Chapter 14 #2
“It’s Grayson. My bad if it’s too early. I guess I’m programmed to rise before the sun. I thought you were, too,” he answered.
“I’m a rise against my will type of girl,” Stassi said grumpily, closing her eyes, trying to hold onto a bit of sleepiness because she was headed straight back to dreamland as soon as she swerved this call.
“Can I take you to breakfast?” he asked.
She opened her eyes.
“Breakfast?”
“Yeah, you eat, right?” he asked.
She giggled. “Yeah, I eat.”
“Then meet me for breakfast. I’ll send you the address,” he replied.
“Yeah, okay…I guess,” she said reluctantly.
It took Stassi two hours to pull her life together.
She didn’t know why, but she was giddy at the thought of meeting this man for breakfast. It was a simple request, and she didn’t know if she would even call it a date, but it felt good to be the first thought on his mind, especially when she was still waiting for a call from Day.
She expected to pull up to a brunch house or a restaurant, but when she got to the address Grayson had sent, she frowned.
She called Grayson, and his phone went straight to voicemail.
The fire truck sitting out front told her that he was likely inside.
She climbed out of her car and flung her handbag over her shoulder as she made her way inside.
She signed in at the office. “I’m looking for…umm…one of the firefighters. His name is Grayson. He asked that I meet him here for breakfast.”
“Oh, yes! He’s right in the gym! Down the hall, make a left, and then follow the commotion,” the secretary instructed.
Stassi nodded. “Thank you.”
She walked with determination, heels echoing in the hallway until she located the gym.
When she stepped inside, she saw him. He and what appeared to be his entire firehouse.
They were serving breakfast to a gym full of kids.
She didn’t want to interrupt. She stood near the door, leaning against the frame, arms folded as she watched him.
There had to be at least three hundred kids in the gym.
When he looked up and noticed her, he handed his duties off to someone else to greet her.
He was casual today in jeans and a Flint Fire Department fitted t-shirt.
“This isn’t what I expected at all,” she said, smiling.
“Breakfast with a hero,” he said. He pointed to the sign hanging above her head.
“We come out every week to make sure the kids in this neighborhood have a hot breakfast on Saturday mornings. It’s the poorest area in the city.
If we didn’t, some of them wouldn’t eat until they came back to school on Monday morning. ”
Her heart melted.
“Wow. That’s really…” She paused as she looked around the room in awe. “Needed.”
“Mr. Grayson! Mr. Grayson! Can we play the games now?” A little boy ran up to him and had ten kids behind him as they awaited an answer.
“You know the rules. Breakfast then 30 minutes of homework or reading, then it’s fun time. Because why?”
“We handle the business first!” the little boy screamed.
“My man,” Grayson said, extending his hand for a shake. “Do me a favor. You can start picking up any paper plates you see on the tables that need to go in the trash.”
The kids ran off, and Stassi swooned.
“They love you.” She laughed. “This is probably the best breakfast date I’ve ever had.”
“I got to feed you first before we can call it a date,” he shot back. “You hungry?”
“I am, but I want to help! I’ll eat later. Put me to work!” Stassi was so excited. The energy in the room was infectious. She just wanted to contribute to it.
“You know how to make pancakes?” he asked.
“Boy, I’m the pancake queen,” she bragged.
“Okay, well, I’ma put you at the pancake station with me,” he said. “Come on. I’ll get you an apron and show you where you can put your stuff.”
She followed him to the kitchen, and they washed their hands before he slipped a plastic apron over her head.
She couldn’t stop smiling.
“Never saw anybody this excited to make a couple hundred pancakes,” Grayson snickered.
“I’ve never seen a man this intuitively conscious of the needs of children that don’t belong to him. That makes me proud. Like, this is amazing,” she said. “Good job, Black man.”
He blushed, and Stassi did too, just out of reaction to his humility.
“Thank you,” he said. He led the way to the station, and Stassi got to work. The first little girl in line was a little snaggletooth, brown skin girl with braids and barrettes. She was so intrinsically Black that Stassi fell in love instantly.
“Mr. Grayson is this your girlfriend?” the little girl asked.
Grayson flipped one of the pancakes on his griddle and then put it on the little girl’s plate. “She’s a girl and she’s a friend. Does that count?”
Stassi laughed as the little girl shook her head. “That’s not the same thingggg.”
They spent the entire morning engrossed in these kids.
Stassi served pancakes, wiped down tables, tied shoes, played kickball the best she could because she had worn heels, and helped with homework.
She had been so tuned in to the event that she forgot to fix herself a plate.
It was such a good time that she hated to see the morning come to an end, but when the last kid left the school, it was time to say goodbye.
“This was the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” she said. “Thank you for inviting me.”
“Thank you for not running for the door as soon as you got here,” he replied.
“If this is what a date is like with you, I’m going to have to get creative when it’s my turn to plan,” she said. She felt awkward as soon as she said it.
Oh, you desperate-looking-ass bitch, she thought. She hated to look thirsty or to be one of those girls trying too hard too fast, forcing a square into a round hole.
“I’m not that difficult to please,” he answered. “I live out the station, and my DoorDash bill is crazy, so a good home-cooked meal would do it for me.”
“I most definitely can accommodate that,” she replied.
Stassi felt like her cheeks would fall off, she was smiling so hard.
Grayson was genuinely nice, and not just to her.
She noticed how he treated others around him.
The kids were a given. They loved him. His colleagues loved him and looked up to him.
She could tell just from their interactions, but also, he was kind to the little people in the room.
The people most wouldn’t even acknowledge.
The janitor, whom he spent ten minutes with just inquiring about his family and his day.
The secretary, who unlocked the building each Saturday, who he made it a point to take a plate.
His spirit was soothing. Not to mention, the selfless job of being a firefighter.
She didn’t mind feeding a man like that.
“Just let me know when,” he said jokingly.
“How about tonight?” she asked.
She could see his surprise. She shocked herself at how easily he had earned an invite to her crib. They walked toward the door, and he held it open for her.
“Just let me know what you’d like,” she offered. Oh, bitch, you really like him, she thought. Most men would get shrimp alfredo, salad, and breadsticks because it was quick, good, and one of her favorites. She was giving Grayson options.
“I get to pick my poison, huh?” he asked.
“Unt uh, not you think I’m gon’ poison you,” she laughed.
“I don’t get to cook often, but I’m actually kind of good at it.
I know my way around a kitchen. You say you don’t get home-cooked meals often, so make it count.
What would you like? If you could choose any meal to eat tonight, what would it be? ”
He was digging the conversation. He was already rubbing his stomach. “Not going to lie. I haven’t had an old-school pot roast in years. With the gravy and the carrots and some mac and cheese, cabbage. A little cornbread on the side.”
She laughed.
“I can do that,” she said. He went into his back pocket and pulled out a leather wallet. The logo told her it was Tom Ford.
The firefighter has good taste, she thought.
He pulled out two-hundred-dollar bills. “Will this cover it?” he asked, holding it out for her.
“Grayson, you don’t have to give me money. It’s my treat,” Stassi insisted.
“You cook, I’ll provide.
She looked at him in awe. It was a simple statement that held an old-school sentiment. He was a classic man, apparently, and he believed in traditional gender roles. She didn’t know if she loved or hated it, but she knew better than to argue.
It could be a red flag for a man to believe in chauvinistic ideals and who has misogynist expectations, or it could mean security.
It could mean that forever kind of love with a man who would go to work and come home every day, never cheating, never lying, never complaining, until the end of days. She wondered which type he was.
She took the money and stuffed it in her pocket. “If you insist,” she said.
“I do,” he countered.
“Seven o’clock,” she said. “You know where I live.”
“Whoa! Hey, where are you going?” Lauren asked.
“She needs space,” Demi huffed. “I need you to stay here, Lo. Until she lets me come back, I need you to be here.”
“Boy, what?” Lauren hissed. “You’re running out, Demi. This girl is not my responsibility.”
“You really want to be in that house by yourself? I risked my shit with her to be there with you. I can’t lose her, Lo.”
“You aren’t thinking clearly, Demi. She and I aren’t friends,” Lauren protested in a hushed whisper. “This is her house. I can’t babysit her just because she’s mad at you.”
“If I lose her, that’s going to be the end of me,” he admitted.
Lauren looked at him sympathetically. “The way you love her… Like the depth of it. It’s almost scary.
You’re not supposed to risk it all for another human being, Demi.
You’re supposed to be able to live without them.
Maybe give her a bit of space to learn how to live without you.
Let her figure out how to love you without needing you to breathe.
You took a week to grieve your son, and she completely unraveled.
You both need to come down to reality because the love is too potent.
It’s so high that even the two of you are having a hard time reaching it.
Too much of a good thing can be bad. You need time apart.
That way, when she does come back, this time you know it’s because she wants to, not because she needs to.
You’d be smart to learn to do the same. I’m not smothering her.
I’m not guarding her for you. She’s grown, and I have my own shit to work out. Get your shit together.”
Demi walked out, and Lauren sighed before gathering her things and leaving, too.