Chapter 2 #2
I pulled into the park, then backed into my lot space.
There was only one other family that stayed there on a semi-permanent basis.
They traveled around for parts of the year.
Before I could get out of my driver’s seat, there was a knock at my side door that drew a smile from me.
When I pulled the door back, a beautiful, curly-haired girl stood there.
“Bruq, I missed you all day. My mama got Casper from day care!”
I knew that because they called me to let me know. “Well, where is my big baby? Majesty, oh, look what I got you!” I pulled the to-go container of her favorite red velvet cake from the front seat.
She outstretched her hands. “Gimmie, gimmie! Thank you! I’m going to go get him now.”
I laughed as I watched her run off. While I waited for my baby, I gathered what I needed for my shower.
My shower shoes, disinfectants, night clothes, and hygiene products.
I loved this park because the owners took exceptional care of the facilities, grounds, and just everything.
There was a playground, a place to relax, a cookout, and even a basketball court.
The sound of fast-running feet caught my attention. I braced myself for impact. “Casper! Hi, boy!”
My boy was just over six years old now, but that didn’t slow him down at all. He was an important part of my life. Casper was my companion and my trained protector. During the day, he went to doggy day care. I wanted him to socialize. He licked my face and jumped all over me.
“Hey, girlie, how was work?” Norma asked me from my door. I loved Norma and her husband. She was a retired school principal who homeschooled their ten-year-old daughter, Majesty. Her husband, Grant, was a retired police officer.
I turned my nose up. “It was good until stupid bitches came in to try to make my day bad. You already know how I do it.”
She put her hand on her hip. “Bruqlyn, Grant has told you more than enough times about pulling your gun on people. One day, someone is going to call the police on you, girl.”
I placed my hand over my heart. “Norma, I felt threatened, so I took the steps necessary to be prepared to defend myself. I’m a single, petite woman out here, trying to survive.”
She side-eyed me then laughed. “Little girl, don’t make me slap you. Stay your little ass out of trouble before I have to jump on someone. Oh, what I tell you about bringing that little girl home cake this late at night?”
“I mean that’s what aunties do,” I said with a giggle. “Let me take this shower. I’m getting up early to take Casper to day care, workout, then get to work.”
She asked me if I had eaten at work and told me to get a plate if I hadn’t before she left Casper and me. He was relaxed on my bed, where he always was. When he climbed into the van, I washed his feet off like I always did.
When I purchased my van, I wanted to make sure it was big enough to fit a king-sized bed so my baby would fit too.
He also had a pillow between the driver's and passenger's seat.
For a moment, I thought about getting a short bus to outfit, but the van was more inconspicuous.
There were things that I felt were worth spending money on, and those were my solar panels, the van itself, and my six-thousand-dollar mattress.
I already lived in a van; there was no need to be uncomfortable.
“Casper, come on, so I can take a shower. Bring Gizmo with you.” I grabbed everything that I got together and climbed out with Casper on my heels.
He always sat outside of my shower with his Gizmo stuffed animal.
I wasn’t sure why he loved that toy, but he slept with it and took it everywhere but day care.
He did once, and it wasn’t a good situation at all.
Another dog tried to take it from him, and it became a big to do.
When we got to the showers, he took his place while I disinfected it.
For an RV park, the showerheads here were chef’s kiss.
After my shower, I got dressed and walked over to Norma and Grant’s humongous RV to get my plate.
Norma was Creole and cooked her ass off.
A lot of people thought she was white because of the fairness of her skin, and that was fair because I did too.
Her husband was Haitian. They were quite the duo.
I ate my food, cleaned up, then took my ass to bed.
The gym that I went to, Leota Fitness & Fight, was twenty-four hours a day.
I had to be at work at nine, so Casper would be dropped off by six.
My workouts usually lasted forty minutes to an hour.
I took a shower at the gym before I went to work.
I made good money in the deli for the lifestyle I lived.
I wouldn’t complain about the fifteen dollars an hour I made.
When I started at the grocery store over two years ago, I was only making twelve an hour.
“Good night, Casper. I love you.” He did a little whimper, then lay his head in his spot next to me. “God, please continue to watch over me. Keep me blessed and safe. I love you, God. I love you too, Mommy.”
The Full-time Gig…
It had been a busy day. We had a wedding catering order for 250 people. I didn’t have long before I was off. That gave me enough time to take a nap before my shift that night. At least I didn’t have to waitress.
I worked at Gloria’s Kitchen five nights a week.
Blessing found out that I wanted to one day go to culinary school, so two shifts a week, I was a line cook.
Kurt, the head chef, taught me so much. I saved most of my tips in a high-interest-bearing account.
My hope was to eventually attend Johnson and Wales University.
I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in, but I knew it would be around food and management.
“Girl, do you want to come to my house and cook me dinner?” my co-worker Savannah asked. “I don’t know what you put in this macaroni, but I love when you make it. That’s why that line is always so damn long when people know you’re here.”
I used to use the recipe that they taught me when I started, but it was horrible.
Nobody bought it, and we always had to throw pans away.
One day, I said fuck it and made it the way I wanted to.
No pans were thrown away that day. Our manager told everyone that I was the only one who would make the macaroni, yams, and collard greens.
“I already told you that I would, but you’re not going to act like you cook that shit for that nigga. What are you going to do when he asks you to make something on the fly?” I asked her with a smirk.
She asked me a few times to cook for her and her man. The only problem I had with it was that she wanted me to leave before he came home so he would think she cooked it. Yeah, Savannah had me fucked up. On top of that, her nigga high key wasn’t shit. That was neither here nor there though.
“Um, I’ll call your ass and have you deliver like a silent food delivery person.” She really said that stupid shit with a straight face. I had no desire to continue with the conversation.
I shook my head, then told her that I was going to the front to help with customers.
Call it what you wanted, but I would never let anyone take credit for my cooking.
One day, I planned to have my own catering service.
I wouldn’t be able to do that if bitches expected me to cook and be quiet about it.
Savannah suggested that I make a business model for secretly cooking for people. I suggested that she kiss my ass.
I grabbed a pair of gloves to put on so that I could help the next customer. With my head still down as I fixed my gloves, I asked the next customer how I could help them. From the first syllable from his mouth, I knew who it was. Euri.
“Hello, Bruqlyn. You look beautiful today,” he complimented. “It’s nice to see you again.”
I wanted to kick my cheeks’ ass for blushing against my will. “Yes, it’s so nice to see you again so soon. One might think it was on purpose, Mr. Euri.”
He tittered for a second, then his expression shifted to a more serious one. “You’ll learn everything that I do is intentional, especially when it comes to something that I want. I heard you worked here, so I wanted to see you.”
I was stuck. How the hell do I respond to that? “Oh, okay.” My eyes shifted to the food in the warmer. “Did you want something?”
He looked down at the food. “Yeah, give me whatever you made. I need to see if you can cook, for future reference.”
It was time for me to titter. “Alright, future reference. I made most of the food up here outside of the corn.”
He told me to give him everything that I made. I fixed his food in silence. I didn’t know what to say, so I felt silence was the best option. After it was fixed, I put the price on it.
“What time you get off, sweetheart? I’m trying to see you later.” He stood there in all his sexiness.
A part of me felt like we were in an alternate reality.
I knew I was desirable because I was a beautiful woman.
The part that threw me off was the fact that he knew I lived in my van.
I’ve dated before, but when niggas found out that I didn’t live in a building with four walls and a ceiling, they put me in the category of a bum.
“I actually get off in a minute, but I have a busy day. I have to pick my baby up from day care. I also work tonight,” I told him.
His face contorted. “Wait, you have a kid? You live in a van with a kid?”
I waved my gloved hands. “No, no! God, no!” I laughed because I forgot that when I said my baby, people really thought I meant a human baby. “I mean my dog.”
“Your dog goes to day care? Damn, I thought that was like a white people thing,” he said. That was something I was used to hearing.
“No, it’s not a white people thing. When I work, my baby needs somewhere to go.
I want him to be socialized, so I send him where he can be.
” I took off my gloves because it was time for me to get the hell out of here.
I was serious about my damn nap. I told him I was going to clock out and that I would talk to him another time.
I was at the sink after I clocked out, washing my hands. “Girl, let me find out Euri Westin has a crush on you. That man is fine as fuck,” Savannah pointed out.
“He doesn’t have a crush on me. Since when did purchasing food mean someone has a crush on you?” I dried my hands, pulled my stuff from where I put it on the shelf, and then headed toward the door.
Savannah blocked my path. “Okay, if he doesn’t have a crush on you, then why is he still out there waiting for you? You do know who he is, right?” When I gave her a blank stare, her eyes bulged. “Girl, he owns Westin Sustainable Energy Company.”
“What?” That took me by surprise because, what! “Oh, I didn’t know that. Interesting.”
I moved around her to leave. Like she said, he stood there with his focus on his phone screen. Like he felt me, he looked up, then winked. “Let me walk you to your home.”
I sucked my teeth, then stuck my lips out. “You’re not shit for that.” My laugh left my gut. I liked that he wasn’t the type to tiptoe around my living situation. There was nothing to tiptoe around because I wasn’t ashamed of it. “Bring your ass on.”
We walked to the register so he could pay for his food and a drink. “Does your dog’s day care stay open late? Last night, you didn’t get off until one in the morning.”
“No, they close at eight. My neighbors in the RV park that I park in pick him up when I have to work late. Casper loves them, so it works out,” I told him.
He didn’t say anything. I could tell that he took in my information.
I thought he would ask a question, but he didn’t.
That was great because I had a question for him.
“A little birdy told me that you’re the owner of Westin Sustainable Energy Company.
That kind of makes sense why you were so interested in my solar panels. ”