Page 70 of Girl, We Go Together
I walked lightly to the front door, looked out the peephole, and saw a white man standing on the other side of the door, dressed in a Stanley Steemer uniform shirt. I pulled my robe closed across my body before cracking the door open.
“Yes?” I said lowly.
“Ms. Carmichael?”
“Yes?” I said, lower than the first time.
“We are here to install new carpet all through your apartment.”
I swung the door open wider and just stared at the man in disbelief.
“You must have the wrong apartment. I didn’t place this order, and I don’t have the money for this.”
“No, no,” he quickly cut me off, “Mr. Crawford set this up, and it’s already paid for. He even paid a little extra for us to move the furniture around for you so it’s not in our way.”
I smiled at the news I had just gotten.
“Wow.” I covered my mouth in shock and stepped aside to let the four workers in. “About how long will this take?”
The man looked around. “It’s just this living space, the hallway, and then a bedroom, right?”
“Yup, that’s all.”
He squinted like he was thinking.
“With us four, give or take about four to five hours.”
I figured that I could take Oriana somewhere during that time to get us out of the house.
“Is that okay?” he asked while I stood there like a deer in headlights, thinking.
“Yup. I have to get me and my daughter dressed, and then I will be out of y’all’s way.”
“That works.”
I went into my bedroom to give Kassidy a call to thank him. But he didn’t answer, so I decided to get Oriana, and I dressed for the day. I didn’t know where we were going, but there was so much free stuff to do in the city that I was sure I could find something for us. I decided to check my bank account to see if I had a bit of wiggle room, just in case I had to spend some money.
When my account loaded, my eyes shot open. There were nine hundred and twenty dollars there that I did not put. When I saw that it was from a deposit labeled NY CHILD SUPPORT, I almost jumped up and down in place. I hadn’t heard from my case worker or anything. I hadn’t checked my mail in a while either.
I felt a sense of relief knowing I had this money, and my check hadn’t even hit my account yet either.
“Baby girl, Mommy can breathe a little.”
She had no idea what I was saying, but she was smiling anyway. I rushed to get us ready so we could go get some cleaning supplies for the house. With the new carpet being installed, I wanted to slowly but surely bring my place back tolife. After hauling her stroller down the stairs, I had to take a little break on the ground level. Once I got my breath together, I was eager to get outside and head to the Target that wasn’t too far from the house.
When I started to push her down the ramp, a horn honking got my attention. I looked toward the street and saw Kassidy’s car double-parked. He had stepped out of the car, and I looked up at his stature as he walked in my direction with a bouquet of pretty pink roses in his hand.
“Kassidyyyy,” I squealed.
“Caylaaa,” he squealed back playfully.
He walked up to the curb and then handed me the flowers.
“Little mamas,” he greeted with a smile when Oriana looked up at him.
“This is too much,” I admitted as I nuzzled my nose into the bouquet.
Between the new carpet being installed and the popping up on me with flowers, I didn’t know what to say. Of course, the first thing out of my mouth should have been thank you, but I was still smiling widely over everything.
