Chapter 16
Layloni
Business for me was booming. Each week that went by, everything was picking up.
I even decided to hire a manager. I extended the shop days from Monday through Saturday, meaning extra money for me and my girls.
Working Saturday was available to those who needed the extra money and didn’t mind working six days a week.
Two weeks ago, I happened to scroll on social media, I came across Rellianah’s page, she posted herself inside of my salon.
She had a side view of me on the phone booking appointments.
The photo caption said Boss bitches make real moves.
She then tagged my salon and told everyone to check me out.
It caused a huge smile to grace my face and it also became a huge blessing to my shop.
When I looked at the likes, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
The picture had over three hundred thousand likes with thousands of comments.
I checked my business Instagram, and just from her shout out, I gained thousands of followers.
My business line had been ringing off the hook to get booked.
It was so many women pumped about being able to come to a one stop shop, where you could get hair, nails, and feet along with a wax done in one day.
My establishment stayed packed. It was women coming in the morning and leaving around six. They would move from one section to the next. The looks on their faces were pleasant. So much buzz surrounded my business, I knew for a fact soon that I would have to expand.
I talked to Rellianah about getting a bigger building and she told me it was time to consider turning it into a franchise in different cities and states.
It would be considered a woman’s palace to dwell in for all shapes and sizes.
I thought this would be the only place I would have for myself, but it looked like God had other plans for me, and that was to spread my wings further and go bigger.
I was in Cali for at least close to eight months now, and I had it going on.
I wasn’t thinking about a man at all. It had been at least a month since I last saw or heard from King.
Monty and I became really good acquaintances.
When I explained to him that I was not looking for a relationship, he understood me and respected that.
He would call me on my breaks and, when I got off, we would talk all night until one of us became too tired.
Monty was a good man; he owned his own construction company.
He was a single father of a little beautiful girl that was six years old.
Her mother died while giving birth. He was also family oriented.
He had a hood demeaner but, after spending two years in jail, he flipped his life around for the sake of his daughter.
I really admired Monty, I also appreciated how he took his time to listen and hear me out.
“Layloni, where do you want these men to put the new equipment at?” my new manager, Lisa, asked with a huge smile on her face.
I glanced up from the nail station, taking in the organized chaos around the salon.
The low hum of dryers, the smell of acetone and polish remover lingering in the air, the chatter of women laughing and talking created a rhythm I had grown to love.
This place felt like something I had built with my own hands, something that finally belonged to me.
Lisa stood a few feet away from me, directing the movers with the confidence of someone twice her size She was the definition of professional.
Having her here made my job ten times easier.
She kept everything drama-free and running smooth, which wasn’t always easy when you had this many women working in one space.
All the girls loved her though. That alone said a lot.
She was tiny and cute, maybe four feet three at the most, but her personality filled every room she walked into. Lisa didn’t tolerate nonsense, and I respected that.
With so many personalities in the shop, differences popped up from time to time.
But we shut that down quickly. Before anything could turn into a full argument, we reminded everyone of the rules.
When we stepped into this shop, we were family.
A sisterhood, full of empowerment. The biggest rule of all was no gossiping.
Gossip was the seed that grew drama.
“Tell them to put everything in the back,” I said, rotating my shoulders a little. “And Lisa, do you mind closing tonight? I’m leaving a little early after Casandra and Lee finish my mani and pedi.”
Her smile grew brighter.
“Of course,” she said immediately, already turning back to guide the movers.
Watching her command the room made me feel relieved. I trusted her. Tonight was Rellianah and Cream’s anniversary party.
She told me to bring a date, so I asked Monty to come with me. Thinking about him made a small smile creep across my face.
Monty was easy to be around.
I could be goofy or serious, quiet or talkative, and he somehow adjusted perfectly to whatever mood I was in. Conversations with him flowed naturally, like we’d known each other forever.
When I stepped outside, the California sun wrapped around me in warmth.
I tilted my face toward it for a second, letting the brightness hit my skin.
The weather out here still amazed me sometimes.
Back in Mississippi, the sky could change its mood in a heartbeat.
Here, it was almost always sunny or just slightly cloudy.
You could live your life without constantly worrying about storms.
I slid into my car, the leather seat was warm from the sun. Just as I reached for the ignition, my phone rung.
I glanced down and immediately rolled my eyes.
My mother, for the fourth time this week she blew up my phone.
Rellianah had warned me about this. She told me I should’ve kept my number blocked when I checked on her. The moment I unblocked it, my mother started using it like she owned it.
Changing my number again wasn’t an option though. It caused too much confusion with the women in my shop, and I needed them to be able to reach me if something serious happened.
I sighed and answered.
“Yes, mom?” I asked dryly.
“Don’t yes mom me, Layloni!” she snapped. “Where are you? I… I really miss you.”
My shoulders dropped as I listened to her sniffle through the phone.
“I’m really sick this time, Layloni,” she said weakly. “I think the cancer came back.”
My stomach tightened instantly.
“Have you been to the doctor?”
“No! I ain’t going unless you take me!” she snapped. “I’m your got damn mother! You supposed to be taking care of me! Instead, you got me paying bills while you running some business out there with all that money you got off my son-in-law Glen!” Her words twisted my guts inside out.
“You broke that good man’s heart!” She continued to rant.
My stomach churned as she kept ranting. But something she said caught my attention. How did she know I owned a business? If she knew that… Then Glen might know too.
A cold chill crept up my spine. I glanced around instinctively, scanning the street like someone might’ve been watching me. This was exactly what I feared.
“You know the only family he had left died, right?” her voice broke through my paranoia. “Troy got killed by that new man of yours!”
My mouth went dry instantly.
“Momma… what are you talking about?” I whispered.
“Bitch,” She snapped harshly into the phone as if she didn’t just claim to miss me dearly. “You heard me! Troy is dead!” she screamed before coughing violently. “You need to come home. I’m sick!” Her cough sounded worse, rough and desperate.
For the first time in a long time, fear crept into my chest. My mother never begged for help. That meant she was telling the truth.
“Mom,” I said quietly, swallowing the lump that formed in my throat. “I’ll hire a nurse to take you to appointments. I’ll come down next month.”
“Next month?! Bitch I might not make it to next month!” She exclaimed angrily.
I ignored the insults that I grown accustomed to from her and asked the next question that I already knew the answer to.
“Are you still using drugs?” I nervously bit into my bottom lip awaiting her answer.
Silence hung for a second.
“You know if you want to survive, you need to stop, Momma,” I uttered cautiously.
The cigarettes and drugs were killing her slowly, but despite everything she had put me through, I still loved her.
Even now.
I always blamed the drugs for the way she treated me. It was easier than accepting the possibility that my mother just didn’t know how to love me.
Since I was sixteen, I had been paying her bills. I was the child. But somehow I became the parent.
“So you rich now?” she snapped, completely ignoring the advice I given. “You can hire a nurse but I can’t live with you?”
“Momma… that’s not happening,” I said firmly. “You’re too toxic for me. I can’t deal with that every day.” I sighed then decided to really speak my damn mind. She needed me, it wasn’t the other way around.
“Emotionally, physically, and verbally you’re abusive as fuck and I came along way from where I was months ago. I can’t allow you into my sacred space with your dark energy, ruining things for me.” I said without a second thought.
I wasn’t that scared little girl anymore. Her coughing returned, heavier this time. Then her voice came back sharp and cruel.
“Look, you fat ungrateful bitch! You get down here by next week or I’m giving Shadonna that salon address she got from stalking your social media!”
My heart dropped.
“Maybe I’ll give it to Glen,” she continued. “Or maybe I’ll just fly out there myself.”
My stomach twisted violently.
“I’m not about to die from cancer while my pig ass daughter lives the good life! I’ll see you next week.”
The line went dead.
I sat frozen in my car. My stomach churned, my mouth went dry. I knew I couldn’t run from my past forever, but I tried my hardest to keep it out of my future and present.