Page 55 of Off the Charts
They exited and I disinfected the area before going to the back. I had my own office adjacent to Etta’s but when I saw that she was in hers, I knocked on her door twice.
“Come in!” I pushed it open. “Hey friend!”
“What’s up, Etta girl? I was just speaking. Tours are done for the day. If I counted correctly, this last group got nine bottles. Everything went well. I am about to head out.”
She nodded, tapping away on her computer for a second. “Good. Good. First week down. How you feeling?”
“I feel good! Everything is good. I am enjoying myself. I appreciate your trust.”
“And I appreciate you. Thank you for jumping in and killing your role. I feel like I can breathe with you around,” Etta let out a loud sigh. “If you ever have a moment where you are like this hoe throwing too much at me, please let me know. It can be overwhelming and because I am trying to share the load, I don’t want to transfer that to you.”
“Girl,” I dried my hand on a paper towel then tossed it. “I’ma speak my mind so you don’t have to worry about that part, but I will. I promise.”
She smiled. “What time is the party tomorrow?”
“Three! It really starts at four, but I’m telling everybody three because you know niggas.”
We shared a laugh. I clocked out for the day and hopped in my car. I was off, but I wasn’t really off because Zion’s tenth birthday is tomorrow, and I had so much shit to do in preparation. I wasn’t complaining though because I was willing to do whatever to make sure his day was perfect.
I readjustedthe balloon then climbed off the table I was standing on. I shifted my head to the right then looked over at Jade. “Is that crooked or I’m tripping.”
“Hmmm,” she mimicked my head motion. “Nah. We straight. It looks good!”
I released a quick breath then looked around. The event decorator canceled on me around midnight due to a family emergency. While I understood, I was human, so I was irritated. Instead of crying, I rallied my people to get this done. The enemy was not going to win. I was thankful the decorator still dropped off the custom items she’d already prepared.
I planned a full morning with Zion, from breakfast to gifts, and a little shopping for both his birthday and back to school. Since the plans changed, I was only able to open gifts with him before heading out. He knew he was having a party but had no idea what that entailed. Vayce came over to help and so Zion wouldn’t be alone, he was spending the morning with him. I trusted Vayce, but I was still nervous to leave Zion so soon. When he made it over, Zy damn near put me out the house talking about how they needed ‘guy time’. Between then and now, I’d sent so many messages to them both that they collectively told me to leave them alone.
Mama, Jade, Valen, and I had been here at Harvest Hills Rec Center since seven this morning. It was the perfect space, newly built with two basketball courts as well as a blank canvas room. We would have the tournaments in the gym and his actual party in the room. To play off March Madness and baby boy’s love for basketball, we themed the party July Madness. Everybody was to dress in their favorite basketball team jersey or player. Zion gave me creative control, and we were doing our big one. I couldn’t wait to see his reaction later.
Each of us had a job. Jade was blowing up balloons, I was tying them into the arches, Mama was doing whatever she could, but mainly table décor with Valen. She was in real estate, but I could easily see interior decorating being her side hustle. She came in and retouched everything making the decorations look even better than the work of the woman I booked. This morning was our first time meeting in person, and the vibes were better than they were over the phone.
“Is that boy coming?”
I placed my hands on my hips. “What boy, Ma?”
“His sorry excuse for a daddy,” she sassed like I knew who she was talking about to begin with.
“Supposedly,” I took down almost a full bottle of water. “I sent him an invitation and so did Zy. I called him this morning to see if he knew of any other planner. He texted me and said he was busy. That was at six. It’s almost eleven, so I guess he's still busy,” I shrugged.
“Mm. Mm. Mm.” Mama shook her head in disgust as she organized the cheesecake parfait cups on the dessert table. She’d made them in the form of little basketball goals at the top and it was so nice. The six-foot table would be covered in sweets, and I knew every one of them would be gone.
“He gone be devastated when that boy he calls himself liking leaves him for Teddy’s daughter.”
The entire room paused. Mama exhaled realizing she’d let two cats out the bag. Jade, Valen, and I moseyed our way in her direction.
“Ma, how you know Mr. Teddy's business? You sleeping with him?” I gave her a gross face like Zion hadn’t already told me.
She looked over at us from the top of her glasses then smirked. “I am not sleeping with him. Teddy is my friend, and we like to have a nice time from time to time.”
“Ma, please. I don’t want to hear that,” Jade waved her hand, putting candy in one of the bags.
Valen reached forward to slap Mama’s hand. “I know that’s right Miss Lane. You grown. Tell them you can have a friend or two.”
V playfully licked her tongue out at me and Jade, then rested her arm on my shoulder.
“I sure can.”
I nudged Jade knowing what I was about to say was going to piss Mama off. “So, what about Mother Humphrey?”
