“How come you didn’t finish that part right there on the side?” a voice came out here asking me, snapping me from the deep thoughts that I had been in.
I turned my head to look down from the ladder, and it was Antoinette bringing her ass out here, coming with demands and shit, holding her hand over her eyes, using it as a visor because it was hot as hell out here today.
“Lady, go in the house. You got me out here doing this shit on my day off. Not only that, but I’m doing this shit for free. I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking, choosing not to charge your ass,” I talked shit, knowing damn well that I would never accept payment from a woman that laid down on her back, and gave me the most beautiful daughter in the world.
It was Sunday, and Sunday’s were typically my off days from work. Sundays typically consisted of rest. I would go to church first thing in the morning, and then lounge around the house, watching football all day. If it wasn’t church, you couldn’t get meto leave the house for anything else on a Sunday, yet here I was, painting her fuckin house.
Antoinette called me earlier in the week, wanting to know when I would be free because she wanted to do some changes with her home. The first thing she wanted to do was change the color paint on the outside. I specialized in this shit now. When people needed their homes painted, it was me that they would reach out to.
My name rang different these days. I was no longer talked about as being the young nigga that had caught a charge at just seventeen years old for murder and spent the last thirty- seven years of my life incarcerated.
My daughter would forever be someone that I would speak highly of because she put a million dollar check in my hand, telling me to go on and use if for my business. It wasn’t just the money though. Since she was a baby, that girl has been screaming free her daddy, and she was going to make sure that I was straight when she came home. When she got old enough, and could make that drive to the prison, she would always come and see me, even though I knew that she hated making that drive. It was because of her that I was able to get my business off the ground. It was because of her that my name rang different these days.
I went from getting contracted mainly from family, and friends. I’ve been putting the work in for months, and with that, I have an entire team now. I was responsible for painting apartment buildings, offices buildings, and even a few strip malls. I was meeting with property managers, sitting down, signing contracts with a bunch of 0’s at the end. I was still amazed at the position that I was in. As much as I had been ready for freedom while I was on the inside, I feared that freedom wouldn’t look good on me. I feared that I would be like my sister, and her kids and shit, that didn’t want to move outof our mama’s house. I feared struggle, especially since before I went into prison, I didn’t know struggle because I had been hustling. The fears that I had were nonsense because I was far from being a bum ass nigga. I’ve been working my ass off, so that the work, and the deals would continue to come in.
“I’m just saying, Dionte. It’s a portion on the side that doesn’t look finished,” she kept on.
“Because I gotta work my way over there. Go in the house, man. How you trying to tell me how to do my damn job? I’m doing this shit every day,” I fussed at her ass.
We sounded like an old, married couple going at it with each other. We were the furthest thing from that though. I just knew that when I came home from prison, she was going to throw the pussy at me, but she hadn’t. She didn’t even let me smell it. I stopped trying a couple of months ago because I didn’t have it in me to be begging like that.
What I could say is that even though we weren’t fuckin around, we had a damn good friendship. Even the way we were going at it with each other right now, it was all fun and games. The same way I talked shit to her is the same way that she would talk shit to me.
“You want another water?” she asked, changing the subject.
“Yeah. Fill that jug up right there on the floor with water. I’ll be finished soon,” I let her know.
She went over to the jug of water that I had on the ground, picked it up, and took it inside her house. My eyes stayed glued to that ass the entire time. That was nobody but God that still had her body looking that good, even at fifty- five years old. Nette was stacked, and every time I get around her, I’m constantly fighting for my life, trying not to look.
I got back to what I was doing, and it wasn’t long before she brought the jug of water back out for me. I thanked her and then finished working.
I finished almost two hours later, and when I did, I was drenched in sweat, so I had to take off the shirt that I was wearing. I put all my equipment that I’d used back in my work van, and I grabbed a towel out of the back, so that I could wipe the sweat off my face, chest, back, and stomach. There was another shirt that was sitting in the back for me, so I grabbed it, and once it was in my hands, I closed the van, walked over to Nette’s front door, so that I could knock, and she could examine the hard work that I’d done to her home.
She eventually came outside of the house, and when she did, she moved swiftly, ready to bring her ass out here, and start critiquing. She stood in the driveway, so that she could get a better view of the house. With her hands on her hips, she examined it in a way like she was looking for some kind of flaw, but I was a beast at this shit, so she wasn’t going to find one.
“Wowwww. This is so nice, Dionte. I’m going for that modern feel now with the inside of my house, so I wanted to change the color on the outside. You did such a good job,” she replied, walking further to the left, so that she could look up, going to that part that she told me I needed to paint some more because I’d missed that spot.
She made sure that she took her ass over there to see it. I filled it in, just like I told her ass that I was going to do.
Originally, her home had been painted a peach color. Antoinette has had this home for years, and she didn’t want to move because the home was paid off. She honestly didn’t have any reason to move because this was the perfect sized home for her. No idea why she needed a four-bedroom home, especially since it was just her, but she told me that she liked to have the space for her kids, and her grandchildren, which was understandable. Hell, I had no room to talk because my daughter put me in that big ass house, when it was just me living inside of it.
We toured the entire home, cutting through the back gate, so that we could go inside her backyard, and she could see how it looked from the back. I took this home from that peach color to a pretty white. What I’d done, had her house looking brand new. The clean, modern white that she was going for really made the house pop. She didn’t just want it painted all white. Her ass came to me with a plan. The trim around the windows were painted black. I bought a special kind of paint, so that I could paint the front door black, along with the two-car garage that she had. I loved how it came out, so before I even showed it to her, I made sure that I pulled out my cellphone, capturing a few videos, and photos of the place.
“Looks like a brand-new house. Thank you, baby daddy. Since I’m not paying you, can I at least feed you? I made pot roast,” she exclaimed, and the sound of pot roast caused my stomach to rumble.
I’ve been out here working since six this morning, and it was a little after five in the evening. I’ve had water, snacks that I’d brought with me, and even a couple of sandwich’s that I packed, but I needed some real food. The plan had been to leave here and go to my mom’s house because I knew that she cooked as well, but I was going to take Nette up on her offer.
“Yeah. I’ll take a plate. Don’t call me your baby daddy. Hell wrong with you?” I asked her.
She laughed like it was funny, and then I walked over to the patio door, so that I could slide it back, and we could just go into the house from this way.
It led us right into the family room area, and right to the side of it was the dining room. Before I sat down, I went to the guest bathroom that was down here. I relieved my bladder, flushed the toilet, and I went over to the sink, so that I could thoroughly wash my hands. I even used some of the paper towel, so that I could run water on it, and try to clean my face off as best as Icould. This would work until I got home to take a shower. There was paint all on my pants, and some still on my arms, even though I used a towel outside to wipe myself down.
I left out of the bathroom, walking throughout her house with just my socks on. I left my shoes by the patio door.
The dining room wasn’t too far from the kitchen, so from where I sat, I could look at Nette, and I saw her standing in front of the microwave with her arms folded, waiting on my food to finish heating up. I took my eyes off her, so that I could look around her family room area. Although her youngest daughter was no longer here, she had her all throughout this home. Her picture was in so many frames. I still couldn’t believe Nette took a loss like that, having to bury one of her children. I still remember when that happened. Her and I didn’t talk for years after it happened because she was in a bad place. I learned the news from my daughter.
She came over with the food on a glass plate for me. Fresh from the microwave, steam rose off the plate. It took everything in me not to stick my tongue out like a fuckin dog because this food looked mouthwatering. There were thick slices of pot roast on the plate, and it was drowning in brown gravy. Right beside it, there was a good amount of white rice, that had gravy on top of it as well. There were carrots and potatoes from the roast, and lastly, there was green beans, and you could see the onions, and some of the garlic that was mixed in. Hanging off the edge of the plate was a big piece of cornbread, and the second she sat it down in front of me, I had to have so much self-control not to slap her on her ass. This was the kind of meal that a woman would prepare for you, leaving you with no choice but to slap her ass, but I played the gentleman role, which is what I’ve been doing for the months that I’ve been home.
