Page 6 of Finessed By A Hood White Boy

“First of all, it’s not considered babysitting when you have your own child. Second, these moves I’m making are because you’ve been complaining about me not doing enough around here. Make up your mind, Robert. You either want me to work or you don’t.”

“Bitch, I never said anything about you not working. When did I tell you to go get a job? Hmm? How the hell are you gonna do that and you have to look after her.” He nodded to Savannah.

“I’m not about to argue with you.” I turned to walk away.

Listening to Rob rant and rave, I rolled my eyes and silently continued getting myself together. Hell, I’d do anything to get away from this man and have some peace, which was exactly why I was trying to hurry up and make it to this open interview I desperately looked forward to. I started packing a few things for my baby because I wasn’t about to leave her behind.

“How long is this shit gonna take?” he asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“Not long, hopefully. The sooner I get there, the quicker I’ll get through it and leave.” I checked myself over in the mirror one last time.

“While you’re out, stop at the grocery store and get some stuff to make parmesan chicken and asparagus. I told you to make that the other day, but I guess it was fuck a nigga, huh?”

It’s not like you’re ever home to eat the food you request anyway, I thought.

“Okay.” I left it at that.

The nigga was worried about food but still hadn’t bothered to apologize for bruising my face. He better be lucky I didn’t want to risk going to prison for poisoning his ass. Once I grabbed all our belongings, I quickly headed out to my car to strap Savannah into her booster seat. As soon as I backed out of my driveway, I called my sister, Aja. I prayed she was able to keep my baby while I handled business.

“Hey sissy!” she answered.

As always, my sister had a chipper attitude, and I could sense her glowing smile. Hell, when it came to both Aja and Ace, we could always sense each other’s emotions because we were triplets. We were all born a minute apart from each other. Ace being the oldest, Aja followed, then me. We were literally three peas in a damn pod, but we each lived totally different lifestyles.

“Hey! I know it’s last minute, and I’m sorry, but can you please keep Savannah while I go to this interview. As soon as I finish, I’ll be back to pick her up.”

“Yea, come on.”

“Thank you.” I sighed.

“You’re welcome, but that nigga about to start coming outta pocket for childcare. I love my niecy Pooh, and I don’t mind keeping her, but Rob knows damn well he a sorry ass nigga for doing the shit he do.”

“I know.”

“You need to divorce his ass, Ava. You do everything on your own anyway. What the fuck you need him for? Not a damn thing!” she fussed.

“I’m about to pull up.”

I didn’t want to get into that conversation. Neither Aja nor Ace cared for Rob, my parents either. The feelings were mutual on Rob’s end. There had been a few times that he bumped heads with my dad and my brother over how he treated me. Aja was the only one who knew about him putting his hands on me. Actually, that information I kept to a limit as well for various reasons. As soon as I pulled into her driveway she came outside. Savannah screamed in excitement as soon as she laid eyes on her auntie. Aja went straight to the back passenger door to take my baby out. They danced around to the opposite side, stopping at my window.

“Give mommy kisses.” I puckered up for some love.

The love I received from my baby girl was the purest love I’d ever experienced in my life.

“Oh, hell no!” Aja raised her voice and pulled Savannah back.

“Seriously, Ava? Again?” Her eyes bore into mine.

There was no need to play dumb because I knew exactly what she was talking about. If Savannah wasn’t in our presence Aja would’ve said a mouthful.

“I have to go.” I put my car in reverse.

“Go ahead, but we gon talk about this shit as soon as you get back.” She pointed a finger at me.

I blew a few air kisses as I departed. Talking about the physical abuse that I had been dealing with was the last thing I wanted to discuss. All I knew was I needed this job, and my fingers were crossed tight.

“Excuse me…I’m so sorry. Excuse me.”

I rushed through the building, trying my best to reach my destination. I was already fifteen minutes late, and I knew that would make me look bad. Regardless, I hustled my way inside, praying that I land this secretary position.