The Littlest Boss

by Janet Lee Nye

  “Yes,” Tiana agreed. “I felt the same way about it.”

  “I thought, at first, being someone who didn’t feel like I fit in, that being accepted into a fraternity would make me feel better.”

  “Wanted,” Tiana echoed.

  “But the idea of it. Being accepted while others were rejected? I couldn’t do it.”

  The waitress returned with their food. Tiana unrolled her silverware and took a bite of the salad she’d ordered. She flipped the next card over. DeShawn put his hand over it. “No more cards. The other day, Tee. That meant something to me.”

  Her gaze met his and the flicker of uncertainty he saw there worried him. She swept the cards back into her purse. “It did to me also.”

  “But?”

  “Like I told you. There is more to consider than what we want.”

  “I understand this. I’m completely on board with whatever you think is best.”

  Tiana looked down and pushed clumps of lettuce around in her salad. A cold feeling began to wash over him. She was having second thoughts. He waited her out. She put the fork down with a heavy sigh.

  “It’s just so complicated, DeShawn. My mother has essentially raised Lily since I went away to school. Now I’m trying to be her mother. And my mother is there and she won’t go home and I’m trying to get things together so she will go home. I feel what you’re feeling. I do. I don’t want to tell you to walk away, but I’m juggling about ten things here.”

  “And I’m upsetting the balance?”

  He tried to keep his tone even, friendly, but inside, he was in free fall.

  “No.”

  “Yes.” He took her hands in his. “Be honest, Tee. I can take it. I’m crashing in here, ruining everything.”

  “You’re not ruining anything! It’s just...”

  “Complicated. I get it. Please, don’t shut me down completely though.”

  “I promise I won’t.”

  They each concentrated on their food for a minute. “So, your mom lives with you?”

  Blowing out a breath that made the curls on her forehead sway, Tiana nodded. “Yes.”

  “What about your father?”

  “He passed away a couple of years ago. I think she doesn’t want to go home because she’s lonely. Then I feel even worse about trying to make her leave. It’s a hot mess.”

  He nodded and took a bite of his burger. “Your family sounds very close.”

  “Yeah. I was the last one to leave home. I have two older sisters who live in Florence. They are pretty awesome.”

  “Italy?”

  Tiana snorted. “I wish. South Carolina.” She tilted her head. “What about you? Brothers? Sisters?”

  “Nope. An only child.”

  “Don’t you have any other family?”

  “Not since my grandmother passed. I mean, I have some aunts, uncles, cousins. But they aren’t...” He trailed off as he searched for the right words. “Good for me.”

  Her forehead crinkled with a frown. “I’m sorry.”

  “No need to be sorry,” he said, trying to be offhand about it. The conversation was getting depressing for a first date. “It is what it is. Finish up—I have a surprise for you.”

  * * *

  “THERE’S NOTHING WRONG with your car,” Tiana said as he pulled out of the parking lot. Looking around, she saw it was well maintained.

  “I told you it was just old. You didn’t believe me. Just wanted to drive around in your soccer mom van.”

  “I am not, nor will I ever be a soccer mom.”

  “You sound pretty sure of that.”

  “Lily is going to be an artist. And probably go to science camp. Didn’t all the fish pictures give you a clue? Bet you get the oil changed exactly every three months on the dot, don’t you, Engineer Man?”

  “Yep. And rotate the tires every five thousand miles.”

  “What? Rotate the what?”

  He grinned at her. “Don’t tell me you don’t.”

  “I didn’t even know it was a thing. What’s this surprise?”

  “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”

  As he drove over the James Island Connector into downtown Charleston, she turned to look at him. “Tell me!”

  “No.”

  “A clue?”

  He laughed. “You’re worse than a kid.”

  “A hint?”

  “Clue and hint are the same thing.”

  “Pleeeaaaseee. Pretty please with sugar on top.”

  He reached over and caught her hand. “I’m going to have to remember this. Plan a surprise I want you to beg for.”

  Heat flooded through her. The thoughts that were running through her mind kept her distracted until he squeezed her hand. “That hushed you up.”

  His laugh was pure delicious promise. She sniffed. “More like you’ll be the one begging.”

  “If that’s what you want.”

  “Come on, tell me where we’re going.”

  He turned on Meeting Street. “One hint. It’s something I’ve wanted to do ever since I moved here but never did. So, it’s a first for both of us. Your first date, my first time doing this.”

  She pulled her hand away from his. “Do? Does it involve exercise and sweat?”

  “Nope. Involves sitting in a luxury van.”

  “What?”

  Before she could figure that out, the mystery was solved as he turned into the parking lot for Gullah Gullah Tours. “Ta-da,” he said.

  “Really? This is so cool! I’ve been wanting to take Lily but I wanted to go on it first to make sure it would be age appropriate for her.”

  He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “Great minds. Come on, it should be fun.”

  And it was fun. They huddled together in the rear of the van, giggling and whispering snarky remarks. Then quietly held hands as the more painful truths of history were revealed. Finally, the pain transformed to pride as they reveled in the vibrant art and music culture that was born in the Gullah communities of the Southern Sea Islands along the Georgia and South Carolina coast.

  When the tour was over, she stopped as DeShawn held the car door open for her. Going up on tiptoe, she kissed him. “Thank you. That was an amazing tour. Perfect job on making our first date special.”

  He slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her to him. “You are welcome. You get to plan the next date, so you need to step up your game.”

  She smiled up at him. Oh damn. You are falling for him. Her heart was beating out of control, but as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek against his chest, she felt a calm wash over her. His strong arms around her. She felt his lips press against the top of her head. Forcing herself to step back, she met his gaze and nodded. “Challenge accepted.”

  He smiled and caught her chin between his fingers. The look in his eyes shifted from warm to hot. “What time is your curfew?”

  “As much as I would like to make you beg, I need to get home. Saturday night is french fries and game night.”

  “French fries? As in that’s what’s for dinner?”

  Tiana got in the car and looked up at him. “Yes. Why? Is that weird or something?”

  “No. No. Not weird at all.” He closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. “Okay, it’s totally weird,” he said as he got in the car. “Just french fries? No burger? No steak? No veggie?”

  “Technically, potatoes are a veggie. I don’t even know how this got started. But she is serious about her french fries.”

  “You eat french fries and play board games? What games?”

  “Operation. The junior version of the Game of Life. Battleship. Lily is brutal at Battleship.”

  “All right then,
let’s get you back to your car. Do you have time to make out a little before you go?”

  “If you ask nicely.”

  * * *

  BACK HOME, HIS body still humming from the goodbye kiss Tiana had given him, DeShawn flopped on the couch. He stared at the ceiling. What are you doing, man? She’s got a family. Game night. What do you have? “Nothing,” he muttered. His phone vibrated on the table and he grabbed it.

  Want to hit the gym? Need a spotter.

  He dropped the phone on his chest. No, he didn’t want to hit the gym. Go to the gym. Stop wallowing. He sat up, grabbing the phone as it fell. A couple hours with Malik would get his mind off this hamster wheel.

  Sure. When?

  Now?

  Thirty minutes later, he was feeling marginally better as he and Malik took turns spotting each other on the free weights. At least the image of Tiana and Lily sitting at a kitchen table with a giant plate of french fries while Lily shouted I sank your battleship! was finally out of his mind.

  “Dude,” Malik said. “My old auntie can bench more than that.”

  “Your old auntie is stronger than me then.”

  Malik laughed and slid two more weights on the bar. “Come on. You can do 275.”

  “I know I can. Can you spot that much?”

  “Jesus, man. If you can’t, just say so, don’t sit there whining.”

  DeShawn smiled at the trash talk. He positioned himself on the bench and grabbed the bar. It had been a while since he’d pushed himself. Since leaving the Crew, he worked out mostly just to maintain his weight, not to bulk up. The first two lifts were easy, but the third was a bit of a struggle.

  “Pretty good,” Malik said as DeShawn got up. “Now watch how it’s really done.”

  After they’d made their way around the weight room, DeShawn was starting to feel the burn. It’d been a long time since he’d lifted at this pace. He wiped down the bench. “I’m done, dude.”

  “Me too. Want to get something to eat?”

  “Naw. I’m tired. Just going home.”

  “Everything okay? You seem a little off.”

  “Yeah. I’m okay. Just stuff going on.”

  “Stuff with your mom?”

  They walked to the locker room to get their gym bags. Since he was going right home, DeShawn pulled off his shirt and wiped the sweat off with it before putting on a dry shirt.

  “Tiana,” he said as he swung the locker door shut.

  “The woman from the dog jumping contest?”

  “Yeah, we’re sort of dating.”

  “You don’t seem too happy about it.”

  “I am. She’s amazing. But she’s got this whole family thing. Her kid. Her mother lives with them. Sisters. All that.”

  “And? So?”

  DeShawn slung the gym bag over his shoulder. “Nothing.”

  Malik caught him by the arm and pulled him down to sit on the bench. “Obviously, it is something, brother. Talk to me.”

  “What do I bring to the picture?”

  Malik gave him a long look. A big brother look. “You bring your own damn self to the picture, fool.”

  “And my druggie parents out there somewhere. My greedy family who are still fighting over who got how much from selling Momma G’s land.”

  “Those people aren’t in your life for a reason, DeShawn. You aren’t like them. You deserve better. You’ve earned better. You’re a damn engineer with a fancy degree to prove it. What do you bring to the picture? Stop looking at who you used to be and look at who are. Don’t make me get Sadie on your ass. If you have feelings for this woman, don’t blame your family when you’re too afraid to pursue a relationship.”

  He stared down at the floor. Was he doing that? Using his family as an excuse? “It’s complicated.”

  Malik stood. “Life is complicated. Get used to it. It never gets uncomplicated.”

  DeShawn laughed. “Damn if that isn’t the gospel truth.”

  “The gospel of Malik. Chapter one, verse one—if life isn’t complicated, you aren’t doing it right.”

  Driving home, DeShawn realized he did feel better after the talk. Hearing that other people struggled with the complexities of being a grown-up helped. He’d been feeling like everyone had their shit together and he was the only one flailing around.

  A memory came to him. From his first few weeks working at the Cleaning Crew—he’d made some stupid mistake and had to call Sadie for help. He’d been terrified, afraid she was going to fire him. But she’d only helped him fix it. Then as he apologized for the dozenth time, she’d looked him in the eye and said, “It’s only a mistake if it can’t be fixed. Fix your mistakes.”

  Pulling into his parking spot, he nodded. Time to fix some mistakes. The first one was putting off the decision about his mother for so long. He pulled his phone out of the gym bag and looked up the number before he could change his mind.

  “Molly? Hey, it’s DeShawn. Can I come over tomorrow? I want to talk about contacting my mother’s sponsor... No. I do not want a kitten.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “ONE MORE GAME!” Lily begged. She was kneeling on the dining room chair, dragging the last of the french fries through the salt on the plate.

  Viv walked over and took the plate away. “All that salt is bad for you.”

  Tiana raised her eyebrows. That. That right there was the problem. No matter how many talks she and her mother had, she never stopped. She just jumped right in and took over the parenting. Pushing back her chair, Tiana stood, trying to keep her thoughts off her face. “Come on, Lily, it’s bath time.”

  After bath time and story time, Tiana pulled the door to Lily’s room shut and walked to the kitchen. “I can get those dishes, Mom. Go relax.”

  Viv continued loading the dishwasher like she hadn’t heard a word. Sighing, Tiana pulled a chair away from the dining table and sat down. She rehearsed her next words in her mind.

  “I’ll be off orientation next month,” she said.

  “That’s good. Think you’ll be ready?”

  “Maybe. No. But I’m told that’s normal. We’ve got a good crew there so I’ll have a lot of people to help me. I wanted to talk to you about my schedule.”

  Viv finished in the kitchen and came to sit across from Tiana. “Is it going to get less crazy?”

  “Yes. It should. Right now, I’m working Kasey’s schedule because she’s my preceptor. Her schedule is so crazy because her husband is a firefighter and they have to work around his twenty-four-hour shifts. But once I’m finished, I get my own schedule track.”

  “You get to say when you work?”

  Making a face, she shrugged. “It means I get to say what I would like to work. But I may not get it exactly. But there’s something else I want to talk to you about.”

  “You kicking me out?”

  “No! I mean. Not like that. But see, Kasey and another woman from work, Jordan, they have this deal. They work opposite shifts so they can watch each other’s girls. They both go to the same school as Lily and are about the same age.”

  “And you’re going to make a third? Take care of how many kids?”

  “Three, including Lily. Point is, Mom, I have care for her arranged. Twenty-four hours, seven days a week. Plus, the girls are as close as sisters. It’s good for them also.”

  “What do you know about these women?”

  Pressing her lips together against the words that wanted to fly out, Tiana took a deep breath. “I know they are good people. I know Lily is already best friends with Kasey’s daughter. I know it gives both me and Lily a large safety net. It’s time.”

  “Next month?”

  “Yes. Mom, I will be forever grateful for all you’ve done for us. Really, I am. I’m not sending you away, but Lily an
d I need to do this on our own now.”

  “You want to do this on your own. There isn’t any reason in the world I can’t stay right here and help you raise my grandchild.”

  Except I don’t want you to. If only she could say it that baldly. “Mom. We’ve talked about this. I’m Lily’s mother.”

  “She knows that. I know that. We all know that.” A touch of anger tinged her mother’s words.

  “You don’t seem to really know that,” Tiana replied, trying hard to keep her voice low. “You do, but it’s your nature to mother people. So, you step right over me and mother Lily without even realizing that you’re doing it.”

  “No, I don’t. I told you I would defer to your decisions.”

  “Yet not an hour ago, you snatched that plate from her and told her salt was bad for her.”

  Viv pressed her lips together as her eyes narrowed. Tiana felt her stomach drop and she wanted to start babbling out apologies. “You’re calling me out about a plate full of salt, young lady?”

  Rubbing her face and shaking her head, Tiana fought to stay calm. “Mom. You need to go home. Who is looking after the house? The farm? You have a whole life back there. Friends. You could start watching kids again. Helping them like you helped me and all my friends.”

  “The house is fine. Rosa looks in on it every other day or so. And Mr. Jenkins’s son is renting fields to grow soybeans.”

  “Mom.”

  “Just say it, Tee. You don’t want me here anymore.”

  “That’s your interpretation. Don’t put words in my mouth.”

  “Don’t be smart. I’m still your mother.”

  “I’m not being smart. You’re taking this as a rejection rather than the next step in the plan we’ve been working through since Lily was born. I finish school. I go to college. I get a job. Lily and I build a better life. You’ve sacrificed your own life for me for six years now. It’s your turn to have a life for yourself. Do things with your friends.”

  Vivian looked a little less stormy. “I know. I didn’t know it was going to be this hard.”