“I know that now. So where are you? Did you spend the night with one of those bitches you were all up on?”

“Come on, Mar, it’s too early for this shit. Can we talk about it later?”

“No, we can’t talk about it later. Where did you sleep last night, Paul?”

“I slept at Larry’s, the same place I am now.”

“What made you sleep at Larry’s, don’t you have a home to go to?” she asked as if she were conducting a cross-examination.

“We came here after the club and fell asleep. What’s with the twenty questions?” he asked.

“Nothing, Paul. I’m just trying to find out how your night went.”

“My night went the same as it always does when I hang with Larry. We got sloppy drunk and crashed at his pad.”

“I hope you didn’t get so drunk to where you would’ve done anything to jeopardize our relationship.”

Paul had finally had enough. “Yo, what the fuck is your problem?”

“Don’t take that tone with me, Paul.”

“I can take whatever tone I want, because I’m a grown-ass man who’s answering to his girl like she’s his mother!” he barked.

“I’m not trying to be your mother, Paul, I’m just making sure you’re not keeping me in the dark about anything.”

“Jesus H. Christ! Marlene, I spend damn near every waking minute with you. When do I have time to keep you in the dark?”

“Men are sneaky, Paul. You can make time.”

“Marlene, I told you, me and Larry came here and fell out. We ain’t do shit but get twisted.”

“I hope so, Paul. Anyhow, are you coming to see me today or do you guys have another party to go to?” she asked, changing the subject.

“Very funny,” he said sarcastically. “Yeah, I’ll be through there. I gotta go pick P.J. up first, though.”

“Oh, that’s good. I haven’t seen him in a while. We can rent movies and eat popcorn.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Paul said, speaking a little more pleasantly than he had a few minutes prior. “So I’ll see you later.”

“Paul?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I’m sorry I snapped at you. Sometimes I get a little jealous.”

“Don’t worry about it, Mar. You know I would never put us at risk. I’ll see you sometime this evening.”

“Love you, big daddy.”

“Love you, too, li’l mama.” Paul ended the call and lay back on the couch. He would get up and head home in a minute, but he needed a few more minutes of sleep first. No sooner than his head had hit the couch, a voice startled him.

“Guess you’ve got one hundred problems instead of ninety-nine?”