Chapter Three #2
My plan: just be the girl he turned his head for three years earlier, the girl whose lips he wanted to kiss. It was a brilliant plan except for the he’s-an-impossibly-inaccessible-super-star part. Even the best plans had a few bumps to smooth out.
“Hungry?” I motioned for Shayna to come inside.
She nodded, taking slow steps like ice cracking beneath her.
“Trzy!” I grimaced as my slut cat pounced in Shayna’s direction. The harrowing scream I anticipated never came.
“Pretty kitty.” Shayna dropped her backpack at her feet and bent down, picking up Trzy.
Pretty kitty? Maybe Shayna needed glasses. I almost passed out when she brushed her lips over Trzy’s hairless, wrinkly skin, stopping to kiss her partial ear. Trzy purred like someone starting a lawnmower.
“You like kitties?”
Shayna peeked up at me, hugging Trzy to her chest. “I do like kitties.”
“Me too.” I pointed to my Hello Kitty jammies and smiled. “Toast? Eggs? Cereal? What do you want to eat?”
“Toast.”
“Toast it is. I love toast … and waffles with chocolate hazelnut butter.”
Shayna’s eyes grew when I said chocolate.
“We’ll save waffles for another day.”
She nodded with a huge grin.
We enjoyed butter, cinnamon, and sugar toast while lounging on the sofa; Trzy sprawled out between us.
“Yellow pillows.” She bounced a little against the decor pillow. “I like yellow. I like red too.”
The kid had excellent taste.
“How old are you?”
“Six.”
I nodded. If she would have been seven, I might have explained the many shades of yellow, including my Spanish yellow pillow, a bit brighter than saffron which my mother loved.
Maybe once she felt more settled, we’d discuss color swatches.
One thing was for certain: Shayna was the resplendent kaleidoscope Everson needed in his life.
“Who brought you to Everson’s last night?” It wasn’t any of my business, but my favorite pastime was peep-holing, so of course I had to ask her.
“Judy.” She licked sugar from her finger.
“Did you live with Judy?”
Shayna nodded.
“Is Judy your family?”
She nodded. “Ne-ma’s sissy.”
“Where is your Ne-ma?”
“With Jesus.” Shayna didn’t hesitate. She said it like her Ne-ma ran to the grocery store.
I, however, fought back tears while the lump in my throat began to swell.
“Evson’s gonna take care of me. Judy says he buy me dolls.”
The only thing uglier than the hairless feline between us was the cry I fought back.
“Evson’s my family now. He gonna love me.”
I blinked and swatted away my tears before she saw them. For someone so little, she could pack a hard punch to the feels. I could barely breathe.
“So did you sleep well last night?” I cleared my throat and wiped the remaining moisture from my eyes.
“I got scared on the couch, so I sneak-ed into Evson’s bed.” Her eyes grew big with excitement. “It’s the biggest bed I ever seen!”
I laughed. “Did he wake up?”
She shook her head. “No. I just hugged his arm until mama visit me. She only come if I sleepin’… in my dreams. She’s always in my dreams.”
Aaannd … more tears! I jumped up and took our plates to the kitchen, grabbing a wad of paper towels to deal with my out-of-control emotions.
Shayna slid off the sofa, lugging Trzy with her. My diva cat proved to be quite submissive. I never would have guessed. They plopped on the floor by Shayna’s backpack.
“What happened to your leg?” she asked, keeping her focus on the contents of the bag she dumped onto my floor.
I put our plates in the dishwasher. “I had something bad happen to it and I lost part of it. Now I have this cool new leg, and I have others in my closet. I’ll show you sometime.”
“I lost two teef.”
“Did the tooth fairy come?”
“What’s a toof fairy?”
Everson needed to get his shit done before his little sister completely wrecked me.
“If you put your tooth under your pillow at night, then the tooth fairy takes it when you’re asleep and leaves money for you. I’m sure the next time you lose a tooth the tooth fairy will come.”
The kid had me promising things I couldn’t guarantee, but I just couldn’t stop myself. Major diarrhea mouth. I wanted to see her smile, that and I didn’t want to cry anymore. Despite the missing leg and boyfriend-died part of my life, I had it good.
The best parents ever!
Four siblings.
A gaggle of nieces and nephews.
Friends.
A job.
Money.
Independence.
The man of my dreams in. The. Same. City!
Among Shayna’s few clothes, a toothbrush with gnarled bristles, several broken crayons, and a Matchbox car that looked like it had been run over by an actual car, there was a photo of a woman kissing a younger Shayna on the cheek. I picked up the photo.
“Mama and Shay.”
“This is your mama?” I narrowed my eyes, looking at Shayna and then back at the photo.
She nodded.
“Your mama was beautiful.”
And white.
And skinny … with nothing to hold on to.
“Mama love Shay.”
I smiled, handing the picture to her. “Yes, I’m sure your mama loved you very much.”
Shayna would be a heartbreaker, with her perfect, light mocha skin, and long curls that bounced with every move she made. But those eyes … they held a lifetime, and they made me want to give her back every ounce of innocence I could give. Tooth fairies. Santa Claus. The Easter Bunny.
We played with Trzy, giggling at the never-ending fun she had with a laser pointer for almost an hour before there was a knock at the door.
“Oh!” I looked at Shayna with wide eyes. “I bet that’s Everson.”
She grinned and I knew everything would be OK for her.
“Hey!” I greeted Everson.
“Yeah, hey, how’s it going?”
“Good.” I narrowed my eyes a bit.
The man I’d come to recognize as nothing but muscle and confidence looked different. Weak? Shy? He wouldn’t hold eye contact with me. Instead, he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, looking only at them.
“Listen this is kind of a big team event day starting with a charity golf outing, so would you mind waiting with her in my apartment until they come to get her?”
“They?”
“My attorney is handling it. Someone with CPS will be here within the hour to get her.”
I turned to check on Shayna. She smiled then kissed Trzy on the head. “I’ll just be in the hall for a second, okay, sweetie?”
She smiled and nodded.
Closing the door behind me, I glared up at Everson. “Child Protective Services?”
“Yeah.”
“And why are they coming to get her?”
“Because her grandmother died the other day and she’s an orphan.”
“She’s your sister, not an orphan.” I gritted my teeth.
“I met her last night. I’m not in any position to raise a child.”
“You probably make more money in a week than most people make in a year. I think you’re in a pretty damn good position to take care of her.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t say take care of her. I’ll make sure she’s taken care of. I can’t raise her. I’m never here. She deserves a family, a yard with a swing set … I’ll make sure she gets that. It just won’t be with me.”
Fuck you, tears! Keep it together!
I swallowed past my anger and raw emotion. “You are her only family. She needs you.”
“She doesn’t even know me and in a week she won’t remember me. Here…” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash and held it out to me “…for your trouble today and here’s a key to my place. Make sure she grabs her hairbrush by the bathroom sink.”
Stunned.
I was speechless, and heartbroken, and angry, and just … stunned. He grabbed my hand and shoved the money and key into it.
“We’ll have that chick-talk about Monaghan later.” He turned and left.
A war of emotions throbbed in my head. Even after the elevator doors closed, I just stood there waiting for one emotion to emerge as the dominate one, the one that would guide my next move.
Livid. That’s the one that broke from the pack as the leader.