had a bewildered look on their faces.
    “We ain’t been gone but thirty minutes and you a daddy already,” the guy said jokingly.
    Once inside the