“You didn’t have to. I told you before, these mongrels do just what they want to do.”
“Ryla, don’t you think it’s about time you stopped calling every man you meet a mongrel? There are some good men in this world.”
“Well, I don’t know any of them,” Ryla said and then held up a hand to halt the conversation. “But don’t let my bitterness dissuade you. If a man is what you want, then I will help you find one...mongrel or not.”
Shaking her head, Danetta leaned back in her seat. It amazed her that Ryla was so beautiful and yet so bitter at times. Danetta knew that Jaylen’s father had something to do with her friend’s attitude toward men, but Ryla never talked about him and she didn’t want to pry.
Ryla dropped Danetta off at the salon so she could pick up her car. “I’ll meet you at your house, so we can work on the final phase of our little Get Love Now plan.”
Danetta drove home anxious to discover what Ryla had planned next. If the changes her friend had suggested so far were able to garner her stares and a wink, she wondered what the final phase would bring. Danetta had high hopes that it would bring the husband and the baby carriage.
“Okay, so what’s next?” Danetta asked, once she had brought all of her new clothes and cosmetics into the house.
“Turn on your computer,” Ryla instructed.
“Has it been so long for the both of us that we need to research how to find a man?” Danetta joked as they sat in front of her computer.
“Oh no, my sistah, I know how to find a man. And I am going to show you just how to do it quickly.” Ryla turned to Danetta and asked, “You did say that you didn’t have much time to waste, right?”
“Right.”
“Okay, then the first thing I need is a USB cable so I can download the pictures I took of you at the mall.”
Danetta opened her desk drawer and produced the cable.
Ryla then downloaded the pictures of Danetta from her camera onto her computer. “Sign in to Facebook.”
“What for?” Danetta asked.
“You’ll see once you get there.”
Danetta did as she was told and then relinquished her seat to Ryla. Ryla then uploaded the picture of Danetta that showed her all dolled up, to replace the one she currently had on her profile. Her previous profile picture showed Danetta with no makeup and her usual ponytail. She was holding a briefcase, looking like she was posing for Business Woman of the Year or something. Ryla updated Danetta’s info page to say that she was single and interested in men. She also changed her status to say, “Today I’m single, tomorrow...who knows?”
“Why’d you do that? Now I’m going to have a bunch of men bothering me.”
“I thought you wanted to be bothered?” Ryla lifted an eyebrow, daring Danetta to make more of a fuss.
“Well, yeah, but there’s no need to advertise that fact, is there?”
“If you want to find a man quickly, we need to advertise. As a matter of fact, we are getting ready to sign you up on BlackPeopleMeet.com.”
Danetta began shaking her head. “I don’t think I can do that, Ryla.” She stood up. “I don’t know, maybe this is too much...too fast.”
Before Ryla could respond, an instant message popped up on Danetta’s computer from someone named Frank. He said hello and informed Danetta that he liked her new picture and would like to get to know her better.
Danetta’s mouth hung open as she looked at the message. “What is wrong with this man? He doesn’t even know me.”
“Welcome to the digital age. This is the way people meet in the twenty-first century.”
“No, it’s not. I’ve met men at the grocery store or in a parking lot,” Danetta replied.
“And how’s that working out for you?” Ryla could barely keep the sarcasm out of her voice. “How many dates have you been on with the men you’ve met in parking lots or at the grocery store?”
Danetta thought about that for a moment. When she came up with a big fat zero, she leaned in to her computer and checked out Frank’s picture. “He’s kind of cute, isn’t he?”
“Sure is. Can I respond to him?”
Being more decisive, Danetta said, “Yes, ask him where he works.”
Ryla shook her head and rolled her eyes at that suggestion. “That’s something you can ask later. Right now we want to know if he lives anywhere near Houston.” So, Ryla asked if he lived in Texas.
Frank turned out to be an Ohio resident, and Danetta felt that he was just too far away. So, they logged out of Facebook and went to BlackPeopleMeet.com. Ryla uploaded Danetta’s picture and filled out her profile. She then turned to Danetta and said, “Okay, you should begin getting some hits on Facebook and BlackPeopleMeet.com tonight or tomorrow. All you have to do is decide which of the respondents you want to go out with.”
Danetta bent over and gave Ryla a hug. “Thank you so much, Ryla. I don’t think I could have done any of this without you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. You could end up married to some brother who can’t even see the letters j-o-b without having a panic attack.”
Danetta laughed. “Go on somewhere with that kind of talk. My Aunt Sarah spends too much time praying for me for something like that to happen.”
Chapter 5
“My girl has another friend who wants to hook up with you,” Kevin Underwood said as he and Marshall jogged on the treadmill.
“The last friend of your girl’s that you hooked me up with keyed my car... No thank you.”
Kevin hit the stop button on his treadmill, jerked to a stop and turned to face Marshall with openmouthed disbelief. “Veronica keyed your car?”
Marshall nodded but kept his jog going.
“When?” Kevin asked as he reset the treadmill so he could walk fast and talk.
“This past weekend. She got mad because I changed my mind about taking her out of town with me.”
“Did you call the police?”
“Naw, I thought about it but—” Marshall paused as he puffed out his chest and slowed his jog. “I’ve got a reputation to uphold...can’t be running to the police like I’m scared of some girl.”
“Yeah, I feel you,” Kevin said as he laughed at the thought.
They finished up on the treadmill and then hit the showers. Marshall and Kevin had been working out three days a week together since college. They normally lifted weights, but this morning, neither man had the energy, so they elected to do a cardio workout. Not that skipping the weights would hurt either of them; both men had broad shoulders, washboard abs and muscular arms and legs that caused a lawd-have-mercy from a few women as they walked by.
Once they were dressed in their business suits, looking like they were ready to take on the world, Marshall headed toward his Lincoln SUV, while Kevin headed toward the black on black Lexus parked next to it.
“So are we going to the club tomorrow? It’s ladies’ night,” Kevin offered.
Marshall shook his head. “Naw, man, I’m getting tired of clubbing.”
“Since when has a club full of hoochies ever tired you out?”
“I’m getting too old for hoochies and my mama always used to tell me that if I want something different, I have to do something different.”
“Boy