by Saundra
“Hire me to do what? This place is in tip-top shape.” He looked around again as if to be sure he hadn’t missed anything.
“The basement is not finished at all. When Pepper, the girl that sold Hood this place, first bought it, the building was a mess. She renovated upstairs first and her plans were always to finish the basement, but she never got to it. So it’s a few things down there you can do. Maybe you can turn it into a game room down there. I don’t know, we’ll see. I’ll set you up with a budget and you get can started. I can also use you to fix a few things up here. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good to me,” he agreed.
“Then welcome aboard! You can start tomorrow. I will have you fill out all the necessary new hire paperwork and you can turn it in to your parole officer. ”
“Thanks for looking out. You and Hood both. Last night he gave me fifty thousand to help with a new start. I really appreciate it—without you two, things would be really hard for me out here right now.”
Hood had told me the night before that he had given him the money. I had already contemplated how much money I was going to give him, but Hood had beat me to it. It was a good feeling knowing that my man was there for my family and their needs just as I was.
“We wouldn’t have it any other way. All we want you to do is chill and do what you gotta do to keep your nose clean while you on parole. The one thing you must not do, Daddy, is hustle. Just stay away from it. Your family got you.”
I wanted to assure him as much as I could that we had his back one hundred grand. I could only pray that he listened.
Chapter 4
As I pulled into the salon’s parking lot, I noticed what looked to be Rochelle’s Mercedes truck sitting outside in its usual parking space. Either that or someone was pushing a whip identical to hers and sitting in her spot. She would go ham if someone parked in her space. She could be territorial like that sometimes.
“Hey, Mya,” Pam spoke as soon as I entered the doors. As usual, she was wearing a smile and looking professional. I could always count on Pam to be doing her job even when I was not around. Even though she was a noted hair stylist, she worked the hell out of the front desk when it came to customer service. That’s why I paid her well. I personally wanted no one else to have that job.
“What’s up?” I spoke back as I made my way to the receptionist desk. “Is that Rochelle’s car outside? Is she here?”
I looked beyond Pam as if I expected to see Rochelle standing behind her. Normally, if she had no clients and nothing else to do, she would come up front and help Pam out just so she could gossip.
Pam could see my enthusiasm. She smiled and that answered my question. “Yeah, she has like four people scheduled today.”
The look on my face clearly showed that I was surprised. I had no clue that Rochelle was coming back to work today. She had managed not to inform me. And Rochelle always told me everything.
“Guessing from your facial expression, you didn’t know she was here?” Pam questioned.
“No, I didn’t,” I reluctantly admitted.
“Well, she is back there at her booth. Lisa, her first client of the day, just left. And I gotta tell you, Rochelle is still on her A game, because girlie’s hair was fierce,” Pam smiled.
That made me smile as well. Even though I personally felt she needed more time off, I wanted nothing more than for Rochelle to be her old self again. But I wanted her mentally healthy first. I wished I could get her to understand that.
“Okay, I guess I’ll go on back.” I walked away but had to turn back for just a second. I asked, “Did those packages come in this morning? Trina needs that shampoo for her first client.”
“Yes, they came in. And I shelved them before we opened.”
“Thanks, Pam.”
I headed straight toward Rochelle’s booth area.
“What’s up, chic?”
Rochelle’s back was turned to me so she turned around at the sound of my voice. She was actually wearing a smile, which was more than I could say from the last time I saw her.
“Hey, I was wondering when you were going to get here.”
“You know me, I’m never here early.”
“This I do know.” Rochelle gave another half-smile.
“So why didn’t you call me last night to tell me you were coming back today?” I was feeling some type of way about that.
“I don’t know. I figured Pam would let you know. Besides, I was busy getting Tiny packed up to go back with Wynita for a couple of days.”
“Do you think you ready to be back?”
“Ready? Hell yes, I’m ready to be back. I was about to go crazy sitting in that damn house day in and day out drowning in my sorrows. I mean, damn, how much sleep can a bitch get?”
Now that sounded like the old Rochelle. That was confirmation that she was back to her old self.
“Rochelle, you so damn crazy.”
I laughed like old times and so did she. It felt good to be us again, two best friends enjoying a good laugh.
“Pam just told me you just finished Lisa. You want to grab some lunch before your next one comes in?”
“I can’t. I had Pam book me straight through. I plan on getting out of here before dark. I don’t want to overdo it. You know.”
“Okay, it’s cool. Well, I also wanted to let you know that Dad is out of jail. He got out a couple of days ago.”
I had been so busy that I had not had a chance to tell Rochelle or take Dad by her house. Plus I didn’t know if it was the best time.
Rochelle’s jaw dropped in disappointment.
“Damn, Mya, why you ain’t bring him by to see me?”
Her question did not shock me. Now I had to explain. “I’m sorry. I been meaning to, I just haven’t had the time. He has been busy, too, taking care of a few things,” I said. But really, I had not taken him by because I didn’t want him to see Rochelle in the state she had been.
“So how is he then?” she asked with genuine concern.
“Good. We just tryin’ to help keep his spirits up. But he seems to do that on his own. Oh, and he will be doing some work down in the basement. Part of his parole agreement is that he remains employed. So I hired him on here until he can find something else.”
“That’s what up, Mya. I can’t wait—” Just as those few words came out of her mouth, Dad stuck his head in her area. I’m sure that Pam had told him that was where we were held up.
Rochelle was up out of her chair and hugging Dad in no time flat. In fact, she pulled a Monica on him, hugging him so tight that he stumbled. I was not shocked, though. Rochelle had been in our lives since she was young. When her father died, my dad became like a second father to Rochelle. He loved her and she loved him. After Rochelle finally released Dad, she wiped at her face, which was wet with tears.
“I can’t believe that you are back. You know, Mya just told me all of a few minutes ago.” Rochelle threw me under the bus.
“Dad, I told her we all been busy,” I said in my defense.
“She always got an excuse.” Rochelle smiled, but the smile felt like it was blaming me.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s all good. I was going to have her bring me out to see you as soon as I had a free minute. You know how it is when you get out of that place. You feel like you have a thousand errands to run and you want to run them all right then.” Dad chuckled. “When I am going to get a chance to meet little miss Tiny?”
Rochelle had Tiny after Dad went to prison so he had never met her. A lot had changed while he was inside. We had all grown up in so many different ways. Before he went to prison, we were all spoiled little girls running around with not one care in the world, except maybe what outfit we were wearing to school next.
Just as I was about to speak again, Pam came in to notify Rochelle that her next appointment had arrived. We would have to finish up this little reunion later.
“All right, Rochelle, I will chat with you later. I’m going to show Dad t
he basement.”
“Cool,” she answered before spinning in Dad’s direction. “I guess I will be seeing you later around the shop, Mr. Lester.”
“No doubt,” Dad approved.
I grabbed his hand and led him to show him his new work assignment area. This type of job would be different from what he was used to. No fast money involved, but it was safer. And not one day in jail was attached to it.
“Babe, do you want your eggs scrambled or over easy?” I asked Hood as I threw butter in the hot skillet.
I had woken up with the taste for some home-cooked breakfast. And a home-cooked breakfast sounded like a good idea since neither Hood nor I had to run right out the door first thing. The grits were cooling on the stove and the T-bone steaks had just come off the griddle. The only thing left were the eggs, and for the most part we both like them scrambled. However, sometimes Hood wanted his over easy, so I was giving him his choice.
“Go ahead and scramble them. It seems to go better with the steak.”
Hood sat down and poured himself a cup of orange juice from the carton of Tropicana that he had just retrieved from the fridge.
I happened to agree with him, scrambled eggs rocked with a juicy T-bone. After giving the scrambled eggs one last beat in the bowl, I threw them into the hot skillet. The sizzling sound made my stomach growl. I was ready to dig in.
“So, Dad started doing some measuring down in the basement yesterday. We haven’t decided exactly what he will do down there, but I guess the first thing to do is to finish it.”
“Yeah, I agree. I think he could make it look pretty fucking wicked, depending on the theme, maybe some fresh paint with some designs. Don’t try to boss him, though, babe. Let this be his project.”
Pulling the skillet away from the hot burner on the stove, I lightly poured the eggs onto a waiting plate. Turning to Hood, I twisted up my mouth. “Are you trying to say that I’m controlling?”
“Awww, come on, babe.” Hood grinned. “You know I don’t think you bossy.” He playfully lied his way out of it.
“Yeah, right. I love the way you sly your way out of things.” I smiled back at him.
Hood always told me that I was headstrong, which was his way of saying that I was bossy. But he always let me get my way in the end.
“But real talk, I think this will be good for him,” Hood said as he picked up his knife and fork.
He eyed his plate with a hunger stare as I sat it down in front of him. I could see the steam rising off his plate going straight up his nose. Without another word, his knife went straight into his steak. I could not wait to fix my plate. It was going all the way down.
“I just hope it all works out. This could be good in more ways than one.”
I grabbed my plate and headed to the table.
“Babe, bring the Heinz 57 sauce,” Hood asked as he forked some eggs into his mouth. The motion of his jaws told me he was savoring every taste.
Sliding into my chair with my plate full, I dug in. I was halfway through with my breakfast when the doorbell rang. I looked at my cell phone, which was sitting right next to me. Leslie was supposed to be stopping by because she had something that she wanted to talk to me about. According to the time, she was about thirty minutes early.
I looked at Hood as he shoved the last piece of hash brown into this mouth.
“Can you get that? It should be Leslie, she was supposed to be stopping by.”
“No, actually that’s Lonzo. He supposed to be dropping me off some papers about ten-thirty.” Hood checked his watch for confirmation.
“Oh,” I replied.
Hood wiped his mouth with a paper towel and stood up just as the bell rang again.
“Hold up, impatient-ass nigga,” Hood yelled as he made his way out of the kitchen.
Lonzo was one of Hood’s peons. Since Hood had fully taken the Height Squad back over, he had become like Hood’s right-hand man. From what I could remember, Lonzo was an okay dude. I would say he was always laid back, but had strong opinions. He was also very attractive, dark chocolate with a bald head and white teeth. He was about six foot three and weighed about two hundred forty pounds and it was all muscle. Young dude, about twenty-six, I think. He was always cool with Hood, so much so that in the past when Hood considered stepping away from the Height Squad, I would have thought that Lonzo would have been a prospect for Hood to pass the crew down to. But, for whatever reason, he didn’t. Hood liked him, though, so I know it wasn’t personal. I guess Hood didn’t think he was ready. But lately he had been giving him a lot of responsibility.
As I stood up from the table, Hood and Lonzo rounded the corner.
“What’s up, Mya?” he spoke first. Like all Hood’s workers, he was always respectful.
“Hey, Lonzo.”
I did not like them coming to my house, but Hood kept it at a minimum, so I tolerated it.
“Man, y’all got it smelling good up here. Make a brother hungry.” He rubbed his stomach.
“Blame your boy Hood. Had he told me you were coming, I would have threw you a steak on the grill.”
“That nigga straight.” Hood chuckled. “We got some cold-ass orange juice right there if you thirsty,” Hood joked, pointing at the Tropicana carton.
“Nah, I’m straight.” Lonzo laughed.
I started to clear away the table as they started talking. It was time to get down to business.
“Did you bring it?”
“Yeah, I got them right here.”
Lonzo pulled some papers out of his back pocket and put them into Hood’s anxiously waiting hands. Hood looked them over and started shaking his head in agreement.
“That is what you needed, right?” Lonzo asked. “You straight, right?” he pushed.
Hood still didn’t answer right away; his attention seemed to be on the papers that he had in his hand.
“Dawg, they straight?” Lonzo asked for the third time. His persistence was becoming annoying.
Hood finally looked up from the papers. “Fo sho, man, they what I needed. Now I want you to take the car down to Lansing first thing in the morning. Take Trey with you, he good to have if you get in a tight spot. No screwups. Got it?”
“No worries, I got you.”
Lonzo held up his head and slid both his hands into his pockets.
“But what about the new bitch—Quad? You know she running that new crew called Brief Squad. Some of them li’l niggas be buck.”
“Man, look, I ain’t worried about that as long as they stick to the code. They already got blocks to trap. First one gets out of line, dead ’em on sight. So it is in her best interest to keep her crew in line. Female or no female, she better know her position ’cause I ain’t taking no shit. Anybody subject to get bodied, even that bitch. That shit clear?”
Hood’s words were monstrous but his tone was calm as he folded the papers in his hands. I was kind of shocked at Hood calling that female a bitch. I had never heard him use that term when it came to a female. But I guess when it came to the game, respect went straight out the window. I wondered about this female, though. I had never heard about a female heading up a crew. The doorbell broke my thoughts. Lonzo had decided to take Hood up on his offer and grabbed a glass for orange juice. Leaving the dishwasher open, I headed to the door.
“Hey, girl.”
Leslie had a huge grin on her face as soon as the door swung open.
“Damn, I guess you in a super good mood.” I returned her smile as I stepped to the side so that she could enter.
“What is that smell. Did you cook?”
“Yep, sure did.”
I closed the door behind her as she stepped inside.
“I wish you had told me. I would have shown up in time to eat.”
“I’m sure you would have. That is why I didn’t tell you,” I joked. “Come on into the kitchen. I was just about to finish loading the dishwasher.
When we walked into the kitchen, Hood and Lonzo stopped abruptly like they didn’t want
us to hear what they were talking about. I knew that they would not talk in front of Leslie. No outsiders. I was only getting an earful because being Hood’s wife meant that I could be trusted. To not trust me could be a problem.
“Hi, Hood,” Leslie spoke.
“Aye, what’s up, Leslie? How you been?”
“Cool, just going to school and taking care of Li’l Rob.”
“That’s what’s up,” Hood commented.
“Hood, don’t you think you should introduce them? Don’t be rude, babe.”
“Oh, my bad. Leslie, this Lonzo. Lonzo, that is Leslie.”
Lonzo knew Rob, but he had been a small peon in the squad around the time he was murdered.
“Hey.” Leslie eyed Lonzo quickly.
“Yo, what’s up, ma,” Lonzo spoke with swag.
I smiled at both of them. They seemed like two schoolkids meeting each other for the first time.
“It was nice seeing you, Leslie,” Hood said before telling Lonzo to follow him into the den.
“It was nice seeing you, too,” Leslie threw back as she walked over to the table and sat down.
“Anyway, what was so important that you had to drive all the way out here? Because you always complaining about coming out here in the ‘sticks,’ as you call it.” I teased her.
I loved living so far out. The neighborhood was amazing. The fewer corner stores, the better.
“Girl, don’t do me. You know it is true that you live in the damn country.” Leslie laughed while pushing her hair out of her face.
“It is far as hell,” I admitted with a grin. “But what’s up?”
“Well, as you know, I have been seeing this new guy for a while.” She was all smiles.
“Yes, the guy that I don’t even know his name yet. But that is another story for another day, so go ahead.”
I was sarcastic on purpose. I continued listening as I loaded the dishwasher.
Leslie looked at me and playfully rolled her eyes.
“Anyway.” She popped her mouth. “We have been getting closer, and as you already know, I have been talking about having a new start for a minute. And so I was thinking that this could be it. Maybe Li’l Rob and I can move to Chicago with him.”