8. Noree Marcell
The next morning…
I’d been walking back and forth since I’d gotten Oaklynn up for the day.
She was in her highchair, going to town on the porridge I made her, eyes glued to the TV, banging that spoon on the tray between bites.
Meanwhile, I had my phone in my hand, talking to my damn self.
“Just call, girl…. No… don’t call. Don’t embarrass yourself. You already told that woman you weren’t interested. They probably picked somebody else by now anyway.”
I stopped in the middle of the floor and looked down at my phone. Scrolled through my contacts until I landed on Opal.
I hit call before I could talk myself out of it.
It rang several times before her voicemail picked up.
I kissed my teeth and almost hung up.
Girl, just leave the message. You never know.
The beep hit.
“Hi, Opal. Good morning. This is Noree Marcell. We met yesterday for the nanny interview. I wanted to apologize for how things ended. I’m still very interested in the position, and if you haven’t found anyone yet, I’d love the chance to finish the interview. Thank you and have a blessed day.”
I hung up and stared at the phone for a moment before tossing the phone onto the couch and went over to my baby.
“You all finished, pretty girl?”
She looked up at me with porridge on her chin and grinned. “Ma-ma!”
“Yes, that’s me.”
I got her cleaned up, put her in the playpen with her toys, then dropped face-first onto the sofa.
My mind went right back to Ozy but not for long. My phone started ringing, and I damn near broke my neck grabbing it.
Unknown number.
I answered anyway. “Hello?”
“Good morning, may I speak with Noree Marcell?” A man’s voice came through, real chipper.
“Yes, this is she. May I ask who’s speaking?”
“Miss Marcell! My name is Dwayne. I’m calling from Prestige Home Solutions. We received your application, and I wanted to see if you had a few minutes for a quick phone interview.”
My whole back straightened up. “Yes! Yes, absolutely, I have time.”
“Wonderful. So let me tell you a little bit about the opportunity. Our associates are independent brand partners who present our premium cutlery collection, knives, forks, spoons, serving sets, directly to families in their homes. Now, there is a starter kit, which is a small investment on your end—”
I rolled my eyes.
I know you fucking lying!
“But once you build your own team underneath you, you’ll be earning off their sales as well, so the earning potential is really unlimited—”
“Sir.” I sat up. “Sir. Thank you so much for your time, but this is not for me.”
“Miss Marcell, if I could just—”
“Have a good day now.”
I hung up and just started laughing at myself. Sitting there shaking my head, laughing.
“When the hell did I even apply for that?”
I was desperate for a job, but not that damn desperate. I wasn’t going to the door selling no damn spoons and forks because the second somebody told me no, I was probably gonna end up throwing the silverware at them and quitting.
I got up and went in the kitchen, pulled out the spaghetti from two nights ago, put me a plate together, and stuck it in the microwave. It hadn’t been going thirty seconds before my phone started ringing again.
I jogged over there and gasped when I saw Opal’s name.
I cleared my throat.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Miss Marcell. This is Opal, dear. Good afternoon. I received your voicemail, and I wanted to give you a call back.” She paused. “We actually have not filled the position yet.”
I pulled that phone away from my face, hit mute so fast, and screamed!
Bitch!
Then I unmuted the call. “Oh, okay! That’s good to hear.” I tried to sound calm. “Would I be able to finish my interview by any chance?”
“Well.” I could hear her thinking. “I don’t want it to become some type of conflict of interest since it does appear that you and Mr. Love have previous relations.”
“No, ma’am… I promise you it will not be a problem. I’d be there for King and King only. And I really do love taking care of children. That’s genuinely what I do. I can be the best nanny you’ve ever seen.”
I stopped and realized I was damn near out of breath. I had to press the mute button again just to catch my breath.
More silence.
“Hello?” I said when I took her off mute.
“I’m sorry about that, dear,” Opal said. “My AirPods died, and I was switching over to speakerphone.”
“Oh, no problem at all.”
“Give me just one moment.”
She put me on some kind of hold, but not really, because I could still hear everything on her end. Papers shuffling. A drawer opening. Her humming something under her breath.
Then she came back. “Actually, we can finish the interview right now over the phone. I do have a few more questions for you.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Now, King has quite the sweet tooth. And because of that, he does have several dental appointments coming up. We want to get ahead of it, so he has good teeth going forward. Would you be able to take him to and from those appointments?”
“Of course. Absolutely.”
“Good. And how do you feel about doing his hair? He loves braids with designs. Are you savvy with hair?”
I damn near laughed. “Oh, absolutely. I’m real good with natural hair, ma’am. That won’t be a problem at all.”
“Wonderful.”
She kept going, question after question, and I answered every last one of them. Somewhere in the middle of it, I stopped being nervous and just started being myself.
“Well,” she said finally, “between me and you? You got the job, sweetheart. I really love your energy and your spirit; despite whatever it is you may have had in the past with Mr. Love. I do have to run it by him to see what he says, but he gave me the final say-so… so I’ll give you about two to three days to get your affairs in order.
But due to the nature of Mr. Love’s lifestyle, there are certain forms, such as an NDA and things of that nature, that will need to be signed.
So, I’ll make sure that we get all necessary paperwork over to you by the end of the day. ”
“Okay. Great. Thank you so much for even taking the time to call me back. I really do appreciate that.”
Oh, baby, I was giddy as hell!
“No worries at all, dear. You take care.”
I hung up then I hollered.
I ran over to that playpen, scooped my baby up, and spun her in a circle. “You hear that? Your mommy got the job! Your mommy got the JOB!”
She was giggling and hollering right with me, and then I caught myself.
“Oh, shoot. Let me not spin you around like that, baby. You just ate. Mommy don’t want you throwing up.” I set her back down in the playpen, and she went right back to her toys like nothing happened.
I grabbed my phone to call my sister, but somebody knocked on my door.
I sighed and walked over to it, confused.
I looked through the peephole and saw my landlord, Ronnie, standing there in one of them polo shirts he be squeezing that potbelly into.
He was unfit as hell, just big and funky-looking with big ol’ eyes.
He was older, a pervert, and I hated the sight of him and his dry, scaly skin.
I cracked the door. “Good afternoon.”
“Where’s the rent, Miss Marcell?”
“Hold on.”
I left the door cracked and went and got it out my purse, came back, and handed it to him through the gap. “You ain’t have to come knocking. I was gonna drop it at the front office in the morning.”
He took it. And when he did, he ran his hand across mine.
Eww! What the fuck?
I pulled back.
“You know,” he said, looking me up and down with that grin on his face, “I done told you before, you a real pretty girl. And I love a plus-sized woman with a little meat on her bones.”
“Okay, well, I’m not interested, and I’m pretty sure your wife wouldn’t like you standing here in my face tryna flirt with me, Ronnie.”
He ignored what I said and continued. “You know you ain’t even gotta pay rent.” He nodded down toward himself. “You do a little something for me, we can call it even every month.”
“Get your big, nasty, funky ass away from my door now! I may be in a bind, but this is not Set It Off, and you are not Nate. Now get the fuck on!”
I pushed the door to close it, and he put his hand up against it, laughing like it was funny.
“Move, Ronnie!”
He didn’t budge right away, and I ain’t gon’ lie, my stomach dropped a little. But I planted my foot behind that door and pushed harder.
“I gave you your money. Get the hell on!”
“So, you ain’t gon’ give me none?”
“Hell no. Now move before I call the police, then your wife, and tell her exactly what you just said to me. Plus, my fucking baby is sitting right behind me. You must’ve lost your mind!”
He threw both hands up in the air like he was surrendering, still grinning, and finally backed up. “Alright now, alright.”
I slammed the door and locked it, both locks, and stood there with my back against it, shaking my head.
That man had made little comments before. Little side remarks about my figure, holding a door too long, standing too close. But that was the first time he came out his mouth and said it like the shit was nothing.
I was disgusted. And I was mad. Mad that he thought he could. Mad that he probably done said it to somebody else in this building who ain’t have the mouth to tell him no.
I went and dropped down on the couch and looked over at my baby.
Glad he didn’t keep trying. The apartments I lived in, in my opinion, were in a great area, upscale, and there wasn’t any crime over here or anything. It’s just that when you give the wrong motherfucker power over people, then you get shit like this happening.
I sat back for a second and pushed it into the back of my mind.
Girl, forget Ronnie’s toilet-bowl-breath-having ass! You got a job! Call your mama, take her up on her offer, then call your sister!