“Get your butt upstairs, Deon!”
“Ladona.” Jenna drew her attention back. She waited until Ladona made eye contact again. “I don’t want to take your boys from you. I know you love them very much, but this will not do. You can’t throw things and try to start a fight.”
“You’ll know when I try to—”
“Ladona,” Jenna cut her off. “This behavior is a fast track to those boys being taken away, and we need to get off it before we can’t. Don’t do something you’re going to regret just because you’re mad at me. It’s not worth it.”
Ladona’s face wrestled with rage and tears. “You have no idea what it takes to raise them,” she finally said. A tear spilled over. “You don’t know what I do for them, and then you come in here telling me it’s not enough. Telling me they were hurt when they weren’t.”
“I know it’s a lot,” Jenna said. “I understand you’re angry we have to keep doing this, but I’m here to hear your side. I’m here to be on your side. I don’t expect you to make money fall from the sky, but I do want you to take advantage of the opportunities I can put in front of you. I am money falling from the sky. I want to help you get your phone back on. I want to help you get the boys engaged in school again, at no expense to you so that you can afford things like the door. I know the boys want to be here. Help me make that possible for all of you.”
“I just don’t see why you have to act like I’m hurting them. I love those boys more than anything. They look hurt to you?”
Jenna quietly opened the folder she was carrying and fished out a business card.
“The boys don’t appear to be in any immediate danger, no.” Jenna held the card out to Ladona. “This is the number you’ll need for that tutor. I hope you’ll consider it. We’ll check back on the twenty-third, nine a.m. again. The door does need to be fixed by then, but you can call me any time with questions if you need help. We’ll find a way to get it done.”
Danielle watched the standoff between them. Ladona was still a swirling array of emotions with tear streaks down her face and resentment building a barrier between her and the help Jenna offered. Jenna held out the card with steadfast patience. Danielle only realized she was holding her breath when Ladona finally snatched the card, and then she could breathe again. Jenna nodded.
“Hope you have a nice rest of your day, Ms. Clark.” Jenna turned for the door.
“Bye, Ms. Thompson!” the boys called out in unison.
Chapter Three
Jenna could feel Danielle watching her as they walked back to the car. She carefully avoided eye contact until they were inside, knowing the boys were probably watching from the window, listening. She started the car and headed back to work, then looked over her shoulder at Danielle. Danielle’s dark, almond shaped eyes were pools of curiosity.
“What did you think?” Jenna asked.
“That was fantastic!”
Jenna laughed in surprise and relief. She’d been afraid she had exposed Danielle to too much too soon.
“Surprising,” Danielle added.
“Which part?”
“I thought people were on their best behavior when we visit.”
“You would think,” Jenna said. “That’s true most of the time, but Ladona isn’t really like that. She pretty much says what she’s thinking.”
“I’ll say. I thought she was going to hit you.”
“Yeah, about that.” Jenna took a breath. “I don’t want you to think you have to put up with that. I chose to try to de-escalate her instead of leaving because I’ve been working with that family for a long time. I was confident I knew where she was with everything, but you’re not required to take any form of abuse. If you ever feel like you’re in any kind of danger you leave and call a supervisor, and the cops if it’s warranted.”
“I thought it was great you stayed,” Danielle said. “You really turned it around.”
“Thanks.” Jenna felt a warm tingle travel through her skin despite the unease that still gripped her stomach. She’d hate for Danielle or anyone else under her supervision to get hurt trying to follow her example. She didn’t consider her tactics reckless, but she handled the Clarks differently than any other family.
“You can always call a mental health counselor to help you too if you think they need that kind of intervention,” Jenna said. “They’re on the fourth floor of our building. I’ll take you by sometime to meet them. We work with them a lot. Especially Tina.”
“Tina.” Danielle nodded. Jenna could see her mentally logging the information.
“Tina Richards. They all know what they’re doing, of course, but I always get Tina if I can. I even asked her to work with my mom once. She’s the only one I’ve ever seen really make a difference with her.”
Danielle nodded again. Jenna could tell Danielle didn’t know what to do when she brought up her family, and she couldn’t help but be amused by it. Silence settled while Jenna waited for Danielle to find words.
“You think they’re really best off with her?” she finally asked.
“Ladona?” Jenna sighed. “Sometimes she’s a model parent; other times she’s like this or worse. She’s bipolar, so there are fluctuations. I care a lot about Raylon and Deon. There are a lot of things I wish I could change for them, but they want to live there. You have to be careful bringing what you think is best into the picture. I always start with whether or not they’re safe and provided for, then move on to what they want. If those things are covered, I don’t think I have much business pushing what I think is best on anyone.”
“Sure,” Danielle said. “That makes sense, but if she’s that way to our faces I can only imagine what she’s like when she’s alone with them.”
Jenna’s stomach twisted at the suggestion. “Deon will tell me if she crosses the line.”
“I hope so,” Danielle said, doubt coloring her inflection. “They seem to really like you.”
“They’re great kids.” Jenna felt her mind crawling back through the street toward the rundown apartment. Despite Ladona’s accusation, she knew exactly what it was like to not have money, to open empty cupboards fifteen times a day.
She liked to think she knew Deon well enough to recognize the truth in him when he said they were fine, but she had been a skilled bluffer at his age, hidden horrible realities because she and her sister would rather suffer together than be placed in wealthier families apart. But she had to believe Deon was telling the truth. She had to trust that no matter how much he wanted to stay with his brother, he would know where to draw the line if the time came. And if he couldn’t, at least he’d feel comfortable enough to open up to her so she could draw it for him.
“So,” Danielle broke the silence and pulled Jenna back. “You said no girlfriend, right?”
Jenna felt a smile tugging at her face at the subject change, curious where Danielle could be going with such a question. “Uh-huh.”
“Does that mean it’s your locker I inherited, then?”
“Why would you say that?”
“Beautiful mostly naked girl on the door?”
Jenna burst out laughing. “Oh, God, did I really forget to take that down?”
Danielle beamed. “Apparently.”
“Well, that’s embarrassing. Hardly supervisory.”
Danielle shrugged. “She’s pretty, if that’s what you’re into.”
Jenna grinned. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” she asked. “What kind of girls do you like?” Jenna looked over and was surprised to see Danielle’s cheeks flush. “Sorry, that was presumptuous.”
“It’s okay.”
“Are you not out?”
The tension in Danielle’s face evaporated, and she laughed. “Still presumptuous.”
“Well?” Jenna looked over Danielle’s slightly loose clothes, the way she was sitting, her simple hairstyle that said she never touched a hair dryer. It wasn’t an exact science, but she was confident nonetheless. Danielle’s deep brown eyes met hers and st
uck there.
“Yes, I’m out.”
“But you don’t like talking about it?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “It’s not a secret, but I don’t advertise it either.”
Jenna nodded. “Got it. Don’t worry about me. I might seem like I have a big mouth, but I don’t talk about people’s business.” Jenna pulled into the work lot, a little disappointed to cut the conversation short. She realized too late that bringing up Danielle’s orientation was a far cry from the way she ought to behave as a supervisor, but they’d slipped into it so naturally she couldn’t bring herself to worry about it.
“I’ll help you track down Sasha,” she said and turned off the car. Jenna reluctantly pulled her suit jacket back on and headed inside.
They tracked Sasha down in the break room. Her face lit up when Jenna rounded the corner.
“Hey, boss!”
“Ugh, don’t do that,” Jenna said. She chuckled when she glanced at the pile of empty creamer cups Sasha was accumulating. “No wonder you need ten cups a day, Sash; there’s no coffee in there.”
“Is it a frickin’ crime to want my coffee to taste good?”
Jenna shook her head and took a seat, motioning at the empty chair to prompt Danielle to join them. Sasha finished stirring the twelfth creamer into her coffee and joined them at the table.
“So how was your first trip out?” Sasha asked Danielle.
“It was good,” Danielle said. She raked her fingers through her long black hair.
“Anything noteworthy?”
Jenna glanced between them as silence stretched. Jenna knew Sasha was used to people warming up to her quickly. She was friendly and almost always happy, a natural conversationalist who rarely had to work to get people talking, yet Danielle seemed ill at ease around her.
“Ms. Clark was a bit feisty today,” Jenna said when the silence became uncomfortable.
“Ah,” Sasha said. “Thompson’s throwing you right to the sharks, huh? Learn anything?”
“Yeah,” Danielle said. “I think so.”
Sasha looked at Danielle expectantly for a handful of seconds before she seemed to realize Danielle had no intention of elaborating. Jenna couldn’t help but be amused by the way Danielle closed up. She wondered absently if she should be concerned, but something told her she didn’t need to worry about Danielle.
“She got to see some de-escalation techniques,” Jenna jumped in again.
“You? De-escalating?” Sasha teased her.
Jenna playfully scowled at her. “Yes, I am capable of a soft touch sometimes.”
“You can tell me the truth when she leaves,” Sasha said to Danielle.
Danielle cracked a smile and her shoulders relaxed. “We talked about the line between undesirable and unsafe circumstances, too.”
Sasha threw up her hands. “Well, hell, that’s pretty much the job. You’re ready. What do you say we cut her loose, boss?”
“I’d say it sounds like you can spend the rest of the day showing her how to write reports in that case.”
“Evil woman,” Sasha said. “Been a supervisor for ten minutes, you’re already one of them.”
Jenna smiled and checked her watch. “Speaking of that job I got ten minutes ago, I’d better go do some work. You’ll have to finish complaining about me behind my back like a normal employee.”
“It’s just not the same.”
Jenna left the room, then lingered just outside the door until she heard the sound of conversation pick up again. Once she heard Danielle’s low chuckle, she smiled and headed for her office.
Chapter Four
Danielle’s feet felt weighted as she inched her way through the hall in her apartment complex. It seemed like years had passed since she left this morning. She slipped her key into the door and let herself in, more than a little disappointed to see that her roommate, Brianna, had already poured two drinks.
“Hello, dear,” Brianna teased her and held out one of the cups. Danielle wasn’t sure what it was, but she caught the distinct smell of liquor.
“What’s this?”
“We’re celebrating your first day of work, obviously.”
“I don’t know if I can, Bri,” Danielle said. “I’m beat.”
“Oh, come on,” Brianna said. “Just have a drink and tell me all about it. I’ll cancel the strippers.”
Danielle accepted the drink, again getting a nose full of something strong and guessing it was only slightly diluted by whatever mixer Brianna opted for.
“So, tell me all about it.” Brianna hopped on the brown leather couch and folded her legs under her. Danielle followed and slumped down, feeling she could sink into those cushions forever like they were clouds.
“Pretty much what I thought, I guess. I’ll be in training until they decide I’m ready.”
“That’s a little open-ended, isn’t it?”
“They said it usually takes about six weeks, but it’s subject to change.”
“So you’ll be done in three?”
“For once I’m not sure I want to be ahead of schedule. It’s kind of a lot. I don’t mind the training,” Danielle said.
Brianna studied her. Her wiry reddish hair was in its wildest state, probably just dry after a shower.
“A lot how?” she asked. “I’ve never seen you not want to overachieve. Did something happen?”
“No, not really.”
“What gives, then? You got a hot trainer or something?”
“No,” Danielle said. “Well, I mean, she’s fine, but that’s not why.”
“She’s fine, or she’s fine?” Brianna wagged her eyebrows.
Danielle was used to Brianna commenting on the appearance of every woman she met, walked by, or heard existed. She’d done so even when they had been a couple, but since breaking up, it oddly made Danielle more uncomfortable than it ever had when they were together. When they were a couple, Danielle always knew it was just silliness. Since they’d decided to be friends, and especially since they’d moved in together, she was having a much harder time knowing the difference between Brianna joking, her having a genuine interest in someone, or outright snooping.
“Well, which is it?” Brianna pressed and grinned.
“She’s pretty, I guess. I don’t know.” Danielle realized with a start that she was thinking of Jenna, and she was thinking Jenna was decidedly gorgeous. She was not, “pretty, I guess,” nor was she Danielle’s real trainer. She’d only spent a bit over an hour with Jenna and the rest of the day with Sasha. Sasha was beautiful too now that she thought about it, pretty enough she probably wasn’t usually an afterthought. “They’re both pretty, but I don’t want to think of either of them that way.”
“Whoa, hold on,” Brianna said. “You have two trainers? And they’re both hot? Score for you. No wonder you want to stay in training.”
“It’s not like that. Don’t put it in my head. I have to work with them, and they’re both my superiors. I don’t want your filth popping into my mind while they’re talking.”
“Who said anything about filth?”
“Please, I know where this is going.”
“Then you know me too well,” Brianna said. She took a large gulp of her drink and pointed at Danielle’s cup until she did the same. “So, if it’s not that, what is it?”
“We went out on a case this morning, and the mom was kind of going off on Jenna.”
“Jenna?”
“My supervisor, or…” Danielle paused. “Well, she was my trainer for the morning. They didn’t really explain. But the mom on this case was getting crazy with her. She looked like she was going to hit her.”
“Sounds intense. Did it freak you out?”
“No.” Danielle remembered the way Jenna had motioned for her not to call for help. “Jenna obviously had it under control. It was cool to watch, but I don’t know if I could have done that. It made me feel like I have a lot to learn.”
“I say drag it out as long as you can.” Brianna ju
mped up and rounded the bar into the kitchen, then poured a shot, threw it back, and poured again. “Training rules. You can’t get in trouble.” When Brianna returned she was carrying two shots.
“No way,” Danielle said. “You know I can’t do shots.”
“Oh, come on. It’s a special occasion.”
“It’s a Monday is what it is,” Danielle said. “And I have to work tomorrow. I don’t want to go in hungover on my second day.”
“From one shot? No one’s that much of a lightweight.”
“I am so.”
“You put too much emphasis on being perfect,” Brianna said. “You know what works exactly as well as working hard and is a thousand times easier? Flirting.”
“Please.”
“I’m serious; it’s a scientific fact.”
“Uh-huh, and that study is published where?”
“The Journal of Successful Business Women with Social Lives.”
“Please don’t ever really become a teacher.” Danielle laughed. “You’ll destroy a whole generation of girls.”
“Oh, lighten up. It’s only degrading when it’s men you’re doing the flirting with. I promise.”
Danielle’s mind wandered to the picture of the model in Jenna’s locker, her five foot eleven slender frame, oily and almost nude, her one in a billion bone structure and smoldering come-hither look reaching through the picture. If that was what Jenna was used to Danielle wouldn’t be able to flirt her way out of two-minute tardy.
“Yeah, I think I’m just going to go ahead and work hard,” Danielle said.
Brianna rolled her eyes. “Fine, you’re no fun.” Brianna took both of the shots and, as if it had an instant effect, she slouched deeper into the couch and let her head rest on Danielle’s shoulder.
No fun. Danielle had heard the accusation her entire life. She was quiet in a crowd, early to rise, earlier to bed, careful with money, mindful about food, and unamused by drugs. The only people who had ever approved of it were her parents, and they weren’t in her life anymore. Her studies had been a longstanding excuse to justify it all, but with nothing to stand in her way now, she had to admit it wasn’t that she was afraid to have fun, it was that those things weren’t her idea of fun.
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