“No, ma’am. Everything else has already been taken care of.”
I laughed in disbelief. “Lord…”
“I know.” Denise chuckled. “Big Mama Lulu stayed on me making sure I didn’t forget about you. She wasn’t playing, she wanted you at the very top of the list.”
That made me laugh even harder. “Yep, that sounds like her.”
“It definitely is. She loves you.”
My eyes started burning all over again. “I love her too.”
There was a brief pause before Denise spoke again. “Congratulations, Navy. I hope you’re really proud of yourself.”
I looked out across the employee parking lot where nurses and doctors were coming and going like it was just another ordinary afternoon. “You have no idea,” I told her in all seriousness.
She chuckled. “I’ll see you this afternoon.”
“You definitely will.”
After we hung up, I lowered the phone from my ear, but I couldn’t even make myself move. I just stood there underneath that palm tree staring across the parking lot while everything Denise had just said replayed in my head.
“Damn, the keys are mine and I can finally have my own spot and start over,” I said low enough for only me to hear. A tear rolled down my cheek before I could stop because for the first time in what felt like forever, something had finally gone right.
I wiped my face with the back of my hand, exhaled and then, immediately pulled up my contacts. There was only one person I wanted to call which was Lulu. She answered before the second ring.
I could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke to me. “You smiling, ain’t you Navy?”
I laughed. “Lulu…”
“You got approved.”
I nodded my head. “Yeah, I got approved.”
“I knew you would.”
“No…” I shook my head, still cheesing. “You knew before I did.”
“I sure did.”
“Lulu! You know you could’ve told me. Had me over here sweating bullets.
“Naw, because I wanted you to hear it from the people handing you the keys. Some news feels different when it come from the source.”
I leaned my shoulder against the palm tree and looked up at the bright Miami sky. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Chile, you ain’t gotta say nothing, you just promise me one thing.”
“Anything.”
“When you go to your new place, don’t you bring one raggedy thing from that man’s house into your new apartment.”
I laughed through my tears. “Lulu!”
“I’m serious.”
“I know, but that’s still my house too Lulu. However, everything that I need as far as clothes and other things are already in storage. Well, that’s before he caught me trying to take the rest. I do want new dishes, towels, bedroom set, couches… all that like new everything.
“I don’t know if you’re slow or just don’t want to comprehend child. Listen, you leave every piece of that old life exactly where it’s at.”
