Almost Doesn't Count

She can almost front at how she doesn't need a man. She can almost play at how far she's come from the old hood. She can almost pretend that the past don't mean a thing. But everybody knows.   Almost Doesn't Count  Mercedes decided a long time ago that she'd never let a man walk all over her the way some sistahs do. Love was something from fairy tales and TV movies of the week. She needed men for one thing only-and it had nothing to do with her heart.
Growing up with her mother had made sure of that.   Now Mercedes has to travel home to South Georgia, where her mama, Miss Betty, is  recovering from surgery. Back to the rickety old house that holds a lot of memories for her. If she could only learn to deal with the bad ones.    Because a man has come into her life, a fine, bald-headed, church-going black man-the kind of man Mercedes never dared believe in.
And she's going to have to get herself together to deal with what Darius is doing to her life-and with what he's hiding about his own.