Christmas in the Hood by Nikki Turner Page B

fucking do it , Roberta thought to herself. Don’t do it! Even as the admonition entered her mind, Roberta found herself leaning forward, reaching for the money in the bag while keeping an eye on Carlos’s back.
    She thought about all the crack she could buy. Hell, all the heroin she could shoot into her veins. She could taste it even as she thought about it. Even her teeth began to tingle. She could even buy her daughters Christmas presents for a change. Life for a little while would be great.
    Roberta didn’t think twice about it. She grabbed three handfuls of cash and stuffed them into her purse. She knew shegrabbed more than what Carlos had given her. No, not given, loaned. She had better remember that. She would be able to pay him back in a couple weeks, so she didn’t feel bad at all. Well, she felt bad, but not about taking the money. She had already convinced herself that she’d give it back before he ever truly missed it.
    Roberta stood up when she heard Carlos end his call.
    As he turned back around to face her, she barely looked into his eyes and said, “I appreciate it, Carlos. I’ll have it back to you in a couple weeks. I promise.”
    She even gave him a hug as he stood there looking at her and not responding. She wished like hell she could read his mind. She needed Carlos to believe everything she was saying.
    “Bobbie, I’ve known you for a lot of years. At any point have you considered me to be stupid?”
    “Not at all ’Los,” Roberta mumbled, and tried to avert her eyes. “Are you willing to risk your daughter’s life on this loan? Because this time, if you don’t pay me back, I’m coming after her.”
    Roberta fumbled with her purse straps then nibbled a piece of dry cuticle on her index finger.
    “I swear I’ll pay you back. Just don’t hurt my daughters. Either of them.”
    “Now that part’s up to you, isn’t it?”

Chapter Two
    N oelle Holiday shivered as the chill night air raised goose pimples on her café au lait–colored skin. She pulled her sky blue terry robe tighter and cinched it at the waist, making a double knot. Old Man Winter had hit early in Baltimore, and he wasn’t wasting any time.
    Noelle peered out the window and saw Christmas decorations and lights on her neighbors’ lawns. At the age of twenty-four she was anti-Christmas. For starters, Noelle had been born on Christmas Eve, and for some strange twisted reason her mother had decided to name her after the Christmas song playing on the radio at the time of her birth. Secondly, why her mother would doom her to a life of teasing by naming her Noelle when their last name was Holiday was beyond her understanding.
    And to make matters worse, Roberta Holiday still didn’t get it when she named Noelle’s eleven-year-old sister Paris. According to their mother, her youngest daughter was the closest she would ever get to having a real Paris holiday.
    Noelle wondered where her mother was at three a.m. She prayed to God that she wasn’t with her demons. Said demons being crack, cocaine, and heroin.
    Roberta had ninety days’ clean. Or so Noelle thought. She hadn’t had time to really check on her mother’s progress like she should. Hell, Noelle barely had time for herself. She was working three jobs to help her mother catch up on some of their bills, plus she was basically raising her sister. Noelle was exhausted.
    Her every day started at five a.m., rain or shine. Noelle taughta six A.M. hourlong aerobics dance class, then rushed back home to cook breakfast for her sister and get her off to school. She showered and sped downtown by nine a.m. to Focal Point Barbershop, where she braided and twisted men’s hair. And if that wasn’t enough, she left the barbershop at two p.m. to pick up Paris from school, help her with homework, fix a quick dinner, then back to the barbershop from four p.m. to six p.m. And how could she forget her third job as a waitress?
    Exhausted was an understatement.
    Yet here she was, awake at