Chapter 3 Jahmir Grant
THREE
JAHMIR GRANT
It was early. A bit too early, but from the movement in my bed, I knew my niece and nephew were ready to terrorize the fuck out of me.
Nothing in this world was more important to me than family.
After losing one of my sisters to suicide, I vowed that I would be as present as possible in my family’s life.
She left me and my baby sister, Lonni, her children, and that’s how we remembered her.
They were the light of my life because they looked just like her.
She was the oldest, I was in the middle, and my sister Lonni was the baby.
Whenever I wanted to be close to them, I stayed at my other house I shared with my sister.
“Jah,” my nephew jumped on my back. Because they had a hard time with their speech, I taught them to call me Jah. Because uncle was a little too hard for them to get out.
“Yes, Dream?”
“Eat…”
“Go tell Lonni to feed y’all.”
The sun wasn’t even up yet, and they were up, ready to eat.
I blamed the drugs my sister was taking when she was pregnant with them for some of their issues.
It didn’t stop us from loving them though.
Lonni and I were the only two left of our family.
None of us knew our father, and my mother passed away right after our oldest sister from complications of a heart attack.
She spent many nights walking the floors, worried about us until it killed her.
We never grew up poor. We were raised in a nice neighborhood and had a decent education.
My mother was an educator and taught us everything we knew.
Being that I was the only boy, I had to do just as much as the girls.
Cook, clean, and keep the yard clean. We had it all.
I still found myself wrapped in shit I had no business being in.
A few armed robberies, carjackings, and one attempted murder charge.
My grandfather started snatching my ass up and made me do things at his business that was now passed down to me.
He would have me graveling cement in hundred-degree weather.
That still didn’t do it for me. I was young and angry.
Angry because I couldn’t fix my sister who was starting to spiral.
Angry that my mama had to do it all alone while my dad was absent.
My oldest sister felt the need to find her father figure in someone else.
Everything went downhill after that. She started staying out late and using drugs.
It took a toll on my mama. She went from looking her age to ten years older as time progressed.
Finally, my sister left the house, and we never knew where she was.
It affected all of us. I would randomly bump into her if I was hanging out with my boys, but she wouldn’t say anything.
Shit broke my heart to see her in that condition.
When she got pregnant with the twins, she moved back with our mama and got herself clean, only to find out she had bipolar depression.
We tried everything to keep her on the right track.
The shit was going good until one day my mother left her home with the kids to run to the store and came back, to my sister overdosed on pills and the twins sitting in a tub full of water.
“Jah, did you send them twins in my room? It’s your morning to do breakfast, nigga.”
“Shit…I came to rest, not work.”
“Ain’t no rest in this damn house. Get your ass up and get breakfast going while I get them ready.”
I threw the cover off my head when she walked off.
The bathroom that was joined to the bedroom was stocked with all my hygiene favorites.
I took a quick shower, brushed my teeth, and washed my face before throwing something on to drag myself to the kitchen.
They had different appetites, which is why Lonni didn’t like to fix breakfast. I was the better cook anyway and they loved my cooking.
Reign hated anything that had a sticky texture, and Dream was a big fruit eater.
I made him pancakes with blueberries, and Reign had grits, eggs well done, and bacon.
While they were eating, I caught up with Lonni.
This was the time she would give me all the bills.
Due to her taking care of the kids, I suggested that she not work and let me handle the expenses.
“What you got for me this month?” I asked as I set our plates down.
“Since we added the therapy, it’s added another two grand to the bills. With your shit and mine too, I don’t want to stress you.”
“Do I look stressed? If I told you I got it, I got it.”
Lonni had no idea how much money my company was bringing in.
All she knew was that we were both icing off our mother’s money.
She was terrible when it came to money. All that time my mother spent saving for us, she wasted it on dumb shit like purses and hair.
The house we were in was something I bought as soon as I got out of college.
My mother helped me buy it because I didn’t have any credit, but I had money for the down payment.
Lonni ass was living out of her car and too prideful to ask for help.
It wasn’t until a few days before our sister’s funeral that I found out her ass didn’t have anywhere to stay.
“I appreciate everything you do for us.”
“I got y’all. All you need to do is take care of them while I work. What you got planned today?”
“I wanted to sleep in a bit, but since I’m up, I’ll take the twins out to wear them out before I start this next project.”
“When is that?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Meeting a new contractor and architect that’s trying to break ground in the downtown area.”
After we finished eating, Lonni cleaned the kitchen while I cleaned the kids up and got them changed into some decent clothing. Thankfully, my sister had Reign’s hair braided down because I had no idea how to do hair. Right as I was walking out the door with them, the speech lady showed up.
“Y’all heading out? I have a session with them today. Did Lonni not tell you?”
“Lonni!” I hollered.
“Damn, my bad. I forgot all about it.” Lonni rushed to the door.
“It’s cool. They need these sessions. I’ll just hang out while you work with them.”
She looked so different than the last time I saw her.
Her hair was short and curled like some pin curl type shit.
She didn’t have dark circles under her eyes like she was lacking sleep.
She pushed her cat-eyeglasses up on her makeup-free face.
I was good at reading people, but she had a stone wall up that not even a bulldozer could get through.
“I’m sorry. Maybe I should’ve sent a reminder. I’ll make sure to do that the next time.”
“Girl, come on, it’s cool. Jah ain’t got shit to do today,” Lonni said, dismissing me.
She briefly made eye contact with me before walking in the house.
Since the kids were occupied, I decided to lay around and catch up on what the fuck was going on in the world.
I tried my best not to focus on the news or anything.
It was always bad news. I hated it, but I still liked to stay on top of the shit since I traveled a lot.
“Jah, I have to run to the store. Do you mind being a little more present while Ms. Cole is here?”
“What do you need from the store? I’ll go get it.” I wasn’t in the mood to be anyone’s company.
“Jah, please let me get the fuck out of this house for a minute. I’m going to Target.”
“Shit, you ain’t coming back no time soon then.”
Raising from the sectional that was in the den, I entered the play area that we set up for the twins.
I made sure that they didn’t see me as Ms. Cole sat at a small table with them both.
This was the first time I seen them being still long enough to even do an activity.
The way they listened and did what she was asking of them made me smile.
It took a lot of money to get them the right care and diagnosis for the twins.
Standing on the other side of the room, I got to see just how beautiful Ms. Cole was.
The short cut fit her almond-shaped face.
She wore a white lab coat with her name and title on it, but anyone could see that she was thick up under that coat.
After a moment of staring, I took my attention to my phone so she wouldn’t catch me.
Another hour went by before I was interrupted by the twins running through the den and Ms. Cole was shortly behind them.
“Hey, I sent you an email sharing the twins' schedule, so you won’t be surprised when I pop up. I’m going to see them bi-weekly until I see some change, and then I’ll start seeing them monthly.”
Standing, I checked my phone and noticed the email. When I was home, I silenced my notifications so I could rest.
“I’ll make sure to send it to my sister as well.”
“I’ve already sent that to her as well. They did excellent today. You may hear one or two new words during the week. Try to push them to talk and pronounce their words correctly. The more you talk to them, the more they will learn.”
“They run their mouths all day. What are you saying? We’re not talking to them?”
“Calm down,” she shifted her weight. “I’m just saying that the more you have conversations with them and correct them when they say something wrong, they will learn words and how to construct sentences.”
“I got you.”
“Mr. Grant, when I have sessions with them, I may not always say things you will like. If I feel like it’s something you and Ms. Lonni could do better, I will tell you.”
“Please don’t call me Mr. Grant. Call me Jah, and if I’m paying you all this money, I expect a miracle.”
“No such thing as miracles, sir. I’ll see you guys in two weeks.”
That shit rubbed me wrong, so I followed her to the front door and stopped her before she walked out.
“Umm, when I say I expect a miracle, that’s what I mean. Your price is ridiculous to just sit and play with the twins all day. By the time this is over, they’d better be talking like they went to Harvard.”
She pushed her bag up on her shoulder before looking up at me. The smell of the sweet fragrance she wore hit my nose as she tried to step around me. It was the scent of lemon and sugar with a splash of coconut.
“We can void all their sessions, and I can recommend someone else within your budget. I would hate that to happen to the twins because they are so smart. I charge what I charge because I’m the best to ever do this.
By the time I’m done, you’ll be trying to pay me more.
Now, if you would excuse me, I have other clients to see today. ”
“What makes you think budget is the problem? I just want to make sure that I’m getting my money’s worth.”
“Like I said, you’ll want to pay more when I’m done with them. Have a nice day, Mr. Grant.”
Stepping aside, I opened the door for her. She glanced at me one last time before heading to her car and getting in. Lonni was pulling up as she was pulling off. When I saw all the shit she had in the trunk, I slipped my shoes on and went to help.
“What did you say to her?” Lonni asked as she started handing me the bags out of the trunk.
“What makes you think I said something?”
“Because you can be harsh with your words sometimes. Especially when I’m not around to stop you.”
“Man, give me these damn bags. Ain’t nobody said nothing to that girl.”
“Jah, I’m serious. The twins will be going to school soon and I need them to be able to speak well. They are not throwing my niece and nephew in some random classroom when I know they are just as smart as any other kid.”
“All I said was I expect a miracle because I’m paying her ass a lot of money.”
“Please, Jah! You just said we were good and now you are giving her a hard time. The kid’s pediatrician highly recommended her.”
“Ain’t nobody gave her a hard time,” I said as I walked in the house with both hands full of bags.
Once I got them settled, I headed to my place to pack my bags for my two-day trip.
My sister and I had a decent agreement. Even though I had full custody of the twins, there was no way I could take care of them because of how busy I was.
I was either on site or traveling to oversee someone else's project. Because I was so busy, I had no time to date or settle down. My family took up a lot of time when I wasn’t working.
If I ever had the urge, it was nothing to fuck with my secretary.
She wanted nothing from me and I loved it that way.