While Janiyah slept, I got Mikayla fed and dressed for the day. It was my day off, and I planned on keeping baby girl occupied while Janiyah got some much-needed writing done. I knew how she liked to keep a schedule, even though she didn’t have anyone giving her deadlines on when her books needed to be finished. It was still important to her to be consistent, and she’d been knocked off her square a little when Mikayla came to live with us, and I was going to do my best to get her back on track.
I ordered her favorite snacks for her as I got Mikayla dressed. I hardly ever used delivery services, but it came in clutch when I needed it. It would have been too much to take Mikayla to the store, and I didn’t want to wake Janiyah. Plus, it was raining, soI didn’t want to go outside anyway. I made sure to give the driver an extra tip since they had to drive in the rain.
“Let’s go put everything in the office for Janiyah for when she wakes up,” I told Mikayla as I carried her upstairs with the bag of goodies in my free hand.
Mikayla played with one of her toys as I set up the office the way Janiyah liked. When I was done, we went back downstairs to fix breakfast for Janiyah.
I had just taken the bacon out of the air fryer when Janiyah entered the kitchen. She’d already taken her shower and dressed in her writing gear as she liked to call it. Her outfit was simply sweatpants and a T-shirt. She also always wore fuzzy socks because she said her feet would get cold, even when she had the space heater on.
“I knew I smelled bacon,” she said as she came over to the counter.
Mikayla sat on the counter since she was my helper.
“Good morning, baby.” I dropped a kiss on her lips. “The bacon just got done.”
“Good morning.” Janiyah tickled Mikayla’s stomach as I plated her food.
“As you can see, she’s already dressed, and we have a surprise for you.”
Janiyah picked Mikayla up and carried her to the table. She sat her in her highchair and gave her a few pieces of fruit that I placed on the table. Mikayla loved fruit, which was good because, according to my mother, I hated it.
“What’s the surprise?” Janiyah asked as I placed the plate in front of her.
“You have to wait and see.” Since I’d already eaten, I sat with Janiyah and drank another cup of coffee. I knew I would need the caffeine, dealing with Mikayla all day.
“Anyway.” Janiyah rolled her eyes. “Thank you for taking care of her this morning and for breakfast.”
Janiyah and I laughed when I stole a small piece of strawberry from Mikayla’s plate, and baby girl looked like she wanted to fight me. She did not play about her food, especially when it was something she loved.
“You don’t have to thank me for doing my job, but you are welcomed. Are you feeling good about writing today? You think the words will flow?”
I knew how some days she would struggle with her characters not talking to her, then other days, she could write for hours on end. It still baffled me how her brain worked and how she was able to come up with different types of characters and stories. She would spend days or more planning and preparing to start a new book. It was a lot that went into it. Some days, I would help her develop her characters. She would ask me how men would say certain things because she didn’t want her male characters to sound feminine. Or she would create these hypothetical scenarios to get a real opinion on how a man would react to them. I loved helping her achieve her goals, and it was fascinating watching her in her element. I’d caught her a few times talking the scenes out loud to herself.
“Yes. I think I can get done sometime today if I lock in. If not, definitely this week.”
“Well, I’ll let you get to it. We will give you plenty of space. I was going to take her to the park, but it was raining. We’ll stay downstairs. First, let us show you your surprise.” I pushed back from the table, then picked Mikayla up.
Once we got Janiyah settled, we would come back downstairs and clean up the kitchen. Mikayla liked to help, so I always let her wipe off the table and countertops while I held her.
The three of us went upstairs, and Janiyah’s eyes lit up when she stepped into the office.
On the corner of the desk was a bowl of popcorn. Next to it was a bowl of honey-roasted cashews, and next to that, there were a few Snickers bars. I also filled up her favorite water tumbler and a mini fridge next to the desk with extra water, and a couple of caffeine drinks in case she needed an extra boost. Her favorite throw blanket was draped on the back of the chair, and the space heater was in front of the desk. I even lit a couple of candles because she just had to have a candle lit when she wrote. Finally, her favorite Pandora station played on the speaker on the opposite side of the room.
“Baby, thank you.” She turned around and kissed me and even snuck a little tongue in there.
We showed affection to each other in front of Mikayla, but we kept it respectful. We wanted her to learn how to be affectionate, but it still needed to be age-appropriate. I’d come across plenty of people who didn’t know how to be affectionate because they didn’t see or learn it at home.
“You’re welcome. Go ’head and finish up that next bestseller.” I pulled the chair out for her, then kissed the top of her head. “If you need us, we’ll be in the living room. First up is learning time.”
“Okay. Thanks again.” Janiyah pushed her chair forward and opened her computer.
I closed the door a little when Mikayla and I left the room to try and keep out some of the noise.
“Looks like it’s just us, baby girl,” I said to Mikayla as we walked down the stairs.
Three hours later, the one thing I prayed didn’t happen did—my pager went off. I tried to see if anyone else could go in, but they said they needed all hands on deck. Apparently, there was a multicar pileup, and they expected multiple injuries. Mikaylawas down for her nap, but I knew she wouldn’t sleep for long. I hated to do this to Janiyah, but I had no choice.
I walked upstairs and knocked on the door.
