Chapter 3 #2
After twenty minutes, I got out of the shower, dried off, and pulled on a pair of pajama pants.
Setting the temperature in my room to 74 degrees, I turned the ringer off on both of my phones and slid into bed.
The woman from the ad crossed my mind. I hoped that she responded soon and even more that she’d be a good fit for me and EJ.
Exhaling, I closed my eyes, sleep coming almost immediately.
Something told me that tomorrow would bring good news that would shift things for us.
I woke up to the sounds of my TV and EJ sitting on the foot of my bed with his robe on, his legs crossed, and his eyes glued to Cars.
It was his favorite movie and his ritual to watch it at least once a day.
His durag was still on his head but slightly crooked, indicating he’d had a good night’s rest. Rubbing sleep from my eyes, I tapped his back with my foot.
“Good morning, lil’ man.”
He didn’t respond back but turned around and looked down at my foot like he was trying to figure out why I had it on him.
“My bad, dawg.” I chuckled, sitting up. “Good morning, man.”
“Daddy, Lighten Mc-Keen. Look.” Mispronouncing the words proudly, he pointed to the TV.
“It’s McQueen, EJ,” I corrected, stretching. “Say, McQueen.”
“McKeen,” he repeated incorrectly.
“Shiiiddd, if you wanna go around sounding crazy, that’s on you. They may let you slide cause you two though. You might be straight.”
Nodding like he understood and was completely fine with my logic, he turned back to the TV and turned the volume up by exactly one bar.
I chuckled inwardly. Last week, I’d told him that the TV couldn’t be too loud in the morning and showed him how many bars the volume could be on to make sure it wasn’t.
And EJ followed directions as he normally did – like he normally did with me anyway.
Propping up on the headboard, I watched him watch TV, getting excited by the same scenes he’d seen countless times. The door to my bedroom opened, and my mother walked in fully dressed in a turtleneck, jeans, and shoe boots.
“You look nice, Ma,” I complimented.
“Thank you, baby.” She pointed to EJ. “His oatmeal is on the counter cooling off, and his chocolate milk is in the fridge.” Walking into the room, she leaned over and kissed his forehead.
“Grandma love you, bad ass.” She then kissed my cheek.
“I made enough for him to have two bowls and you to have one. I gotta get going.”
“Rushing to leave your two favorite guys is crazy. We gon’ be aight though. Ain’t that right, EJ?”
EJ looked at his grandma, then to me, then back to the TV.
“Exactly.” She giggled. “He don’t give a damn. I gotta get out of here. We’re carpooling, and I don’t wanna be late.”
“Aight.” I laughed and reached for my personal phone on the nightstand. “Have a good time. I love you and check your CashApp when you get a chance.”
“What you done sent me, Enzo?” Pulling her phone out of her purse, she shook her head. “I told you I didn’t have to pay for nothing today.”
“I know that. Just consider it a thank you for you coming through last minute yesterday and watching EJ. I appreciate it.”
She gave me a soft smile. “Y’all my babies. That’s my job. No thanks needed for loving what’s mine. But I appreciate you too, son. I’ll put this money to good use at the ‘sino.” Waving, she left the room.
My mother always had good luck at the casino, so there was no doubt in my mind that she’d double the $500 I’d sent her.
“Aye, Champ. Come on, let’s go brush our teeth and eat breakfast.”
EJ heard food and slid off the bed with ease, landing on his feet.
He trailed behind me, walking as fast as his little legs would allow to keep up.
Grabbing my toothbrush from my bathroom, I went into his to brush my teeth.
Familiar with the routine, he grabbed his step stool to place it at the sink and climbed up on it.
I always found myself fascinated by the things he remembered.
“O’meal,” he said once we were done.
“I got you. Come on.”
Heading into the kitchen, I set him up at the table and grabbed his bowl off the counter.
“Aye,” I said, “you know the rule. Whatever you spill, you gon’ clean up. Copy?”
He stared at me seriously before nodding. Clear that we were on the same page, I slid the bowl in front of him.
“And take ya time,” I added, handing him a small spoon.
I got another nod of understanding, and he dug in.
We ate together in silence, him clearing his bowl before me and holding it up for seconds.
Oatmeal was his favorite meal – specifically, the way my mama made it.
I didn’t know what special ingredient she added, but his lil’ ass was hooked.
I tried my hand at perfecting it and failed miserably.
The way he projectile vomited let me know that.
After breakfast, I cleaned him up, and we retired to the living room.
“You wanna help Daddy put the Christmas tree up, man?”
His face lit up, and he jumped down off the couch, headed for the closet where he’d seen me stash the tree.
Chuckling, I stood, walking over to the closet to drag the big box out.
Making room in the corner of the living room, we got to work.
By the look on his face, it was clear that EJ was taking his job of handing me each branch seriously.
He concentrated so hard, checking each branch before handing it over to me.
“Aight, what you think?” I asked once the ornaments were on. His response was a frown, as he shook his head. “What? It’s missing something?” I checked the tree out and thought we’d done a good job.
“Light,” he said, pointing at the tree.
“Ohhhh, got you.” I plugged the cord in the socket, bringing the tree to life, as it lit up.
His eyes got big. “Good job.”
“Yeah. We did it. Good job, man. Here, this the last thing.” I handed him a star and picked him up to place it on top of the tree. “Gimme some dap.”
Slapping fives with me, he laid his head on my shoulder. This was life. Me and my baby boy.
Satisfied with our tree, we made our way to his playroom where I let him run off his breakfast, while I checked my emails. In scrolling through my inbox, I found a response email to my nanny inquiry. Clicking on it, I read in silence.
From: Thyri.Anderson@
Good afternoon, Mr. Sullivan,
Thank you for your response. My current availability is Tuesday-Friday and alternate weekends from 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. While a set schedule would be ideal, I can be flexible when needed.
I’d love to schedule an in-person meeting to discuss further if possible.
Please let me know what day and time works best for you.
For some reason, I found myself reading the email twice. The message was the same, but I was trying to put a voice to the words.
“Type shit I’m on?” I silently questioned myself before responding.
From: Sullivan & Co
Good morning, Ms. Anderson,
Are you available this afternoon at 12:30 p.m.? If so, you can meet me at this address, 22 Chambers Street New York, NY. Let me know if this works for you.
I sent the email, and she replied a few minutes later that she’d be there. That was already a plus in my book. It let me know she wanted to work, and that said a lot. Powering off my laptop, I tucked it under my arm and stood up from the bean bag chair I sat on.
“Come on, EJ, let’s get dressed. We got an interview.”
I dressed us both in matching cargo pants and black crew neck sweaters.
On our feet were a fresh pair of black Timbs.
Of course, he had to break his in by taking a couple laps around the house.
My boy was the miniature version of me. Hitting my body with a few sprays of cologne, I sprayed some in the air and let him run through, so he could smell good too.
“Go get your coat and your hat, EJ,” I directed. Taking flight, he did as I asked and came running back, tripping over his own feet along the way. “Woah, slow down, dawg.” I held my hand out to his chest, only for him to laugh.
“I running, Daddy.”
“I know.” I chuckled. “You almost met the ground too.” Helping him into his North Face, I put on the matching hat, grabbed my wallet and keys, and we were out the door.
I walked into Sullivan & Co. with my future CEO at my side.
I’d been working on building a legit cleaning empire over the last three years one contract at a time.
My team consisted of ten women – sharp, organized, and they kept my business moving better than any Fortune 500 company.
I’d handpicked all single mothers who were hustlers and as loyal as they come.
I made it my business to employ an all-female staff because the reality was, no one had the gift of gab like a woman. The way they finessed, contracts were as good as signed without negotiating our prices or standard of business.
“Morninggg,” Kalia, the front desk receptionist, sang. “There go my favorite boy.” Before she could get from behind the desk, EJ had run to her.
“You just love the ladies, don’t you?” I said, grinning. “Good morning, Kalia. I have a visitor coming through at 12:30. Her name is Thyri Anderson. Can you make sure to escort her to my office when she gets here?”
“I sure can,” she replied while tickling EJ. “You want me to take him to the kids’ room?”
“Yes, please. Gimme five, man.” I held my hand out for EJ to dap. He slapped it hard, and I pretended to be hurt. “Ahhh, man,” I grabbed at my wrist, “you getting too strong for Daddy.”
He smiled proudly, making me and Kalia laugh.
“That’s cause he a big boy,” Kalia added. “Come on, lemme get you set up.”
“Oh,” I stopped her, as she went to walk away, “how’s Kayla?” I asked about her daughter.
“She’s doing really good. My mom is home with her today. Thanks again for helping with the physical therapy, Enzo.”
“No sweat. Glad she’s on the mend. If you ever need her to come here so you can keep an eye on her, I can have my cousin send someone over, and she can do her PT in the kids’ room. This way you don’t have to worry about her regressing.”
She nodded. “I appreciate that and will keep it in mind.” Smiling, she walked away to drop EJ off.
The kids’ room was a space that I had specially designed for the children of my staff, so they never had to choose between work and childcare.
With their input and even input from the kids through colorful sketches I had my designer come up with, we created an oasis for the kids to be kids.
And I made sure to cover all basis from soft mats, toys for infants to toddlers, down to two flat screens and game systems set up for the pre-teens and teenagers.
It was kind of like a home away from home that was fully monitored by two licensed care providers.
Those providers also happened to be my cousins, Kyiris and Shawna.
Keeping business in the family was my thing.
Heading into my office, I pulled out my phone to call my cousin, Aura. The phone rang a few times, and just as I was about to hang up, the call connected.
“What’s the word?” he answered with a yawn.
“Ain’t no way you just now waking up, my nigga.” I glanced over at the clock, and it read 11:03 a.m.
“Nah. I just got in the door like thirty minutes ago. Bout to shower and take my ass to sleep. Wassup?”
“You just getting back in town?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, aight. I ain’t want shit, was just calling to tap in witchu.”
“How’d the meeting go?” he asked, and I knew he was referring to the hit.
“Successful. Had an unexpected guest but nothing I couldn’t handle.”
“Oh. I know you went up by the hour.”
“For sure.”
“Copy. I don’t hear your shadow in the background. He sleep?”
“Nah. We’re at the office. I had some paperwork to handle, and I’m interviewing a potential nanny in a little bit.”
He snickered before speaking. “And who bout to watch his bad ass? Did you have to upload a tape of how he is on a daily basis?”
I laughed. “Nigga, fuck you. Y’all gon’ stop talkin’ bout my kid.”
“Mann,” he chuckled, “you know EJ my lil’ potna, but that lil’ nigga would give Super Nanny a run for her money.”
“Welp, let’s hope shorty got what it takes.” I shrugged.
“Yeah. What’s her name? I’ma pray for her before I go to sleep.”
“Nigga, pray for your sins. Get off my line.”
“Aight, what’s her name forreal though?”
“Thyri.”
“Aight. I’ma pray that she fine, thick as hell, and can handle EJ.”
“I’m looking for a nanny, dawg. Not a date.”
“Nah, nigga, you looking for a helpmate too. You just don’t know it. I’m bout to crash though. Love.”
“Love.”
We ended the call, and I powered on the flat screen TV in front of my desk.
The camera feed from the security monitors that I had around the property popped up on the screen.
I zoomed in on the one that covered the parking lot.
I wanted to see Thyri when she pulled up.
Something about Aura’s statement had me even more curious about her.
Turning on my computer, I planned to busy myself with work until she arrived. This was going to be interesting.