32. Talitha
Talitha
“When are you coming up?”
“Tomorrow. Willearl and Bonnie gon’ bring me to come get her.”
“And you’ve asked her if she wanted to go?” I queried. Louise was on my business line first thing this morning telling me that she was coming to get Gema. Now that things were seemingly okay, they called often. I didn’t mind as long as they wasn’t calling with no shit.
“She said she would come stay for a few days as long as it was okay with you.”
“I mean, if she wants to go, I’m fine with that. You sure you ain’t picking her up for my Mama.”
“Tali, I’m a grown ass woman. I know how to spend time with my Mama without Litha being around.”
“Aye, I’m just asking. Since we been up here, it’s been her that’s came to grab her. But it’s fine with me. I’ll have Mrs. Jessie pack her stuff up.”
“Okay. We should be there no later than twelve.”
“I’ll be home.”
“Thank you, Tali.”
“Don’t mention it.” Before she could say anything else, I hung the phone up.
Had she called my cell phone, I would’ve called her ass a bald face lie, but seeing as though she called my office, I knew either Gema or Mrs. Jessie had given her the number. I kept reiterating to them that I didn’t care ‘bout them spending time with Gema.
As long as they brought her back unscathed. Since she would be going home for a few days, I was gon’ pack my shit up and go to Lake Spivey to stay with Law.
Pulling my phone out of my desk drawer, I shot him a text message.
Me: Gema going home for a few days.
Law: You agreed to that?
Me: Yeah. I just got off the phone with Louise.
Law: As long as you’re okay with it.
Me: I am.
I smiled inwardly at him checking to make sure I was secure with letting her go. The next message that came through from him had me sucking my bottom lip into my mouth.
Law: Nasty sex on the counter?
Me: Or… Nasty sex on the terrace at Lake Spivey
Law: Shit. I’m getting hard just thinking about it. I’ll get Chari to order groceries.
Me: I’ll do it. They won’t be here until noon. I’ll take the day off.
Law: Me and you. It’s a date
Me: I’ll be waiting.
After sending him a few winking emoji’s, I locked my phone and stuck it back inside of the desk. Shutting down my computer, I grabbed my water bottle and headed out of the office.
“Tali?” Rossi called my name before I had the chance to pass his office. Waving his hand in the hair animatedly, he invited me into his office.
“Hey. What’s going?” I asked, noticing a very pregnant chick sitting across from him at his desk.
“You headed out for lunch?”
“Not just yet. I’m going later, I was getting ready to refill my water bottle and go check on the kitchen staff.”
“Oh okay. Well...” he sang. “I want you to meet someone. Talitha, this is Dahlia. Dah this is your replacement, Talitha Howard.”
“Dahlia.” I smiled. “It’s nice to finally put a face with the name.” I did my usual perusal of her. I was pleased. Law had done well. I wasn’t a hater by far, so I gave credit where it was due. Baby girl was gorgeous and glowing like a muthafucka.
“It’s pleasure to meet you. Rossi talks about you all of the time.”
“Who doesn’t he talk about?” I laughed lightly.
“Right,” she agreed. “I love what you’ve done to the place. I know the kids were elated with all of the changes you made.”
“They were and that’s all that mattered to me.”
“I bet.” She smiled.
Things got awkwardly quiet for a minute as the two of us stared at each other.
She was sizing me up without really letting it be known.
And that was fine by me. I’m sure it was out of sheer curiosity because after all from the way Law outlined it, the youth center was her idea.
She’d run it since the day the doors opened, and only walked away to separate herself from him.
Before long, I was excusing myself so I could finish handling my business. I didn’t see a reason to sit there and chat with my man’s ex-girlfriend. After all, she wasn’t my friend, she was theirs. And I wasn’t spiteful enough to feel some type of way about her stopping by.
* * *
“Tali, this is for you,” Rossi said as he placed the Jason’s Deli bag down on the table.
“Thank you, boo.”
“I knew your ass wasn’t planning on taking a lunch, so I picked that up on my way back in.”
“You know me oh so well.” I laughed and dug into the bag, going for the pot pie soup first. “In my defense, I did eat breakfast this morning. I had an errand to run before coming in, so I stopped and grabbed egg bites from Starbucks.”
“That was hours ago girl.”
“At least I ate.” I shrugged.
“So…” he exaggerated.
“So… what?”
“What did you think?”
“About what?” I stared at him quizzically.
“Dahlia.”
“Oh,” I huffed. “Was I supposed to think anything?”
“No. I mean, I guess not. You’re dating her ex, so I just thought.”
“Her ex, my current,” I clarified. “She’s a pretty girl. Seems pleasant.”
“You know how you cisgender females get.”
“Cisgender? I’m a woman.”
“It’s all the same Tali,” he groaned. “As I was saying, you know how you women get when you run into your man’s ex. All territorial and immediately dislike the ex.”
“I’m not most females. I don’t know lil’ mama enough to dislike her or make assumptions about her.”
“She left him because he wasn’t willing to commit, Tali,” Rossi blurted.
“What that mean to me?” I asked and spooned the delicious soup into my mouth.
“You’re not worried that you’ll end up in the same position?”
I knew Rossi’s line of questions were because he was concerned for me and had my best interest at heart. However, I was a big girl. Capable of taking care of myself in lieu of a bad breakup.
I already felt like nothing was permanent anyways, so I had pretty much trained myself for the day whatever I and Law had going on ended.
To answer his question, I shook my head.
“I’m really not. I have no expectations when it comes to this thing with Law.
We’ve had plenty of conversations where things were outlined.
I know what he does and doesn’t want for his life.
I would be a fool to think that my pussy was so good that I’ll have that man altering his whole life to be with me.
I’m not the fairy tale type of girl, Rossi. And I appreciate the concern, but I promise… I got me boo.”
“Are you sure? You care about him. I saw the way the two of you interacted that day at the game. You’re smitten Tali and I don’t want you to end up hurt. God knows these kids can’t deal with another person skipping out on them.”
“Of course, I’m smitten. He’s amazing in everything that he does. And believe me, as amazing as he is, I have no problem walking away from him. What I won’t do is walk away from this center or these kids. He’s not that fucking amazing,” I deduced, hoping that Rossi understood that I had me.
“Okay,” he finally sighed. “I just don’t want you to receive the same fate that Dah did. She stayed for years praying that he would change, and he never did.”
“And that’s the difference between us. I’m okay with who he is in the present. Law doesn’t have to change for me.”
“Put me in my place then girl,” Rossi sassed.
“No. It’s not like that at all. Like I said… I’m not that fairy tale type of girl. I care a great deal about him but if we were to end, my life would not be put on hold.”
“I wished Dah had that same mindset. It would’ve saved her years of heartache.”
“She’s pregnant. Clearly, she got over that shit quick.”
“I guess she did.” He giggled like a childish schoolgirl.
“Since you’re in here… all up in my business. I need you to send that box off to Quan for me. Gema is leaving in the morning so I wanna slip out an hour early so I can take her to dinner.”
“I can do that. I mean now that I’ve been promoted to Project Coordinator, I have spare times on my hands.”
“You do, huh?” I teased.
“Yes…” he sang. “You don’t know how much that means to me Tali. I so appreciate you for recognizing my hard work.”
“Anything for you babe.”
When I said I was making changes at the youth center, I meant just that.
Rossi had served as an administrative assistant to the director for years.
That role stifled his creativity; I saw that and did something about it.
My goal was to elevate the entire team starting with my assistant.
I created the position and promoted him under the guise of him finding and training his replacement.
With my focus being on the tech school, I needed people at the youth center that I could trust to make sure it ran smoothly. My next step was to step down as director and put Marsha in my position.
The further we got with the tech school, the more I desired to be a permanent fixture there. I planned to be there full time, so I needed to make sure I left the youth center in good hands. By the time my day had started to wind down, I grabbed my things and slipped out.
* * *
“We gon’ bring her back the weekend cause Bonnie wanna go to Savannah to see JR,” Willearl let me know.
We’d gotten Gema bags packed in the trunk of his car and I was busy saying my goodbyes. Him, Bonnie, and Louise showed up right on time. This morning when I got up, me and Gema went to Grits and had breakfast.
When they pulled up to the house, she was just getting ready to take a nap. I invited them to hang around so she could get at least an hour of sleep, but she declined and said she would sleep on the road.
Unlike the last few times I packed her up and set her off, this time felt different.
I wasn’t having anxiety about her being out of my presence.
I don’t know if it was because she would be staying with Louise or because we had seemingly buried the hatchet, and everyone was getting along for her sake.
Whatever it was, I wasn’t bothered this time. I prayed over her this morning while we were out at breakfast and had been at peace since.
“Just let me know what time,” I finally answered Willearl. “I wanna make sure either me or Mrs. Jessie will be here.”
“We will call you when we figure it out.”
“That works for me. Gema, you ready to hit the road?”