Chapter 22
22
Tracey’s brother, Devante, unrolled the conceptual drawings for cabins and placed them on her desk, and her eyes widened and she clasped her hands to her chest. She’d asked and her brother had delivered. Once she’d told him about her plans to include cabins on the property, he’d immediately found a way to get some sketches she could review.
“Devante, this is great!” She put her hand on her brother’s shoulder. “I can’t believe you got someone to do this for you.”
Devante’s chest swelled with pride. He was younger than her, but he always seemed to puff up when he could do something for his older sister. “Andre recommended an architect he knew. He called the guy up, and he said he’d give me a few ideas. He’ll also work with you if you like any of them and need full design plans because you’re a small business and he likes to give back.”
“Thank you and Andre,” Tracey said. Andre was an old class mate who had come back to Peachtree Cove to work as the general contractor for the renovation of the old shopping mall that the mayor was turning into a mixed-use development for residential and commercial purposes.
“He’s helped you out, too, right?”
“Ever since he added me as a subcontractor on the mayor’s project, my contracting business has grown. He’s got some good hookups, and since he’s dating Tamara, he’s all into growing Peachtree Cove.”
Tamara was the town’s planning director and was a vital member of the mayor’s team working to revamp Peachtree Cove.
“I’m glad Andre feels that way. Hopefully he’ll keep on wanting to help me as I grow. I’m doing good, and I can handle some of the up-front costs of building the cabins, but any help I can get would be even better.”
Tracey didn’t usually ask for help, but in this case her brother’s connections were a godsend. Plus, one thing she’d learned in Mikayla’s class was the importance of having connections and not being afraid to ask for help when needed. If she wanted to make her dream a reality, she could struggle on her own or use the expertise of people who’d been where she wanted to be. She never would have imagined she’d be in this position a year ago, but she was so glad she was here now.
“Don’t worry, Tracey. Between Andre’s guy helping with the construction plans and me and my guys doing the actual work, we’ll get this done.”
“I don’t want you to do everything for free. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ll take the family discount, but I still want to be able to give you something. We’ll start with two or three cabins, and if things go well then we can add more.”
“I think you’re going to need more a lot sooner than you think. You’re already doing good with the weddings. Now that Debra is planning the wine tasting, you’re going to blow up even more. Just watch.”
“We’ll see,” Tracey said, trying to keep the hope out of her voice.
She wanted everything her brother said to come true, but old habits didn’t just disappear because she believed in her dream. She wasn’t going to jinx anything by claiming victory too early. She was starting to worry that things were going too well. The class had helped her figure out how to expand the bed and breakfast. Mikayla had agreed to help Tracey brainstorm ideas as she worked on the expansion. Her brother was offering to build them at a reduced rate. Her friends-with-benefits situation with Brian meant he was not only turning out to be a good friend but he was also giving her multiple benefits in the form of multiple orgasms. Things had never been this easy for her. She was worried that something was going to go wrong and ruin everything.
“Just wait and see,” Devante said, probably sensing that she was already starting to doubt her abilities. Her brother was good at reading her moods. “You didn’t think you’d get the bed and breakfast open, and look what you’ve got. I know what I’m talking about. Why do you always worry?”
“Because if I plan for the worst, then I can be pleasantly surprised when things turn out okay,” she said with forced optimism.
Devante shook his head. “We’re long past that. I think we’ve both proven that we can make stuff happen. We don’t have to always expect the worst.”
Tracey ran her fingers through her locs. “It’s hard to shake off years of bad things happening.”
“Nothing bad has happened recently. In fact, this year has been nothing but good things. If you think your divorce was a bad thing, then let me tell you that you’re dead wrong. Bernard was a sorry-ass dude, and you’re better off without him.”
Tracey grinned. She wasn’t hurt by the mention of her ex-husband. She also wasn’t angry anymore. She was better off without him. Life with Bernard had always been unbalanced. With her thinking she wasn’t good enough and trying too hard to please him at the expense of her own self-confidence. The anxiety she’d always felt when he came home and she’d have to figure out what type of mood he’d be in, or feeling as if she were somehow a failure because the house wasn’t perfectly clean or dinner wasn’t on the table, was gone. She finally felt comfortable in her own place and in her own skin.
“The way I finally came to realize that I needed to leave Bernard was messed up, but believe me when I say I don’t consider my divorce as a failure. The marriage was a failure, but the divorce is a win.”
She looked down at the various sketches of different cabins. There were four different styles. They varied from rustic to glamping. Tracey pointed to the third picture of one that was neither too fancy nor did it look like you’d be roughing it to stay there. “I like this one.”
“I figured you would.”
“I don’t want the cabins to be too rustic. If people are getting married or staying here after a wine tasting or just coming for a quick weekend, I want them to feel like they’re still experiencing the comfort of the main house. This one looks like a cute cottage.”
“Then, I’ll tell him that’s the one you like. See if he can draw up construction plans.”
Tracey’s heart raced. She placed a hand over the flutters in her stomach. “This is all happening so fast.”
“It’ll work out. Don’t worry. Nothing will go wrong.”
The sound of voices outside her office in the hallway had them both turning in that direction. Tracey recognized Debra’s calming voice against the loud irritated sound of her mother.
Tracey sighed and pressed a hand to her temple. “What is she doing here?”
“Is that Mom?” Devante said at the same time.
The door to Tracey’s office burst open, and her mom pushed Debra out of the way to come inside. She paused before raising a hand as if warding off unwanted words. “Hold up, your important meeting is with your brother?” She cut her eyes back at Debra. “Girl, these are my kids. Nothing they do is too important for me to interrupt,” Loretta said with all the authority of the president entering the Oval Office.
“Mom, what are you doing here?” Tracey looked at the suitcase her mom pulled behind her. “With luggage.”
Loretta came farther into the office. “Raymond is acting all stupid. He thinks I’m still fooling around with your daddy. I told him that he was being unreasonable, but just because I spent the night with your dad on his birthday he thinks I’m sleeping with him.”
“What?” Tracey said putting her hands on her hips. “Why did you stay with him?”
“I went over there to stop him from coming to me. Then he was crying and acting a fool. So I stayed there to make sure he wouldn’t start drinking. That’s all that happened. But Raymond was all ‘I know how you are’ and accused me of sleeping with him. So I left. I need a room. I’m gonna stay here until he gets his act together.”
***
Tracey just needed ten minutes of quiet time. Between guests, planning for the expansion, and her mom being all over the bed and breakfast in everyone’s business, she hadn’t had any time to relax much less think in the past week. She had a chicken salad sandwich Shirley had slid to her when she’d gone through the kitchen and a can of soda and was going to snatch a few minutes in her office just to breathe.
The tension of the day eased with each quick step she took toward her office door. She could sense the calm she’d have from the silence. She could scroll through her phone and look at random videos of cabins and glamping sites.
She opened the door to her office and froze. “Mom? What are you doing in here? I thought you were in your room.”
Her mom looked up from the sketches of the cabins on Tracey’s desk. “What? I can’t come in your office?”
Tracey went farther into the room and put the sandwich and soda down on her desk before crossing her arms. Irritation crawled up her spine. Her mom popping in meant she’d lose at least ten minutes of quiet time. There was no way she’d get Loretta out of her office faster than that. If she tried, her mom would be stubborn and she’d lose the entire hour of her lunch break.
“My office is my working space. And this is my place of business and not your house where you can claim that you can go wherever you want.”
Loretta raised a brow and propped a hand on her hip. “Oh, so you trying to pull rank on me now?”
“It’s not pulling rank. It’s just asking you to try and respect my boundaries.”
Loretta sighed and shrugged. “Fine, I won’t come in here without you knowing. I’m not trying to make your staff disrespect you.”
“Thank you.”
Her mom pointed at the drawings on the table. “What’s all this?”
Tracey sighed and sat down at her desk. She might as well eat. “It’s drawings of cabins. I’m going to build a few in the peach field so I can rent them out.”
Her mom frowned down at the drawings. “Oh, you’re trying to do big things, huh?”
Tracey nodded as she swallowed the bite of the sandwich she’d taken before responding. “If you want to call it that. I thought of the idea while taking the class Mikayla taught. This is the business plan I put together. Now that I’ve put the plan together, I might as well do the work.”
Her mom studied the drawings for a long second. “This is cool, Tracey. I mean, when you opened this place, I’ll admit I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea.”
“I know. You told me that. Often.” Tracey sipped her soda and hoped this conversation wouldn’t make her wish for something stronger.
“You know why I told you that?”
“Because you wanted to kill my dream?” She softened the words with a smile.
Her mom narrowed her eyes before swatting at Tracey. “Nobody tried to kill your dream. I was just worried that Bernard wouldn’t support you. That man was the real dream-killer. He only wanted you at home being his perfect little housewife.”
“I was far from perfect.”
“Which was good. But you opened anyway, despite him fighting you the entire time. I’m proud of you, Tracey. You won’t have to ever depend on some man if you keep this up.”
Tracey propped her elbow on the desk. “I didn’t open the inn just to not depend on a man. It’s about doing something that I wanted to do.”
Her mom sighed as she trailed her fingers over the plans. “I never got the chance to do that.”
Tracey cocked her head to the side. “Mom, don’t go there. You always did what you wanted to do.”
Her gaze jumped back to Tracey. “Why do you say that?”
Tracey shook her head. “I’m not going there.” She picked up her sandwich and took another bite.
Loretta placed a hand on her hip again. “Why not? You bold enough to start something, go on and be bold enough to finish what you started.”
Tracey swallowed and considered saying that she hadn’t meant anything. But she was New Tracey now. New Tracey wasn’t going to be afraid to say how she felt. Even with her mom. She put the sandwich down and said, “I mean, Mom, no disrespect at all, but you kind of did what you wanted when I was growing up. Even now. You didn’t let Dad stop you from doing whatever you wanted to do.”
Loretta’s eyes narrowed. “You talking about me seeing other men.”
Tracey looked away and sipped her soda.
Loretta grunted before saying, “I know I was out there, but do you know why?”
Tracey held up a hand. “I don’t want to know the details.”
“And I’m not about to give you details, but I do want you to know that when I first got married, your dad didn’t want me to work. He promised to take care of me and the kids. I didn’t go to college like you and your brother. So I thought I’d hit the jackpot. A man who loved me and wanted to take care of me. I was pregnant with you and then your brother long before I realized your dad’s drinking had become a full-fledged problem. He wasn’t the most reliable when it came to providing for the family. I tried working, but someone had to be available when things came up with you and your brother at school. So I found another way. My friends helped me. Devante needed a new pair of shoes, bam, I got them. I needed someone to fix the brakes on the car, no problem, I had someone who would get it done. Yeah, I took on odd jobs here and there to pay for those field trips and new school clothes y’all needed, but when I needed someone to help me out, then I had that, too.”
Tracey blinked, not sure what to do with that information. “Mom…”
“I don’t care if you judge me. I don’t regret anything I ever did. I wanted to take care of you and your brother, but I also had to take care of me.”
“What about Dad? Did you ever love him?”
Her mom sighed and walked to the window. “I did. At the beginning. I knew he liked to drink, but I didn’t think it was bad. That’s what happens when you’re eighteen and nineteen and in love. When I got pregnant and he asked me to marry him, I thought that he would slow down. Well, we know how that went. I still care about your dad because he gave me you and your brother. But eventually, I got tired of sticking around and picking up the slack. You and Devante have started your own businesses and done what you needed to do. Y’all inspired me to do that for myself.”
“But is Raymond really the right person for you? You know you could get a stable job or go back to school.”
Tracey didn’t want to say it, but she worried about her mom. She was beautiful and had made ends meet first by marrying their dad and then through the men she’d seen in between, but that wouldn’t last forever. Her mom didn’t have an exit plan or a strategy to take care of herself long-term. Tracey wasn’t sure how to make her see that and didn’t want to get into a lecture about how her mom needed a retirement plan.
Loretta shrugged. “Raymond is who I’m with for now. And can you imagine me on someone’s job? Child, I couldn’t imagine me taking orders from someone half my age. I know you worry about me, but you don’t have to. Believe it or not, I’ve got a little money saved up. I was smart about my hustle. I’m not looking for you and Devante to have to take care of me.”
“I’m not saying that.”
“I know you’re not, but I also want you to understand that your mom isn’t a fool. I’ve got me.” She turned back and met Tracey’s eyes. “You go on and build up this inn and make it great. That’s what you can do for me. Seeing you and Devante be successful despite the hell me and your dad put y’all through makes me happy. I’ll be okay.”
Tracey’s mom was stubborn and tenacious enough for her to believe what she said. She couldn’t agree with all the deci sions her mom had made, but she also couldn’t judge her. The past was the past, and despite what happened, she and Devante had turned out alright.
She sighed and nodded. “Okay. Well then, if I don’t have to take care of you, how long do you plan to stay here?”
Loretta laughed. “Just until Raymond comes to his senses, which won’t be long. But even if he doesn’t, don’t worry. I’ll find a place to stay.”
Tracey didn’t doubt her at all. Even though her mom told her not to worry, she wasn’t about to see her have to go depend on anyone else. “You can stay here as long as you want, Mom.”