Page 61 of Girl, We Go Together
Another day, another dollar. I parked the mail truck at the corner and then had to walk back to deliver some packages to a couple of businesses on my route. The weather outside had my work shirt sticking to my chest. Lil Wayne bumped through my AirPods as I made my way down Fulton Street.
AM, weigh them, if they're short, take them
Right back and spray him, amen
Yeah, I just do my Wayne
And every time I do it, I do my thing, yeah
Believe that, like a true story
“Kassidyyyyyy,” Sandra, the daycare owner, sang as soon as I walked in, “how are you?” she added.
I snatched one AirPod out to give her my undivided attention.
“I've been okay, Sandra, just been taking things day by day, you know?”
“I know that’s right. Let me go and get you a water.” Sandra started to walk toward the kitchen in the daycare center.
Quickly, she had come to the front and handed me the water before walking off to the cubbies because some parents were there early to pick up their kids. She spoke to a woman whose back was facing me. She was putting a sweater on this little girl before putting her in a stroller.
“Cayla, can you please grab those packages from the mailman on your way out. Those are the kids' books and whatnot.”
I started placing the packages on the front desk, and when I looked up, I damn near dropped one of the boxes.
I hadn’t seen Cayla Carmichael since high school, and damn, the girl was just as beautiful as she was when I used to see her in the halls.
“Hey, I can take those from y?—”
When she got closer to me, I was sure the words caught in her throat. She squinted before a wide smile spread across her face.
“Kassidyyyyy,” she squealed before reaching for a hug.
I hit the delivered button on my scanner and pulled her full frame into a hug. Cayla was big boned, and I could see that she had more for a nigga to love up on. Back in school, she was always one of the prettiest and smartest girls to me. When our embrace ended, instantly, I went to her hands to see if I would catch a glimpse of a wedding or engagement ring. When I couldn’t find either, I opened my mouth.
“How you been?”
She twisted her mouth like she had so much to say, but instead, she kept it short. “Life has been life. I see you, Mr. Mailman. How have you been?”
I couldn’t stop smiling even if I wanted to. What were the fucking odds that I would bump into my high school crush? I don’t even think she knew that shit.
“Same shit, different day, really.”
She nodded like she got that. When one of the babies started fussing, we both turned around. It was the one she had just placed in the stroller.
“Sorry, Ms. Sandra, I don’t know what has been up with her lately,” Cayla apologized as she quickly walked to the back to get the baby.
After she pushed the stroller with the little girl to the front, I finally asked the question that I had been wanting to know since I saw her turn around.
“She’s your daughter?”
The little girl favored her, but it wasn’t that much to where I could just assume that she was the baby’s mother.
“Yup, this is Oriana,” she said with a smile that reeked of pride.
The little girl’s round eyes looked up at me, and then she turned her head to the side like she had seen me before. It tugged at the corners of my mouth because it was the cutest shit I had ever seen.
“What’s up, lil mama?”
