Chapter
One
McKay “Mickey” Bailey
“Nas, I swear I’m on my way. I had to list the club suites on the site for the Sharks. Preseason has officially started and I’m late as hell. Thank goodness I still have the suite at Keystone doing crazy numbers right now,” I stressed to my lawyer, Nasira or Nas.
She was currently rushing me for my appointment about contracts we were drafting for the upcoming season. A big part of my income came from suites I rented for each sporting event. I had a couple of them on lease with three-year contracts. But the ones at the Royals arena were my biggest sources of stable revenue. Yeah, my suites for the Sharks also brought in a huge chunk for me, especially during football season, but nothing beat basketball season and the extra events at the arena.
“Mickey, you have ten minutes to get here. I still have to meet with a client this afternoon for this case I’m working on.” I kissed my teeth at her rushing me, even though I was late. It was my boyfriend Harlan’s fault. He crept in during the wee hours of the night and blew my back out so good. I had no regrets from the late-night session, but hitting snooze too many times had me paying for it right now.
“Ugh, calm down. You know working under pressure stresses me out. You can make their ass wait. As one of your favorite clients who doesn’t stress you out, I am deemed as more important right now. Plus I’m not coming empty handed. I just restocked both the butters and my tinctures, so I’m bringing your advance order with me,” I said as I made sure the products were secure in my airtight cooler to make sure none of them either melted or spilled before I made all my deliveries. This was another source of income. It just wasn’t major because I only sold edibles and special butters to my friends and weed infused herbal remedies to my grandpa Mackie.
“Did you make my cake too?” she asked, now sounding a little more relaxed.
I chuckled as I grabbed my keys and the cooler handle with the attached crate on top full of mason jars. After meeting with Nas, my next stop was to the nursing home where my favorite client was. A lot of my clients didn’t smoke or eat edibles, so my tinctures, or herbal remedies as I called them, paired well with tea and coffee to help with their nausea and pain. Sure, making edibles or butters wasn’t the true intention when I’d gone to school for herbal science and botany, but over the years it’d come in handy.
Viola is turning over in her grave.
Becoming an herbalist had been all for her. I loved my grands and wanted to be closer to them in everything I did. So a lot of my career choices were inspired by them.
“Yes. I should charge yo’ ass extra for that too. I keep telling y’all heffas that I don’t bake, yet between you and the girls, y’all keep putting me to work.” Besides making my herbal remedies, and butters, my best friends Johnni and Hollis always had me in the kitchen adding goodies to the list.
“Heffa, charge me? I’m not paying for this now, just like you don’t pay for my services. This is an even trade off. Now, hurryyour ass the hell up before you get here and I’m gone.” I kissed my teeth as I heard the three beeps in my ear letting me know she had ended the call.
After I made it to my car and had everything inside, my phone was ringing again. I groaned as I hit the button on my dash to accept the call. I didn’t even notice who it was before I heard the monotone message playing over my speakers.
“Hi, this is Dr. Compton’s office just calling to remind you of your appointment tomorrow morning at ten a.m.” I smiled as I hit the button ending the call.
“And don’t you worry, my ass will be there bright and fucking early.” I was due to get my IUD back. I didn’t care how many articles or doctors told me that getting them back to back was safe, I still took a break to let my coochie breathe between them. I was still young and wanted to have kids one day, just not now. Especially not right now. Me and my boyfriend Harlan hadn’t even been together for a solid six months yet and I wanted to be married before we thought about starting our family.
I made it to Nas’s office in no time. I got out and went to get the crate before going for the cooler.
“Shit,” I cursed lowly as I looked down at the chipped nail that just happened as I struggled to get the crate. I didn’t have time for this hold up. I was sure Nas had been counting the time for real and I was already out of the ten she’d given me.
“Hey, ma’am, do you need help?” I huffed as I glanced over my shoulder at the security guard who was always out here when I came. He was older and frumpy looking, way too out of shape to chase down anyone who would surely get away.
I put on my wide smile, hoping it would be enough to carry his ass on.
“No, I’m okay, just broke a nail.” I waved him off, putting my attention back on the crate. After a few more moments, I finallygot it out, lifting it to put it on top of the cooler so I could roll everything inside.
I rushed in, huffing and puffing all the way down the long ass hallway to her office. I didn’t even bother stopping at the receptionist as I made it, zooming into her office. Nas sat there typing on her phone with a silly grin plastered on her face. I was sure she was texting her boo.
“Had the nerve to rush me and ain’t nobody even in here, heffa,” I said as I took a seat in one of the empty chairs. I went to work getting her order of the herbal remedy, three butter sticks, and her special cake ready.
“Call it my way of motivating you to be on time, Mickey. Here. This is the updated contract for your suites. Does anything need to be changed on your end before I print and email your final copies?”
I sat down in the chair in front of her desk and looked the paper over. Not too much had changed beyond the dates for the year.
“Nope, everything looks good to me.” I watched Nas hit a couple buttons on her computer before the printer began to wind up.
“Ya know this could’ve been a phone call and an email.”
“Then how would you have gotten your new batch? You’re not thinking, Nas. Now, as always, it was a pleasure doing business with you. I’m headed to finish my drop offs. I got a lot of waiting customers,” I said as I blew her a kiss and rolled my cooler back out with me. This time, stopping at the reception desk to give Dana her order.
Twenty minutes later,I was parking in Golden Age Assisted Living Facility. I grabbed the herbal remedy bottles, signedin, and made my way to my favorite client here, my grandpa Mackie, who I was named after.
I heard low old school R&B jams playing as I reached his door, double tapping as I walked in, seeing my grandpa sitting in his chair, looking out the window. After my grandma Viola passed a couple years ago, he opted to move here instead of remaining in the home they’d shared. The family hated it, but he said he was happy here and comfortable in his one-bedroom unit. It was set-up like a junior apartment with all the amenities.
