“Therein lies the problem,” Victoria said, raising her finger in response. “Because it was DuBois who said that black folks live in a constant state of dualism. According to him, I can never be just Victoria Reese. I have to be someone else whenever I step foot in the hallways of Pembroke. There’s no way around it.”

“That’s fair,” Paula said. “Now that we’ve got the black philosophers out of the way, what are you going to do in this situation?”

Victoria chuckled. “Good question. I don’t know yet.”

“Can we keep it real for a minute?” Regina asked.

“Yes, let’s.”

“Kevin wasn’t your last screw, was it?”

Victoria’s face colored. “Reggi...”

“Keeping it Real Rules apply here,” her friend said. “You know how this goes.”

Their Keeping it Real Rules were set in place years ago to keep transparency between the three best friends. Whenever one of them was in a tight spot, the other two made sure to “gather her” before she did anything stupid. Absolute honesty was needed for the problem to be solved. Victoria was a fan of the concept, but often found herself on the embarrassing end of her girlfriends’ interrogations. “Kevin was the last,” she admitted.

“He was a year ago,” Paula gasped. “Not even a little harmless hookup?”

“The Keeping it Real Rules call for a judgement free zone,” Victoria reminded her friends. “Please, cut me some slack.”

“Fine, fine, fine. But Paula raises a good point. You can’t keep letting your work get in the way of having, as you call it, ‘fun time.’ You dumped Kevin because he wanted to spend time with you. You complained that he got in the way of work.”

“He didn’t even meet your parents,” Paula added.

Kevin hadn’t been destined to meet her parents. The university IT worker was too boring for her father and not impressive enough for her mother. Katherine Reese would have pounced on his inability to spot the salad fork at a restaurant. Whenever it came to men, it was her mother, not her father, who discriminated harshly. Katherine’s behavior had always confused Victoria, considering how dangerously close she was to becoming “a bookish spinster.” No, she absolutely didn’t want to juggle both her mother and a boyfriend. “Kevin was also terrible in bed,” she said.

“What do you think John might be like in bed?”

She leaned against the couch arm and thought about it. Judging by the way his arms had felt around her body and the passion in his kiss... “I can only imagine,” she flashed the ladies a grin and wink.

Regina pulled up the social media photos once more and nodded. “Yes, ma’am, I’m imagining as well.”

“Alrighty then,” Paula said, taking another drink. “While we’re sitting here imagining, can I ask you another question? Does he seem like a safe guy?”