Chapter 7
Navy ‘Nay’ Prescott
“Thank you, baby,” one of my elderly patients said after I finished helping her adjust her pillows.
“You’re welcome.” I smiled, pulling the blanket a little higher over her shoulders. “Hit your call light if you need me, okay?”
“I will shuga.”
I eased the door shut behind me and glanced up at the clock hanging over the nurses’ station.
It was twelve twenty-three and another thirty-seven minutes and I’d finally get a lunch break.
I had just started updating my chart when my phone vibrated inside the pocket of my scrub jacket and I ignored it.
Personal calls stayed personal while I was taking care of somebody else’s loved one.
Whatever it was could wait. A few seconds later… it vibrated again and I frowned.
Rome usually gave up after the first call if I texted him I was working.
Big Mama Lulu would’ve texted first before calling.
Tasha already knew I couldn’t answer during patient care unless the hospital was on fire but now I was curious now, I slipped my phone out just enough to glance at the screen and my heart raced when Denise’s name showed up on the screen.
My heart skipped a whole beat as I stared at her name before locking my phone again.
Don’t do this to yourself. I thought. What Rome didn’t know was me and Lulu went behind his back to apartment search as soon as he dropped me off and I had been hoping and praying that the realtor called and now here she was calling.
I was in my own thoughts when I heard someone call out to me.
“Navy?”
I looked up and one of the charge nurses was smiling at me from across the desk.
“You okay?”
I realized I’d been standing there holding my phone without moving. “Yeah.” I laughed “I’m good girl.”
She chuckled but was still staring. “You look like you seen a damn ghost.”
“Shit, I would hope not,” I smiled.
She laughed and walked away. When she disappeared around the corner, my phone rang for the third time and Denise was still calling.
I looked around to make sure nobody needed me, then pushed through the double doors leading outside to the employee patio.
The Florida heat immediately pissed me off wrapping around me the second I stepped into the sunshine.
One thing no Floridian should have ever been lacking was Vitamin D.
A couple nurses were sitting at one of the picnic tables eating lunch and talking about her weekend plans and I wanted some privacy, so I walked farther down the sidewalk until I found a little bit of privacy beneath one of the palm trees and then I finally answered.
“Hey, Denise.”
“Hi, Navy. Please tell me I’m not interrupting your day.”
“No, I’m just at work.”
“Good. I won’t keep you long.” She paused just long enough for my stomach to do flips, and I instantly felt like I had to shit. She continued. “I wanted to be the one to call you personally.”
I slowly licked my lips. “Okay…”
“I know how important this apartment is to you. I just got word from the owner this morning and I wanted to congratulate you.”
I frowned. “Congratulate me?”
“You got it, Navy.”
It took everything in me not to start jumping, shouting, and praise dancing although I hadn’t stepped foot in a church since a little girl. I was so happy I could’ve started hitting the damn tootsie roll right here.
“You’ve officially been approved.”
I covered my mouth with my free hand before the tears could beat me to it. “Oh… my God.”
Denise laughed on the other end. “I figured that would be your reaction.”
“I’ve already got my deposit,” I told Denise, trying my hardest not to let my voice shake.
“Perfect,” she replied. “Bring me the cashier’s check before five o’clock and the keys are yours.”
I smiled so hard my cheeks started hurting. “So… that’s it?”
“Yep, that’s it.”
“I don’t have to submit anything else?”
“No, ma’am. Everything else has already been taken care of.”
I laughed in disbelief. “Lord…”
“I know.” Denise chuckled. “Big Mama Lulu stayed on me making sure I didn’t forget about you. She wasn’t playing, she wanted you at the very top of the list.”
That made me laugh even harder. “Yep, that sounds like her.”
“It definitely is. She loves you.”
My eyes started burning all over again. “I love her too.”
There was a brief pause before Denise spoke again. “Congratulations, Navy. I hope you’re really proud of yourself.”
I looked out across the employee parking lot where nurses and doctors were coming and going like it was just another ordinary afternoon. “You have no idea,” I told her in all seriousness.
She chuckled. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”
“You definitely will.”
After we hung up, I lowered the phone from my ear, but I couldn’t even make myself move. I just stood there underneath that palm tree staring across the parking lot while everything Denise had just said replayed in my head.
“Damn, the keys are mine and I can finally have my own spot and start over,” I said low enough for only me to hear. A tear rolled down my cheek before I could stop because for the first time in what felt like forever, something had finally gone right.
I wiped my face with the back of my hand, exhaled and then, immediately pulled up my contacts. There was only one person I wanted to call which was Lulu. She answered before the second ring.
I could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke to me. “You smiling, ain’t you Navy?”
I laughed. “Lulu…”
“You got approved.”
I nodded my head. “Yeah, I got approved.”
“I knew you would.”
“No…” I shook my head, still cheesing. “You knew before I did.”
“I sure did.”
“Lulu! You know you could’ve told me. Had me over here sweating bullets.
“Naw, because I wanted you to hear it from the people handing you the keys. Some news feels different when it come from the source.”
I leaned my shoulder against the palm tree and looked up at the bright Miami sky. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Chile, you ain’t gotta say nothing, you just promise me one thing.”
“Anything.”
“When you go to your new place, don’t you bring one raggedy thing from that man’s house into your new apartment.”
I laughed through my tears. “Lulu!”
“I’m serious.”
“I know, but that’s still my house too Lulu. However, everything that I need as far as clothes and other things are already in storage. Well, that’s before he caught me trying to take the rest. I do want new dishes, towels, bedroom set, couches… all that like new everything.
“I don’t know if you’re slow or just don’t want to comprehend child. Listen, you leave every piece of that old life exactly where it’s at.”
I closed my eyes for a second understanding what she was saying. “I can finally start over.”
“No, baby,” she corrected gently. “You already have. Go on back to work and I’ll call you later on.”
We ended the call and I slipped my phone back into my scrub jacket and stayed underneath that palm tree for another minute because I honestly didn’t trust my legs enough to walk just yet.
My heart was beating so hard I could hear it in my ears, and no matter how many deep breaths I took, that smile refused to leave my face.
I finally walked away from the palm tree and walked back through the employee entrance, smiling at every person who crossed my path without even realizing I was doing it.
A transporter pushing a patient down the hallway smiled back.
One of the environmental service workers held the door open for me, and I thanked him before practically floating toward the nurses’ station.
I even passed this fine ass man that damn near made my heart skip a beat again.
I don’t know where he was heading but this was my first time ever seeing him.
He looked like businessman with money, but he also had that roughness around the edges like he wasn’t to be fucked with.
When he opened his mouth to talk to one of the other guys he was with, I could see those perfect gold grills in his mouth.
His arms and neck were heavily tattooed, and I instantly noticed that Patek on his wrist. His hair was cut low with a sharp tape and deep waves, and he had the thickest lashes I’d ever seen on a man but in a masculine type of way.
He was wearing the shit out of that with two other guys who were dressed in street clothes, but they were equally as fine.
When we walked past each other, me and the one who looked like he was the Boss locked eyes and just as quickly as he looked, he turned his head like I wasn’t even there which made me feel self-conscious because I remembered I used to be pretty enough to turn heads.
Maybe I still was, but Rome had a way of making me question myself because of all his antics.
So, it was either I looked like shit, or they were heading to see his woman or something, but either way he was fine and smelled just as good.
“Navy!”
I spun around feeling like I was busted. “Huh?”
My charge nurse laughed. “You’ve been smiling ever since you came back in here.”
“Have I?” I cackled knowing damn well she saw those fine men just as I did, but she would never say.
“Girl…” She folded her arms across her chest. “Either you won the lottery or you’re reminiscing about something because you were clearly just in a daze.”
I laughed so hard I had to look away. “No to both.”
“Mhm.”
“I’m serious Natalie.”
She pointed her pen at me. “I don’t know what happened out there, but whatever it is…” She smiled. “I like this version of you. A least you’re not moping the day by anymore.”
Whew shit, if you only knew the truth, I thought. If anybody in this hospital knew the truth, they’d understand why today felt so different. “I actually came in here to ask you something.”
She leaned back in her chair. “What’s is it?”
“I know it’s last minute, but would it be okay if I took a little longer on lunch today? I don’t mind staying late to make the time back up.”