Page 120 of One Good Reason

“Everything okay?” Rossi queried.

“It is now.” I smiled. “My attorney just sent me an email telling me the investigation was complete and the restraining order against Mrs. Jessie has been lifted.”

“Hell yeah!” he crowed. “That’s cause for a celebration.”

“You damn right it does,” I agreed. My phone chimed letting me know Law had responded. When I pulled up his text, I smirked. Apparently Corrine had called him before emailing me. That was the reason he had food delivered to me.

“What’s going to happen now?”

“Either they’re going to bring her back or I’ll go get her. I’m going to call her after I leave for the day.”

The night I delivered my mama with an ultimatum, her spiteful ass took the whole week I gave her before finally agreeing to drop those egregious ass allegations. Because of theclaims, we still had to be investigated but the date was pushed up a month because my mama had recanted her story.Gema had been gone from home for six weeks, and God was I ready to have her back.

Corrine told me I could’ve brought her home sooner but without Mrs. Jessie being cleared, I wouldn’t have anybody there to watch her. Law finally broke the news about the application being denied so I decided to let Gema stay until everything was settled so I could redo the application and get it resubmitted.

Gema and I talked twice a day the rest of her time down there with my mama and for the most part, everyone had been playing nice. Life was starting to look up for me. Being that I was in the house by myself, I spent the majority of my nights at Lake Spivey with Law. Now that Gema was coming home, he was either going to have to start back staying at my house, or overnights wouldn’t be possible except for the nights Mrs. Jessie stayed over.

We still hadn’t necessarily gone public with our relationship. With everything going on, he rarely came to the youth center. He had taken on a few new clients and was busy with their projects on top of assisting me with the stuff at the tech school.

After that mishap with the mold, the rest of the process had seemingly gone well. Everything was set-up and the only thing left on the agenda was getting accredited. Once we received that seal of approval, we could move forward with hiring staff. My goal was to have that up and running by the time the new year started.

As soon as we got the okay, I was going to throw a grand opening so everyone who invested their time and money could see how everything had come together, from there I would start advertising the school and all there would be left was to wait on people to enroll.

“If you wanna roll up on yo’ evil ass mama, I’m game. I haven’t had a good cat fight in a while,” Rossi sassed while looking down at his well-manicured fingers.

“Pump your breaks, Jeffery Star,” I joked. “No need for a cat fight. I think she knows not to fuck with me anymore.”

“She better. So… Drinks tonight?”

“Can I take a rain check?”

“You always take a rain check,” he pouted.

“I know pookie,” I sang, trying to soften the blow. “How about this? I’m going to the Demonspreseason game on Sunday. You and Marsha can tag along. We’re going to be in Law’s suite.”

“Law, huh?” Rossi’s eyes narrowed. “The two of you are getting mighty cozy.”

“We’re working on a big project, Rossi. Don’t read into it.”

“Well, if not him, then it’s somebody. You’ve been getting a lot of gifts and food deliveries. Somebody is tickling that coochie.”

“Okay…” I sang and stood up from my desk. “Get out. You take it too far every time,” I tittered.

“Ummhmm, you don’t have to tell me. I’ll figure it out eventually,” he teased. “Let me know what time on Sunday and I’ll be there with my pom poms and a tutu on.”

“You are just too gay for your own good,” I joked. “No one wants to see that.”

Giggling, Rossi tossed his head back. “Have you seen these legs in a tutu? Mwah. To die for.”

Now that I’d invited two extra people to the suite, I had to run it by Law. I knew he wouldn’t care but I needed to remember to mention it before it was too late. Things between us were progressing and since he’d met everyone attached to me, Law figured it was time I met his family. He was also excited to be bringing me to my first football game. Rossi wouldn’t have to wonder too much longer about who was“tickling my cat”.Law was very handsy and I had a feeling Sunday would be no different.

CHAPTER 29

Lawton

The news from Corrine couldn’t have come at a better time. My baby had thrown herself into work and had been busting her ass trying to revamp the application. According to her, she had missed out on too much stuff while dealing with that bullshit from her mama so when she decided to go back to work, she was up to her head with shit.

Every night when we retired to bed, she was coming up with new things for the kids at the youth center. The summer had breezed by and since the pool would be closing after Labor Day, she wanted to throw a huge party right before school started back.

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