“Okay,” she melted.
I walked her to her car and watched her pull off. Deshay was sitting at her desk with her earplugs in her ears when I walked back in. Her attitude was evident when I approached her desk.
I snatched her earplugs out, “I need you to clean your desk out. Today’s your last day.”
“Jahmir! How am I supposed to pay my bills?”
“Deshay, I tried to keep you on. You disrespected my relationship, and I can’t have my woman unhappy. I would hope you would understand that.”
“I won’t disrespect you again. I can’t go work anywhere where I make this type of money. I’ll apologize to her.”
“I’m sorry, Deshay. I’ll pay you for the rest of the month, but this is it.”
I left her there, went back in my office and closed the door. That was one weight lifted off my shoulders. I was actually glad she got caught. I needed a reason to fire her without being an asshole. At this point, Tatiyonna could tell me to empty my accounts for her and would.
Before I left for the day, Deshay had emptied her desk and left the key. I sent an email to my HR to post an ad that I needed an assistant who was familiar with the business. Deshay had only been familiar because I taught her everything she needed to know. She had a record and I was the only one who would give her a chance when she came through the temp service to work with me. She did so good at notetaking while I was in meetings that I hired her full-time. I hated to let her go, but she had to learn when shit was over.
Before I went home, I stopped and got my baby some flowers since I had to stop the ones going to her house since she wasn’tthere at the time. I grabbed a favorite candy and the white cheddar popcorn her ass loved to eat when we would watch tv. I pulled through the gate and noticed all the damn lights on upstairs. When Tatiyonna was here alone, she rarely had any lights on. As soon as I walked in the house and almost tripped over Dream’s Jordan, I knew why all my lights were on.
“Uncle Jah,” they both came running at me.
“How did the rugrats end up over here?”
“I gave Lonni a break. She didn’t hesitate to drop them off. Are these for me?” Tatiyonna asked.
“You know these for you,” I gave her the flowers and the bag of snacks. “I handled that today as well. Deshay is no longer employed by me.”
“Jah…”
“Nah, I need you happy. You’ve been unhappy long enough, and I need you to trust me. I’m not a cheater.”
“I believed you. It was her that I didn’t trust.”
“And that’s why I handled it.”
“Thank you,” she said, and kissed me. “Now, we are making homemade pizza, so come on and help.”
I washed my hands and took my shirt off before walking in the kitchen. From the three pizzas lined up across the counter, I could tell who did what.
“This has got to be Reigns because why are there pineapples on the pizza, Reign?”
“I like pineapples,” she replied.
“Of course you do!”
“And this has to be Dream’s with all these damn pepperonis and barely any cheese.”
He nodded, confirming what I said was true.
We enjoyed the kids for the remainder of the night until I sent Lonni a text and told her to let them stay for the night. Theyhad their own room over here anyway, and seeing Tatiyonna acting like a kid with them put a smile on my face.
“Reign told me they are about to be six. I hadn't looked at their paperwork in a while, so I wasn’t sure when their birthday was. I want to make sure I buy something.”
“Baby, them kids don’t need shit. You keep letting them sweet talk you. When we drop them off tomorrow, I’m going to show you their room, and then you’ll understand. We usually do cake and ice cream for them. They don’t have a lot of friends. Maybe now they do because they go to school. It’s always been small and intimate.”
“Okay, I understand. Are birthdays not a big deal in y’all family? I just noticed y’all brush things off a little.”
“Not since my mama died.”
