“Aye, Champ. Come on, let’s go brush our teeth and eat breakfast.”
EJ heard food and slid off the bed with ease, landing on his feet. He trailed behind me, walking as fast as his little legs would allow to keep up. Grabbing my toothbrush from my bathroom, I went into his to brush my teeth. Familiar with the routine, he grabbed his step stool to place it at the sink and climbed up on it. I always found myself fascinated by the things he remembered.
“O’meal,” he said once we were done.
“I got you. Come on.”
Heading into the kitchen, I set him up at the table and grabbed his bowl off the counter.
“Aye,” I said, “you know the rule. Whatever you spill, you gon’ clean up. Copy?”
He stared at me seriously before nodding. Clear that we were on the same page, I slid the bowl in front of him.
“And take ya time,” I added, handing him a small spoon.
I got another nod of understanding, and he dug in. We ate together in silence, him clearing his bowl before me and holding it up for seconds. Oatmeal was his favorite meal – specifically, the way my mama made it. I didn’t know what special ingredient she added, but his lil’ ass was hooked. I tried my hand at perfecting it and failed miserably. The way he projectile vomited let me know that. After breakfast, I cleaned him up, and we retired to the living room.
“You wanna help Daddy put the Christmas tree up, man?”
His face lit up, and he jumped down off the couch, headed for the closet where he’d seen me stash the tree. Chuckling, I stood, walking over to the closet to drag the big box out. Making room in the corner of the living room, we got to work. By the look on his face, it was clear that EJ was taking his job of handing me each branch seriously. He concentrated so hard, checking each branch before handing it over to me.
“Aight, what you think?” I asked once the ornaments were on. His response was a frown, as he shook his head. “What? It’s missing something?” I checked the tree out and thought we’d done a good job.
“Light,” he said, pointing at the tree.
“Ohhhh, got you.” I plugged the cord in the socket, bringing the tree to life, as it lit up.
His eyes got big. “Good job.”
“Yeah. We did it. Good job, man. Here, this the last thing.” I handed him a star and picked him up to place it on top of the tree. “Gimme some dap.”
Slapping fives with me, he laid his head on my shoulder. This was life. Me and my baby boy.
Satisfied with our tree, we made our way to his playroom where I let him run off his breakfast, while I checked my emails. In scrolling through my inbox, I found a response email to my nanny inquiry. Clicking on it, I read in silence.
From: [email protected]
Good afternoon, Mr. Sullivan,
Thank you for your response. My current availability is Tuesday-Friday and alternate weekends from 8 a.m.- 4 p.m. While a set schedule would be ideal, I can be flexible when needed. I’d love to schedule an in-person meeting to discuss further if possible. Please let me know what day and time works best for you.
For some reason, I found myself reading the email twice. The message was the same, but I was trying to put a voice to the words.
“Type shit I’m on?” I silently questioned myself before responding.
From: Sullivan & Co
Good morning, Ms. Anderson,
Are you available this afternoon at 12:30 p.m.? If so, you can meet me at this address, 22 Chambers Street New York, NY. Let me know if this works for you.
I sent the email, and she replied a few minutes later that she’d be there. That was already a plus in my book. It let me know she wanted to work, and that said a lot. Powering off my laptop, I tucked it under my arm and stood up from the bean bag chair I sat on.
“Come on, EJ, let’s get dressed. We got an interview.”
I dressed us both in matching cargo pants and black crew neck sweaters. On our feet were a fresh pair of black Timbs. Of course, he had to break his in by taking a couple laps around the house. My boy was the miniature version of me. Hitting my body with a few sprays of cologne, I sprayed some in the air and let him run through, so he could smell good too.
“Go get your coat and your hat, EJ,” I directed. Taking flight, he did as I asked and came running back, tripping over his ownfeet along the way. “Woah, slow down, dawg.” I held my hand out to his chest, only for him to laugh.
