"Ha-ugh-ugh-ha…" Tinsey coughed-laughed at Marla's innocence. She took another puff on her cigarette and then immediately expelled the smoke that she had breathed in. "Yea well maybe you weren't talking to the right people…" She coughed again. "You shoulda asked me… I could have told you what a bitch-ass man will do… Trifling bitches… Think your man would never do you shady; or not be there for you… Shit-bitches… Umph… Umph… Umph…-ha." She snorted out.
"Yea, but Jacob said…" Marla started.
"Please… Don't tell me that Jacob is different." Tinsey interjected cutting her off short. "Ha- Ha- ha… How many times have I heard that shit before?" She snorted a few times as she chuckled at the thought. She raised her hand up as she shook her head indicating for Marla not to continue with that nonsense that she was spouting and that line of thinking.
"Don't even go there… Don't even try and tell me 'bout what some man told you." She said forcefully as she all but snapped at the younger woman while rolling her eyes backwards and looking heavenward. "Hell I could write a bestselling book based on the lies some pond scum done told me and every other woman while they were trying to get 'em panties off; ha-ha" She barked again adding a sarcastic laugh as she took another pull from her cigarette. Tinsey didn't say it but Marla knew that the woman was telling her that she had just been played and used and now Jacob was moving on to greener pastures.
Marla wanted to cry but she was afraid her tears would only incite more welling-meaning but harsh rants from the older woman. She knew that Tinsey wasn't trying to hurt her feelings; but being barely twenty-three years old and raised in a sheltered religious environment; Marla's feelings were still tender. She hadn't as of yet done as her aunt had told her many moons ago to do; 'grow a thick layer of skin…'
"And crying 'bout your woes don't solve nothing." Tinsey said as if she was reading Marla's mind as she stared blankly out at the parking lot. She too was thinking about some of her own bad memories with men. Tinsey's words were fierce and they pierced Marla's pride and feelings. She still didn't want to believe or accept that Jacob would not take responsibility for his child. She still wanted to hang onto his words; believing him when he had whisper those words "don't worry; I take care of what's mines…"