Chapter 6 #2
“Yeah. Preciate you holding it down. I see what you did in the room too. Thank you.”
“Oh,” she smiled, “you mean what we did in the room? He gave me a little pushback about cleaning at first, but I turned clean up time into a game, and he got on board. The only other competitive two-year-old I’ve ever encountered is my son when he was that age.
Anything he didn’t want to do or gave me a hard time about, I made it into a game. Worked like a charm.”
“That’s another thing I may be responsible for. We’re both competitive. Unlike some parents, I don’t let him win everything because of his size or his age. Ain’t no pity wins over here. We’re building character. Training him to be solid.”
“Love that for him. Kids need that, especially boys. Oh, and dinner was a hit, just like the oatmeal.” She patted herself on the back. “I put the leftovers away. Umm, I didn’t give him a shower. Didn’t know how you felt about that just yet. We did brush his teeth though.”
I nodded. “I respect that. I’m cool with it so long as he is.”
She checked the time on her watch and yawned. “Welp, it’s late, and I think my job is done here for tonight. I’m gonna head…”
“No,” I said. “You’re staying the night.”
“Who?” she questioned with a raised brow.
“You,” I confirmed, not knowing where the sudden urge to want to keep her around came from.
“Umm, I know today was successful and all, but you do know you can’t hold me hostage, right?”
I chuckled lowly. “I ain’t tryna hold you hostage, shorty. It’s late, and there’s a snowstorm headed our way.”
“Damn, really?”
“Yeah.”
“I can get a hotel for the night.” She hesitated. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to spend the night, Enzo.”
“I wasn’t asking you to stay, Thyri. I’m insisting. I’ll pull both of our cars into the garage. Make sure you check in on KJ.”
I left her in the living room and walked off to the back to reset the guest bedroom. Did I just force my nanny to spend the night? I thought. I didn’t know what came over me. All I knew was I couldn’t unring the bell. Didn’t want to. Fuck it.
I went to pull the sheets off the bed when my phone rang in my pocket.
Pulling it out, Aura’s name flashed on the screen.
He was the one person you didn’t want to talk to after having made a split decision that was out of character.
I knew this nigga would give me hell. And for a minute, I started to ignore the call but said fuck it.
I was a grown ass man. I didn’t have to explain shit to nobody.
Besides, if Thyri was on fuck shit, I’d put a hole in her pretty little forehead.
“What’s good, nigga?”
“I meant to tell you this shit earlier. I put my ear to the streets to see if your nanny was in ‘em.”
Laughing, I shook my head. “I’m not surprised. You know I handled that myself, right?”
“Yeah. I know you just as thorough as me. But what’s better than two eyes? Four, right?”
“Can’t argue witchu there. What you find out?”
“She was married to a nigga named Kaleb. He got a brother named Koric. Solid dudes. Kaleb used to have some shit going on in The Bronx. But his bread and butter was out in Georgia. He moved there and got shit popping on the scam and money laundering tip. His brother, Koric. is still up this way doing his one, two. Nothing major. From the looks of it, shorty was put up for a time.”
“That’s more to add to what I know thus far. Good looking out.”
“You know how I’m coming bout the family. How she do with EJ alone?”
“Better than expected. She cracked the oatmeal code. Had his lil’ ass in here cleaning and shit. A good hire.”
“Oh, yeah. You know it get critical bout that oatmeal. That’s wassup. She coming back in the morning?”
I went silent. This nigga was fishing for info like he knew something already and was waiting for me to confirm.
“Yeah. She’ll be here. She’s staying the night.”
“Wordddd?”
His response was different than what I expected.
“Yeah. And ion wanna hear shit about it.”
“Shiiiddd, mothafuckas out here marrying people they meet for the first time on some social experiment type shit. If you want yo’ nanny to spend the night, YOLO.”
“You been watching TV with Grandma Lettie again.” I snickered.
“Man, I’ma bout to stop popping up on that old lady. The other day, she had me stuck on this Love At First Sight shit. I’m like mannn, ain’t no fuckin’ way.”
“She gon’ put an APB out on your ass, you stop coming by.”
“You right. She might think something happened to her favorite grandson. But anyway, rock out, my nigga. Life’s too short… bust yo’ nanny down today. You done inspired me to go out on a limb my damn self now.”
“Get off my phone, dawg.”
“Aight. I’ma go. Love, nigga.”
“Love.”
Ending the call, I put the fresh linens on the bed before going to check on Thyri. As I walked back out into the living room, I could hear her talking on the phone.
“I called yo’ ass for some advice that made sense, and you over here encouraging me to stay the night at this man house.” I heard Thyri whispering. Well, at least she was trying to.
She paused, I assumed, to let the person on the other end talk before speaking again. “Of course I don’t wanna drive in the snow, and I am comfortable, but what if this man tries to fuck me, Danae? Hold on, my headphones dying.”
“If he tries to fuck you, then you fuck back.” I heard the other person say.
“Oh, shit. You were on speaker.” She fumbled with the phone, and I felt it was the best time to make my presence known.
“You straight?” I asked.
She turned around quickly with wide eyes. “I’ma call you back, D.” Ending the call, she held her phone up to her head with her eyes closed. “I would hate to know how much of that conversation you actually heard.”
“I heard the part about you not wanting to drive in the snow and the part about you fuckin’ back.”
“Yeah, lemme go home.”
“You good, girl. My word. A nigga ain’t hard up for no pussy. It’s a safety thing for me. And by the way you were sleeping, I can tell you’re tired. Stay here tonight and we’ll see how things look in the morning. Cool?”
She folded her arms across her chest and squinted. “You want some company, Enzo?”
I laughed her off. “Come on, lemme show you where you’ll be sleeping.”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she murmured, picking up her bag from the couch and walking toward me. “You sure about this?”
“I left you in my house alone for hours with the most important person in my life. If I was sure about that decision, I’m positive about this one. I’ll take your key, so I can move your car.”
Although still skeptical, she dug into her purse and placed her keys in my hand.
“Follow me.”
I walked her down the hall and into the guest bedroom. Taking her into the bathroom, I pointed out the fresh towels and washcloths, offering to give her something to sleep in if she wanted to shower. She respectfully declined, and I didn’t push for obvious reasons.
“You need anything? Charger for your phone? More pillows?”
“No,” she said, looking around the room. “This is fine.”
“Okay, cool. I’ma go move the cars and get settled in.”
“Alright,” she let out softly.
We stood there, staring at each other, likely trying to figure out what exactly was going on here.
“Good night, Enzo,” she finally spoke.
“Good night, shorty.”
Leaving out of the room, I closed the door behind me. I didn’t know how I’d feel in the morning about my decision. All I knew was I didn’t want to part with the peace that came with Thyri’s presence tonight.