Page 88 of Girl, We Go Together
The bathroom door opened, and I pulled back the curtain to see Cayla placing my towel on the sink, and then she came and handed me my rag. I grabbed it from her and pulled her closer to me. Deeply, I kissed Cayla. Her heart still being made of gold after everything she had been through was impressive.
I could literally see her brown cheeks blush after we finished kissing.
“I should drag your ass all the way into this shower with me, but you’re lucky my stepchild is in the next room.”
She looked away bashfully. “I couldn’t fit in there with you even if I wanted to.”
I hated how she would make small comments like that. To me, we could make whatever work.
“Stop doing that, mama. Stop speaking bad about yourself. You gotta speak life into yourself for you to start believing it. You are the shit, and don’t let anyone make you feel otherwise.”
A light coat of tears covered her brown eyes as she stared into mine. When she looked away, I grabbed her chin with my wet hand and made her face me.
“Start believing that, aight?”
She shook her head up and down, and when she did, I kissed her button nose. She then left me alone in the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I thought about the bathroom connected to my bedroom back home. It was a walk-in, stand-up shower. It was very spacious because when we had it built, we anticipated Nana moving down there as she got older. The shower was bigenough for a whole chair to fit inside. The truth was, as she got older, those feet of hers started bothering her more and more.
I didn’t want to get too much into my thoughts, so I hurried my shower session up. The steam in the room fogged the mirror. I hated getting dressed in a hot ass bathroom, but I couldn’t just step out of the bathroom in my towel with Oriana in the very next room. I tossed on my pajamas and walked into the living room to find Oriana in her highchair, fucking a chicken bone up. I was about to walk into the kitchen to assist Cayla, but she quickly stopped me.
“You can go sit on the couch. I’ll bring you your plate.”
I wasn’t going to argue with her. She was on her catering shit, so I was letting her have it. I flipped through the channels, waiting for her to bring my plate. And when she did, my stomach growled instantly. I dropped my head and silently prayed. I was big on prayer, but most of the time I kept it to myself. I loved the Lord with everything in me, but I wasn’t the kind of person to push my beliefs on others. I was waiting for Cayla to sit beside me before I took a bite. When she sat next to me and started praying, I snapped my neck in her direction. She was loving God out loud, and that was a turn on.
As soon as she saidAmen,I stabbed my fork into the baked mac and cheese and took a bite.
“Mmmm,” I hummed out as I chewed.
Her ass could cook. And here was another thing added to the list of reasons I was locking her ass down.
“It’s good?” she asked as she took small bites from her plate.
“I should have known from the way little mamas cleaned her bone over there.”
We both cut eyes at Oriana, and she was using the chicken bone as a damn toothpick. Together, we laughed. The aura in the room was a smooth one; it was one that I could see myselfwanting forever. In that moment, I knew I wanted her and the child she came with forever.
Chapter 30
Cayla
For the next six months, Kass became the means of transportation for getting to work and for Oriana getting to daycare. Her car seat was now a permanent fixture in the back seat of his car. Lying next to him every night just felt natural. And cooking for him felt like something that I had been doing my entire life. I was looking at the clock, which moved slowly at work. I had an hour left, and it was dragging.
“Cayla? Can I speak with you for a minute?”
My boss grabbed my attention, causing me to drop the pen that I had been playing with on the table.
“Uhh yeah.”
I wasn’t too sure what this talk would be about, but it was Friday, and honestly, I didn’t need any bad news that would fuck up my weekend.
We walked through the groomer’s part of the clinic as she led the way to her office. She held her hand out for me to have a seat in one of the chairs on the other end of her desk before she closed the door. Every time I came late or called in because Oriana wasn’t feeling well played in my head. I was just now starting to get my life together; I didn’t need a setback. Lord, not now.
“So, Rachel retired, and we need to fill her position. Are you still interested in being a veterinarian?”
I stared at her for a bit, totally shocked by the offer. “Um, yes!”
She smiled before flipping open the folder on her desk. “Okay, great. So, you will start off as an assistant, and Amanda will train you. Once you get past the course hours needed, you will be flying solo. So, this shift in your position will start on Monday. Oh,” she paused as she picked through the paperwork, “before I forget, here is your pay.” She slid a piece of paper across the desk. “Will that work?”
Seeing all the numbers in the annual salary staring up at me made tears immediately form in my eyes.
