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Standing in the middle of a new home filled with boxes and my daughter by my side felt damned good. The draining divorce my ex-husband put me through was finalized yesterday morning and all of my shit was out of Atlanta and in Eastlake by this afternoon. I didn’t care what anyone else had to say. Me leaving a cancer city was for me and my daughter’s sake.

“Lord, I want to thank you for getting me and my baby out of there safely. Please keep us wrapped in your blood on this new journey.” I wasn’t in the church much, but God knew my heart.

“Where are we anyway? Nobody’s ever heard of Eastlake.”

“It’s somewhere far away from your father. Go to your room and start to unpack.”

“I’d rather not. Hire somebody the same way you hired somebody to whisk them here in the first place. Why did you even bring me? I could’ve stayed with my daddy.”

Melanie was seventeen years old and spoiled rotten. She was the only child I bared to her father before I got my business degree. Once that was in tow, I rarely had time for anything else outside of building my shop. Now I was able to move us and my business to a new city and start over. I was excited but she clearly wasn’t.

I spared Mel’s feelings a lot. If she knew the real reason I left her father, she wouldn’t give me so much damn grief. While I was a loving wife to him, he was a loving man and father to another household. Houston was a liar, cheater, and someone I no longer saw a future with. Once his mistress flaunted their family in my shop embarrassing me, I filed for a divorce, got a two bedroom apartment temporarily, searched for a new house in Eastlake near family, and got the hell on. I had too much going for myself to let a dumb nigga like him shatter it.

“Call him then. See if he answers,” I challenged her.

Houston didn’t give me any pushback when I proposed the divorce. He was happy to be able to live with his new whore in peace. I just didn’t do it for him anymore and to be honest, I was okay with that. I found more pleasure in cutting hair than sleeping next to him. The only thing that left me in distaste for him was how he tried to take half of my business as if it was him who helped start it. I drew the line there. If you couldn’t afford your new family, you shouldn’t have started it. I walked away with everything that belonged to me and some. He had nothing to say to me or Mel. I wouldn’t be surprised if he changed his number by now.

She pulled out her cell and I walked away knowing the results. She could carry that attitude all she wanted but Eastlake was her new home and that was the end of it. I knew my daughter and just as soon as the sun rose tomorrow, she would have a new friend. She was friendly as hell but mean at the same time.

I gave myself another tour as if I hadn’t walked through this house twice already. The open floor space and updated appliances all stood out. This four-bedroom home was exactly what we needed to start over. A home office, and her an art studio. This was the freedom we both needed, and I wished Melanie could see that.

“Did you say something to him? Why aren’t my calls going through?”

“I have absolutely nothing to say to your father. If your calls aren’t going through, that’s not on me.”

“You always nag him and now he probably blocked us. Why did we have to move to this shitty place?” She stormed off after blaming me. It never failed when it came to her. Houston got all the praise while I was sassed and blamed for anything that went wrong.

Normally, I would’ve checked her about her mouth, but I was still on a high for getting the hell out of Atlanta. This was fresh and neither her nor her father was going to fuck it up for me. Not only did I pack me and my daughter up, but I also packed my shop up as well. K Blades had a new residence, and I was more than excited to see how the residents of Eastlake accepted a chick.

My cutting skills landed me on celebrity radars but one thing I never did was develop arrogance. I knew what I could do with a pair of clippers, and I didn’t have to talk down on the next to be seen. I ran an all-female barbershop and the ladies cutting were just as bomb. I knew I was a problem the second I realized men preferred me over theirregularbarber. I was just that talented.

“Which one of these boxes got the shot glasses in them? Let’s celebrate, bitch!”

I didn’t have to turn around to know who was shouting in my house. My best friend, Onyx, who I looked at as a little sister followed me to Eastlake to make sure I didn’t feel alone. She could’ve moved in but wanted her privacy and snagged an apartment instead. Nonetheless, she was by my side as usual.

With a smile on my face, I opened the box in front of me on the counter for a wine glass. That was the closest we were going to get for now. I handed over one to her and said, “Just use this. Have you moved in yet?”

“Hell yeah. I paid the movers a lil’ something extra to unbox my shit and put it all up. They made a smooth eight hunnid a piece off the clock. Soooooo, how you liking it so far? This house is big as fuck, KoKo.”

“I know but we needed the space. Melanie is supposed to be taking her painting serious this year to fulfill her goal. Right now, she only has four when she needs twenty in her catalog. I hope she get her shit together for real.”

“She got the scholarship, right?”

“She did but it was to Spellman. Onyx, the girl doesn’t even know what the hell Houston’s trifling ass been up to, so she wants to go back and be with him and all her lil’ friends. I haven’t told her, and he just been too missing in fuckin’ action to even break it down to her. She thinks that bum ass nigga is God or something.”

“Tuh. You better than me. I would’ve been told her and broke her lil’ mean ass all the way down. She too grown for me. Goddaughter or not, she needs to learn how to respect you.”

Onyx was an only child, but she was super spoiled. She was a trust fund baby, and that trust was nowhere near skimp. Baby sis was set for life. However, she had a humble spirit and always put others first. She was realer than a lot of these so called men out here. She never dropped the ball when it came to me or Melanie.

“I haven’t been in the mood to correct her behavior lately. I figured it was just ‘cause me and her father was getting a divorce that she was acting out. I ain’t want to push her feelings aside but now she just down right disrespectful sometimes.”

“Beat her ass,” Onyx said pouring liquor in her glass.

“I am not going to hit my child. I never have and I’m not going to start now.” I tried raising Mel different from my upbringing. I thought she deserved better than being beat on like a pro boxer.

“I will, just give me the word. Here, drink up.” She handed over my glass and held up hers. I picked it up, clinked hers and brought it to my lips. This was the first drink of the year for me. I’d been so busy and running nonstop, I hadn’t had time for anything other than business.

It coated my throat and went down smooth. “Thank you, friend. I didn’t realize how much I needed that.”

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