Page 30 of Hired By My Rich Baby Daddy 2

“Shit! I’m not in the mood for this right now!”

I turned the water off, then snatched the kitchen rag off my oven door and took off toward the hallway, jumping up and swinging the rag at the smoke detector until it stopped.

“I don’t even wanna eat anymore,” I mumbled.

My phone started ringing on the counter, and I ran back in there so fast I slid across the floor but caught myself on the island.

It was Noree calling, not Carl.

“I was just about to hang up. I didn’t know if you were up,” she said.

I pulled a chair out from my dining table and plopped down into it, annoyed. Not with her, but with Carl. “Yeah, I’m up. What’s up, sis?”

There was a pause on her end. I could hear Oaklynn babbling and a cartoon going.

“Well, I was calling to tell you the good news, but is everything good?”

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Girl, no…I just got the weirdest fucking call from Carl.”

“Weird how?”

So, I told her all of what I’d heard.

“WHAT?” Noree damn near busted my eardrum. “Bitch, you lying!”

“No and I’m low-key shaking right now because what the hell is going on? He told me he was going out of town for some type of tech meeting, as he always does, but bitch, has he been lying this whole time?”

Noree got quiet for a second, then said, “Okay, well, let’s not panic. Let’s maybe just wait for him to give you a call back. I like him for you, so I wanna give him the benefit of the doubt. But if he’s up to no good and doing dirt, Nou Nou, I’m riding at dawn with you. You already know.”

I nodded even though she couldn’t see me. “Okay, fine. Let a bitch woosah right quick ’cause I’m about ready to cut somebody…anybody!” I inhaled and exhaled a few times, just trying to calm myself down, and she sat on the other end of the line waiting for me to speak again.

“Girl, he better hope that I didn’t hear what I think I heard. This shit got me in a bad mood automatically.”

“Damn.” She sucked her teeth. “I was just about to ask you if you wanted to ride with me to drop Oaklynn off at Mama’s house because I ended up calling Opal back, and girl, I got the nanny job. But I get it if you aren’t able to come with me. I didn’t want to ride over there alone. Like, you know it still be a little awkward around her, and I’m pretty sure she’d wanna see both of us. But like I said, I get it if you can’t.”

“No, it’s cool. Just come pick me up. What time you going?”

“Probably around, like, three-ish. I just wanted to spend a little bit more time with my baby.”

“That’s cool.” I needed to get the hell out of this house before I started throwing things. I was that pissed off.

Honestly, I wasn’t giddy. Wasn’t anywhere near as excited as her, and I hated that because my sister deserved somebody to be excited with her. So, I made myself smile, and I let it come through in my voice.

“I’m so glad you got this job. This is gonna be perfect for you and my niecey pooh. Plus, you’ll get to find the right time to drop that bomb on his ass.”

“I know right…and thank you. Me too.” She got quiet for a second, then, “Oooo, wait, you wanna go grab some drinks? Maybe after we leave Mama’s house? I already know I’m gonna be a horrible wreck, tears all over the place, so a drink is gonna be had.”

I laughed. “Girl, I already know, and yeah, that’s cool. We can go get a drink. I’ll see you at three, Pooh.”

We hung up, and the kitchen went quiet again.

I stood up for a minute in all that leftover smoke, then went to fix myself a plate of whatever wasn’t burnt. I sighed.

“Alexa, play Jazmine Sullivan, ‘Bust Your Windows.’”

The music started just as I poured syrup on my pancakes and cut a piece. I put a bite in my mouth; mad they were now cold as hell.

“Ain’t this about a bitch.” I shook my head, stuck in my own thoughts for the next few hours, then cleaned up and got ready.