Never Too Soon

by Tamika Christy

  Anaya wasn’t one for complaining, but she needed to get this off of her chest. “My boss Wendy makes me sick. Sometimes I just want to go off on her. Or smash a pie in her smug little face.” Anaya sipped the last of her coffee. “She tries to make my life miserable because she doesn’t have one. “

  Roscoe nodded. “You ever see a stealth bomber?”

  Oh Lord. Where are you going with this? “Nope,” she replied honestly. It sounded like an ugly jacket.

  His eyes lit up. “See, the B-21 stealth bomber is designed to perform at low altitudes to be effective against low-frequency radars.” He put his hand near the floor. “This woman Wendy can only fly so high, but you aren’t limited like that. Never allow yourself to be effective at low altitudes. Keep it high level, baby girl. Always keep it high level.”

  Ah. Okay. “Thank you, Dad.”

  The front door opened and closed and Anaya frowned. She wished her father would let her confiscate Ava’s house key. This was the second time in two weeks her sister had shown up unannounced. Ava was up to something.

  “Good morning, family.” Ava walked into the kitchen wearing a colorful caftan and headdress, demonstrating her latest preference for Afrocentric outfits.

  “What are you doing here? Where are the boys?”

  “Stop frowning, Anaya, before your face gets stuck.” Ava sounded like their mom. “Can’t I have breakfast with my father and sister without interrogation or suspicion? And the boys are with Joe. He’s their parent too, you know.” Ava sat down but did not touch the omelet Anaya slid toward her.

  Anaya tried not to be annoyed with the early morning drama, but if it walked and talked like a dog, then it was probably a poodle, and Ava’s early morning visit reeked of canine. Anaya knew her sister well enough to know Ava had something up her Kente cloth sleeve.

  As Ava launched into a list of her problems and the latest cancer statistics, gesticulating wildly as she did, Anaya noticed something. “Where is your wedding ring, Ava?”

  Ava looked at her in surprise, then smiled smugly. “It doesn’t fit.”

  “What do you mean, it doesn’t fit?” Anaya asked.

  Roscoe stopped chewing his food and looked from one daughter to the other.

  “It doesn’t fit because I’ve gained a little weight. I’m pregnant!” She put both of her arms in the air as if she was going to give birth to baby Jesus.

  Please, God, let this be a bad joke. “You’re what?”

  “I’m pregnant.” Ava tightened the loose fabric over her middle until the little bulge became obvious. “You will have another little niece or nephew in about five months. And Daddy, you will be a grandfather again. We are hoping for a girl this time.”

  Instead of hoping for a girl, Ava should be hoping for a job. Or to win the lottery. She didn’t want to bond over breakfast, she wanted to drop her pregnancy bomb on them. Anaya sat back and tapped her fingers on the table. She calculated the numbers in her head.

  “Wait. You are four months pregnant?” Ava appeared much smaller than Catie, who was five months and looked as if she were carrying twins, but it explained why Ava had been dressing like a tribeless princess lately with the wide dresses and overalls.

  Ava giggled. “Look at you with that quick math. You should have graduated summa cum laude like I did.”

  “Ava, don’t play with me. This is not funny.”

  “What’s wrong with you? You should be happy, but you are over there acting all mad.”

  “Whatever, Ava.” Anaya shook her head.

  “Don’t shake your head,” Ava said. “Speak your mind. Do you want to judge me? Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, sister dear.”

  Anaya slammed her hand down on the table. “Do not come over here early in the morning quoting scriptures and dropping pregnancy bombs, Ava.”

  Roscoe put his hand over Anaya’s. “Calm down, Ny.”

  “Don’t bridle her words, Dad. Let her speak her mind and get it out,” Ava said.

  “Ava,” Anaya warned with a wave of her index finger. “You don’t want me to speak.” Anaya stood, sat back down, and then stood up again. She was livid. After all the loans and support she’d given Ava and Joe over the years, the best her sister could do was to get pregnant. Again.

  “I do, Anaya. There’s tension between us, and I want it gone. Please tell me what’s bothering you. You are obviously not happy about my pregnancy, and I’d like to know why.”

  “Ava.” Anaya spoke slowly as if English was Ava’s second language. “I’ve told you before, and I’ll tell you again. I’m concerned that you and Joe already have three boys that you can’t support financially.” She took a long pause to make sure Ava was still with her. “Another baby will make things even harder for you. Daddy and I love you, and we support you, but I can’t keep writing checks to support your family. It’s not fair to me, and frankly, it’s not fair to the boys.”

  “I see what you are saying,” Ava said. “You have been a big help to us, Anaya, and I appreciate you more than you know. I didn’t realize things would get this tough for us, but I know God has a plan, and I know that our breakthrough is coming. As soon as Joe gets this DVD out, I believe things are going to get better for us.”

  Anaya almost fell out of her chair.

  “What DVD?” Roscoe asked.

  Ava filled her dad in on the exercise video. Roscoe looked genuinely confused.

  “Ava, why would people buy Joe’s exercise DVD?” he asked. “Does he have a following I don’t know about? Experience in making exercise videos? Why would this guy choose him?”

  Ava waved a dismissive hand. “I don’t know about his following, but he’s in great shape, and I believe this is his calling.” When Roscoe and Anaya looked back with blank expressions, tears filled Ava’s eyes. “I just need to have your support. I’m not talking about financially. I need you to approve of me and love me. I can’t live without that.”

  Give me a break.

  Roscoe stood up and hugged his youngest daughter. Anaya sat in her seat and stared at her sister and father. She was still processing the news.

  “Honey, it’s going to be okay,” Roscoe assured Ava as she sobbed. He gently rubbed her back.

  “Daddy, you know it’s been tough on us, and with this new baby coming, we are going to need to save our money even more,” Ava said.

  “I know, honey, and you know I will help you in any way I can,” Roscoe said.

  “You will?”

  “Of course I will,” Roscoe exclaimed.

  Ava lifted her head from his shoulder and looked at him through her tears. “Well, I was wondering if maybe we could stay here until after the baby is born. That way we can save and get a bigger place.”

  Anaya choked on her coffee. She started coughing, and Roscoe reached over and raised Anaya’s hands above her head like he had done when they were children.

  “Breathe, baby girl.”

  Anaya finally caught her breath. With her eyes still watery from her coughing spell, she looked up at Roscoe and waited for his response to Ava’s request. They had just gotten the house comfortable for the two of them. Andrew’s room was cleaned out and everything was in order. They didn’t have space for Ava and her entire family to move in. Say no, Daddy.

  “Please, Daddy,” Ava begged. “Joe and I can sleep in my old room, and the boys can take the extra room. I will put bunk beds in there.”

  Anaya couldn’t keep quiet any longer. “Excuse me, that extra room is now my office, and there will be no bunk beds in there.”

  “I’m not talking about your precious office, Anaya.” Ava turned her top lip up. “I’m talking about the small area between our rooms. We don’t use it, and there is plenty of space for bunk beds and the boys’ things.”

  “That’s the media room.”

  “We don’t use it. We don’t even need a media room.”

  “Who is this ‘we’ you speak of? You don’t live here anymore, Ava. You have a family, and now you are tr
ying to move your family into the space that Dad and I use. It’s not a good idea. You and Joe need your privacy as husband and wife, and parents.”

  Ava clasped her hands together. “It’s what we need right now. Until we find better jobs, we need to save as much money as we can.”

  Anaya knew how Roscoe was going to respond. He was going to let Ava stay. His baby girl needed help, and nothing would stop him from helping her. This was a battle Anaya wouldn’t win.

  She put her dishes in the sink and walked out of the kitchen.

  THIRTEEN

  Anaya flicked through her InStyle magazine with her feet perched on her desk. It was impossible to get any work done with the barrage of protesters outside her office window yelling and blowing whistles. Another day, another protest in the name of social justice and reform. It didn’t matter that county administration had no authority over the school district’s budget that the group was protesting, nor did it seem significant that the state office that actually had jurisdiction was just down the street. County Hall had turned into the de facto landmark for protests, complaints, and quests for fairness, and the county staff simply had to deal with it. When she could no longer be distracted by couture, she closed her window.

  Her phone beeped and she picked it up to see a text from Jayde saying she was going to stop by. Anaya hadn’t seen Jayde for the past two weeks; recently, her friend always had an excuse for why they couldn’t have their weekly lunch. She’d have to ask Jayde what was going on.

  Anaya tried to read through a report for a new children’s center but kept getting distracted by the chants, barking dogs, and the hovering police helicopter. Her eyes drifted back to the open magazine, and she tried to ignore the green, knotted sandals that were screaming her name. Through her open door, she overheard some staff at Natalie’s desk chatting about the RFP for the naval base contracts. She walked to the door to eavesdrop a little.

  “These developers are going to make a ton of money off the naval base and won’t even hire the local contactors so they can get a piece of the pie. It’s not fair,” a male voice commented. It was followed by murmurs of assent from others.

  Not what I was expecting to hear, but still interesting.

  “Yeah, but you can’t force them to hire folks if they don’t want to. Just like you can’t force people to pay child support or pick their children up from swim practice on time.” That was definitely Natalie.

  There was a long pause before someone said, “True, but that doesn’t make it right.”

  Anaya stepped out of her office and addressed the group. “Actually we can kind of force them to hire who we want. To an extent.”

  “What do you mean, boss lady?” Natalie asked.

  “Developers can’t come in and make money off our backs without a contribution. The supervisors won’t allow it. In the case of the naval base, we have included many community benefits but one of our conditions is local hiring.” She leaned against her doorway and folded her arms.

  “I agree,” a woman said. “My husband has been living here for over thirty years, and he’s a plumbing contractor. It would be nice if he were at least given a chance to bid on some of the work on that base.”

  “Didn’t he qualify to submit a proposal?” Anaya asked.

  The woman shrugged. “He didn’t receive a request to submit for the job. When my husband called the county, someone told him it was a restricted request, and he didn’t receive the submission information because he didn’t qualify.”

  Anaya shook her head slowly. “But the request for proposals went out to all registered contractors. Is your husband registered with the county?”

  “Of course.”

  “I’m confused,” Natalie said. “Boss lady, what’s the difference between the requests for proposals and the development agreement? I thought it was the same thing?”

  “Well,” Anaya said moving closer to the group, “the development agreement is the overall plan for the navy base that details how many units will be residential, commercial, and so on. It also sets a benchmark of how many local developers need to be involved, what green spaces will be created, and other community beneficial projects. The RFP is what the county sends out to potential developers to see who has the capacity to do the work and who will charge us the least. Does that make sense?”

  “Now it does,” Natalie said. “But if the RFP is supposed to go out to all registered contractors, why didn’t some people receive it?”

  Anaya fumed. Someone from Wendy’s office sent out the RFP with the restricted terms, despite Anaya’s objection. That was a shrewd move, but not totally unexpected. Wendy had made it clear that she wanted the list of contractors to be restricted because of the use of explosives and was not above sneaking behind Anaya’s back to do so. And while Wendy needed Anaya to sign off on the final development agreement, she didn’t need Anaya’s approval to send out the RFP.

  When the unions find out, Wendy will have hell to pay.

  Jayde entered the office and broke up the party before Anaya had a chance to respond. She was happy for the interruption. She didn’t want to let on that there was a hole in the process until she figured out how to patch it. She had become accustomed to Wendy’s micromanaging, but this was going too far.

  “Hey everybody,” Jayde said, looking regal in a dark purple skirt suit that looked like it cost more than Anaya’s monthly salary.

  Anaya led Jayde into her office and closed the door. She decided not to mention the RFP right away. They hadn’t gotten together in a long time and she didn’t want to start off by griping about work. Not yet, at least.

  “What’s up, short-timer?” Anaya teased Jayde regarding her pending retirement. It was still two years away, but Jayde didn’t let Anaya forget it was coming.

  “That’s right. Just two more years and I can leave this hellhole that sucked up three decades of my livelihood, my integrity, and my schoolgirl figure.”

  Anaya was taken aback by Jayde’s bitter tone. She knew Jayde had been passed over for a couple of promotions, and didn’t agree with everything the administration did, but she had never spoken in such a hostile manner about the county. Jayde was well respected among her peers, the supes, and the community at large. Her extensive institutional knowledge and no-nonsense compliance monitoring earned her a reputation as the de facto Ethics Police. Jayde held everyone—including Wendy and the board members—accountable. She had worked her way up from receptionist twenty-nine years ago. She didn’t bend the rules, extend deadlines, or tolerate gifts of public funds. She was an asset to the county and Anaya admired her work ethic and her ability to stand up to Wendy.

  “So where have you been? I’ve been calling and texting about lunch.”

  Jayde sighed. “I know. Things have been crazy. My office is getting ready for the ballot measures coming forward in November, so I’m just stretched.”

  Of course, the ballot measures. “Well, I know the meaning of stretched, trust me.”

  “Well,” Jayde looked across the room, “I only have two years until I retire, but you have much longer. Why don’t you consider going someplace that appreciates you?” She looked around Anaya’s office and chuckled darkly. “Get out of this forsaken place.”

  Although she was again taken aback by Jayde’s hostility, Anaya slowly nodded. This was a familiar question, and the simple answer was that she wasn’t ready to leave yet. But she didn’t think Jayde was expecting an answer. There was something in Jayde’s eyes that Anaya hadn’t seen before—something distant and determined.

  Jayde suddenly snapped back to the moment and grinned at Anaya. “Anyway, I came here to check on you to see how everything is going with the project. Did you guys select a contractor yet?”

  “I haven’t received any of the bids yet.”

  “It’s probably going to happen soon.” Jayde glanced at her cell phone then dropped it back into her large leather tote. “Well, hang in there. And be careful with Wendy. She’s all about herself. All that tal
k about organization cohesiveness and team player excellence is a bunch of bull. This project will bring out new things in her.”

  “Don’t worry,” Anaya said looking at Jayde as if she were trying to see her thoughts. “At first, I was excited to work on it because it’s a good opportunity, but now I just wish it had never crossed my desk. I can’t get anything done. Wendy is always breathing down my back and trying to insert herself in places where she doesn’t belong. I know she’s trying to make a name for herself for that position in the governor’s administration, but she’s taking things too far.” Anaya was getting angry. This wasn’t the first time she and Wendy butted heads, but this was the first time that it seemed like Wendy’s motives appeared to be personally motivated.

  “Wait. Wendy sent out the RFP?” Jayde looked shocked.

  Oops. “Yes. Well, I mean, someone from her staff did, but she was in the mix.”

  “That’s interesting. What kind of county administrator steps on her community development director’s toes with such a huge deal at stake?”

  “You got me on that one.” Anaya shrugged her shoulders, relieved that she wasn’t the only one who thought this entire thing was nuts.

  “Do you think she’s up to something?” Jayde frowned.

  Anaya waved a tired hand. “No, I thought about what you said last time. Wendy is too concerned about getting that promotion with the governor’s office to jeopardize this deal. If she’s guilty of anything, it’s being a horrible manager.”

  But Jayde was shaking her head. “Not that, Ny. Who’s her biggest threat right now? Who makes her look like a sideshow?” She pointed at Anaya. “Maybe Wendy is trying to set you up.”

  “Huh?” The thought had never even crossed Anaya’s mind. How one would even go about trying to throw a wrench in someone else’s career by needlessly delaying a massive county project was incomprehensible. “I don’t think so, Jayde. The only thing she is up to is micromanaging and getting on my nerves.”

  “Oh, okay.” Jayde snorted. “How is everything else? You and Carl good?”