Waiting to Exhale

Bernadine visits her lawyer’s office and learns that John has sold his company to his partner and claims to be making only a fraction of the money Bernadine knows he was making before. Bernadine’s lawyer, Jane, suggests that Bernadine open a new account and move half the money from hers and John’s joint accounts into it. However, when Bernadine arrives at the bank, she learns that John has already emptied and closed the majority of the accounts and left less than $4,000 in the checking account, which won’t cover the month’s bills, let alone the retainer check Bernadine gave Jane. Angry, Bernadine goes to John’s office and is even angrier to find Kathleen in the office with him. Bernadine slaps Kathleen and demands that she leave. Bernadine then confronts John about the money, and he offers her a settlement of $300,000 if she settles right then. Bernadine refuses. John then demands that he has the children that weekend. Bernadine agrees but insists he not take them around Kathleen.

Bernadine goes to Oasis Hair and has a hairdresser, Phillip, cut off all her hair. She’d never liked it long and only kept it that way at John’s insistence. Phillip is hesitant because she has beautiful hair, but everyone decides the short style fits Bernadine well. Outside, Bernadine discovers her American Express checkbook in her purse. She had forgotten about it and assumes John had, too. She writes herself a check for $16,000 and deposits it into her new account on her way to get the children dinner at McDonald’s. Bernadine also tells the children about the divorce in preparation for their visit with John that weekend, surprised that they already know about John’s relationship with Kathleen. Bernadine tells her mother, Geneva, who isn’t surprised because she never liked John. Geneva counsels Bernadine to take time for herself and encourages her to stop smoking. Bernadine arrives home to find that Savannah has arrived safely.

Robin has tried to teach Michael to be a better lover and encouraged him to lose weight, but it’s not working. She decides to break up with him despite the fact that he’s been very considerate and has given her money to help bail her out of a few financial problems.

Robin visits her mother and father. Robin’s father has Alzheimer’s disease, and her mother is a breast cancer survivor. Robin’s father recognizes her on this day but shows confusion in his insistence that he needs to go to work, even though he hasn’t worked in nine years. Robin can see how overwhelmed her mother is even though she has worked out a routine that keeps her father calm and content. Robin wants to help, but she can’t afford to give her mother the money she needs to get a live-in nurse, and her mother refuses to put Robin’s father in a nursing home because she promised him she wouldn’t.

Robin returns home and calls Bernadine. She speaks to Savannah and learns that they will be neighbors when Savannah moves into an apartment building down the street from Robin. She then speaks to Bernadine, and they catch each other up on recent events in their lives. Russell calls and, against her better judgement, Robin invites him over.

The ladies make a date at a place called Pendleton’s, a new club meant to be a social space for Black professionals in Phoenix. Savannah and Robin ride over together and arrive before Bernadine and Gloria. They sit at a table and enjoy free food while they watch other singles arrive. There is a room dedicated to dancing, but it’s empty when they first arrive. As they wait for Bernadine and Gloria, Robin talks about Russell and Michael, and Savannah concludes that Robin is pitiful, but she likes her. Robin confesses that she slept with Russell the other night but asks Savannah not to tell Bernadine or Gloria because they are too judgmental. Robin also confesses that she’d do anything to get Russell back.

Bernadine and Gloria arrive. Gloria tells Savannah about Black Women on the Move; they are working to get the Martin Luther King holiday passed in the next election and work to help Black families in Phoenix, and Gloria suggests Savannah join. Gloria gets up to get some food, and Bernadine goes to the bar, where she speaks to a man she introduces as Herbert, a married friend. Robin spots Michael coming through the door with a woman, and she’s instantly jealous. Savannah and Gloria grow bored when no one shows interest in them or asks them to dance. Bernadine dances with Herbert. Robin decides she wants to leave because she doesn’t want Michael to see her. On the way home, Robin and Savannah discuss the lack of good men in Phoenix and debate whether all the good Black men are missing because they are dating white women.

When she’s home, Robin calls Michael and leaves a message on his machine. Then she calls Russell, and a woman answers the phone. The woman becomes angry and tells Robin to stop calling. Gloria returns home and settles in front of the television, wondering if any of the women will ever find a good man. Bernadine gets home late after dancing most of the night with Herbert. She decides she wants to have an affair with him, deciding that the fact that he’s married makes it easier because he won’t want to stick around afterward.

On her day off, Gloria is cleaning the kitchen when Tarik comes home early from school and announces he’s been suspended for being part of a gang, when all he was doing was dressing the same as his friends. Gloria is angry that Tarik didn’t tell her about this sooner so that she could talk to school officials. Tarik argues that he was punished just because he’s Black and his friends are Black and Hispanic. Gloria grounds him for three weeks for not telling her.

Savannah calls and invites Gloria to a party and tells her that she’s joined Black Women on the Move. She’s also agreed to make a speech at a home for unwed mothers to talk about her career. Later, Bernadine calls and tells Gloria that John didn’t pay the mortgage even though the judge ordered him to do so. Bernadine is worried that he won’t pay going forward and the house will be foreclosed on. Gloria decides to go to Bernadine’s house to cheer her up. Bernadine tells Gloria that she’s hired a private detective to uncover John’s assets and that she owes her lawyer more money. Bernadine expresses fear for her future and says that her son, John Junior, is struggling in school; she thinks it’s because of the divorce. Bernadine then admits to having an affair with Herbert.

Gloria tries to call home. When Tarik doesn’t answer, she rushes home to see if he’s broken his grounding. However, when she arrives home, she finds him in his bedroom with the girl from down the street, engaged in sexual activity. She sends the girl home and argues with Tarik, accidentally telling him that his father is gay. When Tarik finds this news amusing, Gloria becomes angrier and sends him to bed.

Robin and Savannah sit in the sauna at their health club and discuss their frustrations at work and with dating. Robin complains that she had to take over underwriting a new account for a coworker who had to go home to deal with a sick child and is worried the woman will return in time to take credit for all of Robin’s work. Savannah complains that her job requires her to be on the phone all day long and that the work is boring. Savannah says that she took the job hoping to have an opportunity to produce, but she had more opportunity to produce at her former job for a gas company. Robin mentions that she was concerned she might be pregnant, but she’s not. Savannah chastises her for creating a situation where it was even possible. Savannah then complains that she used to have lots of male friends, but she doesn’t anymore. She also says that men aren’t as confident as they used to be and that a lot of men seem afraid to approach her in a crowd. Savannah also comments that she feels like she can’t be herself around men anymore. Robin suggests that maybe they should start dating white men, and while Savannah doesn’t have a problem with that, she prefers Black men.

When Savannah arrives home, there is a message on her phone from a former lover, Kenneth. She’s surprised to hear from him, as they broke up four years ago. Kenneth calls again as Savannah settles into bed and tells her that he got her number from her mother. Kenneth says he is coming to Phoenix for a conference in a few weeks and wants to see her. He suggests they have dinner and possibly drive up to Sedona for the day. Savannah doesn’t make promises. She reflects on her relationship with Kenneth, and how she believed she was in love with him, but he treated the relationship so casually that she broke up with him because she wasn’t sure he cared for her as deeply as she did him. The next day, Savannah calls her mother, who encourages her to see Kenneth despite the fact that he’s married and has a child. Her mother also asks for more money and tells Savannah that her brother, Pookey, is out of jail and living with her mother.