22. Noree Marcell
One Week Later…
It was my baby's first birthday and I was being evicted.
Let me back up though.
After not getting a response for those first couple of weeks, I made one last attempt to reach Ozy and his team after seeing my positive pregnancy test and confirming it with my doctor. Still, nothing.
So, I stopped reaching out and made the decision to keep my baby.
And thank God I did, because Oaklynn was the happiest, cutest, smartest, chunkiest little thing I had ever laid eyes on.
She had his eyes. The same exact shape and the same long lashes. She laughed at everything. She said “mama,” “no,” and “bye-bye,” and she was already trying to walk on them little bowlegs.
The only thing I felt bad about was that I couldn't give her the life I wanted to give her.
Because seven months after she was born, I lost my job.
I had been at Hillcrest Early Learning for three years. I really loved that school, and the babies loved me. When I went out on maternity leave, my whole classroom made me a card with their little handprints all over it. I still had it in a box in my closet.
I came back from leave, and not even two weeks later, it was all over.
The whole strip the school sat on had been bought by some big corporation. They planned to knock everything down and put up a shopping plaza.
The neighborhood fought it. We had meetings, petitions, and parents standing outside with signs. That school was the only decent early learning center within walking distance for a lot of families.
Unfortunately, none of it mattered.
The paperwork had been signed months before anybody even knew about it, and every single one of us got laid off.
And here's the part that killed me.
It was the middle of the school year, so every school in the metro area was already staffed. I applied everywhere. Public, private, charter, church schools, learning centers—everywhere.
I got the same response every time.
We’ll keep your résumé on file for the next hiring cycle.
You’re on our waitlist.
Waitlist?
Ugh!
I had a good savings account. I wasn't the type to be out here living check to check with no cushion.
But five months of rent, a car note, car insurance, groceries, gas, daycare, diapers, wipes, formula, clothes she outgrew every six weeks, shoes she outgrew even faster, doctor visits, and one emergency room trip when she spiked a fever ate through my money real quick.
I wasn't broke broke.
But I was close enough to ground zero, and honestly, I was scared.
Then the notice came on the door.
But I tried to push through and celebrate my baby.
I had balloons up and a little pink and gold banner that said ONE across the wall. I made a smash cake from scratch because I wasn't about to pay sixty dollars for one, and me and my sister sat on the floor, clapping and singing to my baby like everything was fine.
“Happy birthday to you,” Nourah sang off-key, holding her phone up and recording. “Happy birthday to youuuu.”
Oaklynn was in her high chair in her little crown, banging her hands on the tray and screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Happy birthday, dear Oaklynn. Happy bir—”
She smacked that cake before we even finished.
Buttercream was up to her elbows and all over her face.
Once I was certain she was done with it, I cleaned her up and put her in the playpen.
Then I sat down on the couch and busted out crying.
“Noree.” Nourah dropped her phone and came over quickly. “What's wrong? What happened?”
I couldn't even talk for a second. She sat down next to me and pulled me into her, rubbing my back.
“I didn't wanna say nothing,” I finally got out. “I'm down to my last, Nourah. Not all the way. I got enough to make it another month, maybe. But they trying to evict me. I got the notice Thursday.”
“Why you ain't tell me?”
“Because what was you gonna do? You got your own bills.” I wiped my face with the back of my hand.
“And I keep applying. I got the credentials. I got three years of experience and references from parents that would go to war for me. Every single place tells me the same thing. We’ll keep you on file.
You’re on the waitlist. Nobody's hiring right now.”
“That don't make no sense.”
“It's the middle of the school year,” I said. “Everybody already staffed up. I'm competing with people who've probably been at these schools for five and ten years, Nou Nou.”
She got quiet for a moment, then sighed. “So…what you gone do?”
“I been talking to Mama a lot more lately.”
Nourah's eyebrows went up. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
Me and my mama didn't have bad blood. There was no big story there, no falling out, and nobody said anything unforgivable.
She just wasn't around much when we were coming up.
She worked crazy hours, so a lot of the time, we raised ourselves.
But we weren't living in a roach-infested house or somewhere with pissy carpet or anything like that.
We lived in a great neighborhood and a great house.
Food was always in the kitchen, the AC was blowing twenty-four-seven, and we always had cable.
Things like that.
It's just that she wasn't there.
So we loved her, but we were never close like that.
It's hard to be close to somebody you had to learn how to live without.
But she'd been calling. Every week now. Asking about the baby, sending little outfits in the mail, and asking when we'd be coming to Macon, which wasn't too far from the area I was in.
“What did Ma say?”
“Well, I told her about everything and how stressed I am trying to figure all of this out. She told me to bring Oaklynn to her,” I said.
“She knows I need help. She said she wants to see her grand baby and that if I need a whoosah, she'll keep her during the week, and I can drive up on the weekends.
You know she's only about an hour and a half away.”
“Noree…” Nourah looked at me. “Is that what you wanna do?”
“No.” My voice cracked. “But what I want doesn't matter right now.” I took a breath and wiped my face again. “I did start applying for nanny positions though.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. And I actually got an interview today.”
“Today? Wait, why you ain't lead with that?”
“Because I'm nervous as hell.” I laughed. “High-profile client. That's all the agency would tell me. Somebody with celebrity status, so they real tight with the details until you get the job.”
“Celebrity?” She sat up straighter. “Oop! I know that's right! That's gone be some good money, sis. I'm already knowing.”
“Girl, weekly pay is three bands.”
Nourah's mouth dropped open.
“Three thousand dollars a week?”
“Yes.” I couldn't even say it without my heart starting to race. “Twelve bands a month, before taxes. Do you know what I could do with that?”
“Okay!” She slapped my thigh. “Then why are we sitting here crying? Go put on something cute!”
“Because it's only temporary. No more than three months, according to them, and it's live-in.”
Her smile faded slightly. “Live-in?”
I nodded. “The agency made it clear that I would have to stay on-site alone. No children or additional guests allowed. So if I get it, I can't bring Oaklynn with me.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” I looked toward the playpen. “It's different from being in a classroom, but it's a stepping stone, and I don't see why they wouldn't hire me.”
“They'd be stupid not to.” She squeezed my hand. “I really hope you get it. I do.”
“Me too.”
“I hate this, though,” she said real low. “I hate that you had to go through all of this by yourself.”
“It's cool.” And I meant it. “I decided to keep Oaklynn, and that was the best decision I ever made in my life. I love that girl to pieces. But if I get this job, I'ma have to take Mama up on her offer, at least for a little while.”
“You gone be a mess.”
“I know I am.” I laughed and cried at the same time. “You know how I am about my baby. I ain't never been away from her a single night. Not one. But if I could just stack, I’d be good. Then I could get us somewhere decent and more affordable and find something back in my field.”
She hugged me for a long time.
“You got this, sis. And you know you can always stay with me if you need to. My spot is tiny, but I'd love to have you both there to keep me company.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that.”
She winked at me before standing and grabbing her bag. “Alright, I gotta head out. Carl and I are spending the day together before he flies out in the morning. Call me the second you leave that interview. I mean it. The second.”
My sister had met a man she absolutely adored, and honestly, so did I. Carl was handsome, smart, down-to-earth, and had a real nice job in tech.
He had already asked her to move in with him, but she refused to shack up unless he put a ring on it. After almost a year of dating, that ring was probably coming sooner than she thought.
“I will.”
“Love you, sissy!”
“Love you too.”
Nourah kissed Oaklynn on her forehead and left, and then it was just me and my baby.
I went over to the playpen and looked down at her.
“You ready to go to daycare, Oaky Woaky?”
She threw both arms straight up in the air, which was what she did when she wanted to be picked up. I scooped her out of there and spun her around in a circle until she was screaming and laughing.
I tickled her ribs until she squirmed, kissed both of her fat little cheeks, then carried her to the bathroom for a quick bath. Once she was clean, I took her into my room and got her dressed.
I put her in the pink tulle dress I'd purchased specifically for this day. Pink socks with little ruffles and white soft-bottom shoes.
I did two puffs since my baby had so much hair. I already knew it was gonna end up down her back just like mine was when I was growing up. Then I put two pink bows around her ponytails.
She was so pretty it made me want to cry all over again.
“You so pretty, Mama! Look at youuu! Mommy's pretty baby.”
She just smiled up at me as I grabbed my phone and snapped a million pictures, my eyes filling with tears.
“Too bad your daddy is missing out on all of this,” I whispered.