CHAPTER 4 Unwanted Surpises At Practice.
Unwanted Surpises At Practice.
“Okay, keep going,” I call out to Morgan as she backs the truck up to the loading dock. “Okay, stop! You’re good!”
And today was one of those days.
Aside from an apple orchard where visitors could tour and pick fresh fruit, we also tended a few orange groves.
There was an onsite factory where we produced all kinds of apple and orange products, from jellies and pastries to ciders and even soaps and body butters.
One of my favorite pastimes was visiting the testing lab and helping them develop new products made from our fruits.
I’d recently worked on a honey cinnamon apple bar soap that had been our best seller at the farmer’s market last month.
It became so popular that people were begging us to add it to our site.
Some of the local shops had even placed orders to stock their shelves.
I felt so damn accomplished knowing that something I’d created was a total hit.
Even Zseyah loved it! She complimented me on my use of natural oils, which helped maintain moisture and nourish the skin.
Additionally, it was a plus that it smelled good.
“Aye, stop daydreaming and come help us,” Morgan calls, knocking me out of my thoughts. I roll my eyes.
“I’m just surprised you’re actually up on time today,” I taunt, grabbing two boxes before moving towards the truck. “You must have some girl you’re tryna go see.”
“Man, whatever,” she waves me off. “Just because I have plans, that doesn’t mean that it involves some girl.” She pauses, looking at me. “And even if it did, so what? I’m grown.”
“You’re right. I’m just teasing.” I shake my head. “Just be careful of who you’re entertaining, Mo. A lot of people know who you are and who your parents are. I don’t want anyone thinking they can take advantage of your kindness just so they can get close to your pockets.”
“I know,” she groans. “I’m being careful. I promise. Ain’t nobody getting over on me. Your baby sis is strong, Kay.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I chuckle, knocking my shoulder against hers. She cracks a smile. “Hey. I’m proud of you, okay? Remember that.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“Ugh, enough with the sappy shit,” Warren grumbles after packing the last box. “Can we get these orders delivered, please? Mo might not have a hot date, but ya boy does, and I ain’t tryna be late because y’all wanna act like y’all are auditioning for an episode of Sister, Sister.”
“Shut up, Warren!” We reply at the same time, which makes our other cousins laugh.
We go back and forth, joking and teasing each other for a while longer before they finally head out to do the deliveries.
Once they’re gone, I take a quick inventory of things that need to be restocked in the warehouse and then key it into the spreadsheet so the next shift can know.
We had a total of 100 workers, and a good 75 percent of them were family members.
The other 25 might as well have been too, because we always treated them as such.
That’s why no matter where you went on this large compound, it always felt like home.
“Heading home for the night, Shug?” I hear after stepping out into the warm October air.
A smile creeps across my face as I turn to greet my grandmother, Emory Collins.
She was Mama Giselle’s mom, and they looked like twins, even at her older age of 78.
Her salt-and-pepper hair framed her face perfectly in luscious curls that mirrored her daughter’s, and the warmth that radiated from her smile washed over me like a comfortable blanket.
“Hey, Granny,” I greet her as I step into her embrace. “What are you doing out and about so early?”
“I needed some fresh air and a little time from that boneheaded husband of mine,” she sighed, shaking her head. I chuckled as I looped my arm with hers. We continued down the dirt path and back to her house.
“What’d he do today?”
“Chile, that man had the audacity to tell me to let Giselle make him lunch because I’m losing my touch,” she scoffed. “I bout near bat the piss outta his old ass.”
“Now, Granny,” I laughed hard. They were a trip for real. “You know he was just joking. Ain’t nobody round here got skills to outdo you in the kitchen, not even my moms. He knows that. He just likes giving you a hard time.”
“He gon end up on the street if he keeps playing with me,” she grumbled, and all I could do was nod and chuckle.
I loved my Granny and Grandpa with all my heart, and there was never a dull moment with those two.
They had the kind of relationship where they got on each other’s nerves constantly, but you could tell that their love for each other ran deep.
They’d been together since the late fifties and were best friends beforehand, so they knew exactly what to do to make the other tick.
Yeah, they complained about one another every now and then, but we all knew what was up.
I’ve always been closer to them than to Mama Liz’s parents.
Unfortunately, they pretty much disowned her after learning that she was a lesbian and had no intention of marrying their business partner’s son, like both families had wanted since they were born.
It was the clichéd story of wealthy millionaires wishing their children to procreate so they could have a son to take over the family businesses one day.
My mama wasn’t with it and immediately distanced herself from her family after graduating from college.
She knew that if she’d come out before then, her parents would’ve stopped paying for her tuition, so she waited until the day of her graduation party and kissed Mama Giselle right in front of everyone as their friend’s son was in the middle of proposing.
I wish I could’ve been there to see the look on their faces, but luckily, the whole thing was recorded.
So, every time I need a good laugh, I look back at those bigoted parents of hers watching in shock as the daughter they constantly looked down on and tried to control gave them a big fat fuck you.
I smiled to myself as we entered the house, a familiar scent washing over me.
I’d always felt so at peace here amongst the smell of apple and lemon-scented floor cleaner and whatever delicious meal my Granny had whipped up.
I was always transported back to my youth when this was nothing more than a single grove apple farm on the many acres of land that had been passed down from generation to generation, thanks to my great-great-grandpa buying back the land where the plantation his family lived on used to be.
The main house had been torn down decades ago, along with many other remnants of that painful time in our history.
Honestly, aside from the small museum one of my cousins operated on the far west side of the land to preserve the memory of our family and the other families who were enslaved here, you wouldn’t even be able to tell this was a plantation at one point.
“Now, I know that ain’t my mini me I see,” I hear as we enter the living room. A smile spreads across my face as I walk over to hug the man whose whole face I had stolen. “Hey, lovebug. How are you? Came to kick it with your old man for a spell?”
“You know I did, Papa Roy.” I chuckled, melting into his embrace. It was comforting as always. When we broke apart, I sat beside him, taking his hand into mine. “I heard you been giving your wife a hard time.”
“Aw, shoot,” he replies, waving me off. “She knows I just like teasing her. Got to keep her on her toes.”
“Don’t start with me, you old fart,” Granny snaps, and I can’t hold back the laugh that escapes. “Ooh, you just upset my spirit so much.”
“You know you love me, woman,” he flirts, gently pulling her down to sit on the other side of him. She rolls her eyes, but I can see the smile trying to ease onto her face. They were adorable. “I’m sorry, lovely. You know I never mean to upset you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she waved him off, but giggled when her peppered her cheeks in kisses. “Let me go, Roy!”
I watched on in admiration as they flirted like teens, wishing I had that.
The love they had was unmatched, and our whole family knew it.
They were the glue that held this family together, and we all aspired to have loving relationships just like theirs.
More than anything in this world, I wanted someone who I could be 100 percent myself.
Someone who loved and cherished me unconditionally.
Someone I could take care of, but who also wanted to take care of me.
Someone I bonded with, joked with, and could just… be…with.
Someone like Zseyah.
The sound of my phone ringing pulled me out of my thoughts, and I slid it from my pocket to see a text from another one of my best friends, Yariah, asking if I was on the way.
It’s only then that I remember that we had a meeting to go to, and I hopped up to my feet.
I quickly say bye to my grandparents, promising to stop by for dinner another time.
After exiting the house, I jog back over to my house and quickly change into my practice gear before running back outside to hop in my truck.
During my free time, I played on an adult flag football team composed mostly of women, with a few players who identified as nonbinary.
Most of the players, including Yari, also played professionally for the Women’s tackle football league, but I didn’t have the time or the skill to do that, so I settled for the next best thing.
It was fun, and I’d made many good friends since I’d begun playing about two years ago.
The flag football season wasn’t that long, only about a month and a half, and took place during the tackle league’s off-season.
Most of the flag football teams were owned and operated by the same people who ran the tackle football teams, which is why we were also called the Baton Rouge Magnolias.
The only difference was that our colors were black and peach instead of black and plum.