In the Details

by H. Claire Taylor

  “No,” she said. “It doesn’t. Not even a little bit.”

  “See, Joshua?” Jeremy said, “I told you she had a clear mind on her.”

  Jesus nodded once. “By the way, sister, I thought you might like to know that since becoming more acquainted with the vernacular of the times, and having learned from”—he cleared his throat—“recent mistakes, I’ve landed on a slogan that I believe might actually change the hearts and minds about the homeless population.”

  She had to give it to Jesus, he was nothing if not perseverant. Even while his jaw was visibly swollen from the fish incident, he insisted on helping. It also wasn’t hard to see how that’d had gotten him killed the first time around. “Yes?”

  He adjusted his feet to shoulder-width apart and inhaled to steady himself. “Now, don’t naysay it till you let it simmer.”

  When would she be able to go to bed? “Okay.”

  “Here it is. ‘They’re transients, not trans-ain’ts.’ ”

  “Wha—”

  “Upp-upp-upp!” Jesus held a finger to her lips. “Let it simmer.”

  She glanced at Jeremy. Surely someone with his marketing knowledge would know that good slogans shouldn’t have to simmer to make any goddamn sense. Even she knew that. Hell, Kumal probably knew it, too.

  But Jeremy wasn’t the backup she was looking for. He stared at her expectantly, his brows raised excitedly, his mouth slightly open. “Let it simmer,” he whispered, nodding slowly.

  Then he threw his arm around his roommate’s shoulders, steering him toward the exit. He rustled Jesus’s blond hair, murmuring, “That really is a winner, Joshua. Don’t let her or anyone else convince you otherwise.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Quentin sat on a stool by the counter of It is Risen, wolfing down a BLT while Jessica counted the cash in the register, waiting for the next customer to come in. “Of course you’re right,” she said. “I’ve told you this. But it’s been a week, and I still don’t have the time to even begin the hiring process.”

  “I get that it freaks you out,” Quentin said. “But … get the hell over it?”

  She snapped her head around, and he stared at her with zero remorse.

  “He’s right,” said Judith, moseying up and leaning against the back counter to face the other two. “Get over it.”

  She lowered her voice to keep from being overheard. “I just don’t know how I’m supposed to create a job post that attracts angels.”

  “You’re overthinking it,” said Judith. “Did you advertise for angels for NAO?”

  Jessica jotted down the total and closed the register drawer. “No.”

  “And yet somehow the founding members were all angels. Well, except for me.” She jabbed a thumb toward the floor and blew a raspberry.

  Jessica held up her hands. “See? You’re the only member I personally recruited. Kate rounded up all the rest. Clearly I’m the worst possible person to find more angels.”

  Two business women approached the counter and Judith moved in to handle it.

  Jessica moved closer to Quentin to continue the conversation. “Maybe I just need to get you to do it.”

  He paused with the sandwich shoved halfway into his mouth and narrowed his eyes at her before biting off a chunk and shaking his head firmly.

  She pouted her lips. “Please? Just one more little bit of help?” She knew asking it of him was wrong, but it felt so right.

  “No.”

  She grunted. “I thought you were supposed to be unable to resist helping me.”

  “I am. But this wouldn’t help you. It would be considered enabling you. Besides, just because I’m an angel doesn’t mean I’m your slave.”

  They both cringed uncomfortably, and Quentin added, “I didn’t mean it like that. But now that we’re on the topic, I’m gonna pile that on top. I’m not going to hire people for you because keeping you from learning this process doesn’t help and because, in general, and I’m not talking about you, so don’t get all defensive, white folks tend to expect black folks to help them for free and get none of the glory. I’m done contributing to that.”

  “For what it’s worth, I’d exploit any angel’s help right now, regardless of race.”

  He leaned forward and set a hand on her shoulder, looking her in the eyes. “I know you would. And I know that if Chris were here, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation because he’d already have done everything for you.”

  She glared at him and let him sit with it.

  When he went back to eating, she said, “Hey, can I ask you something?”

  He nodded, sucking coke through his straw.

  “Does it bother you that I’m white?” It was such a silly question. She couldn’t help being white just like she couldn’t help being the daughter of God or a woman or really into wildlife. But still, there were probably people who were bothered by the fact that a white person was claiming to be God’s daughter. Sure, there was a long history of white people claiming a direct line to God, but they were all crazy, and she was the real deal.

  She figured Quentin wouldn’t care, since their relationship transcended race, but now that the ludicrous idea had popped into her head, she just had to be sure.

  Quentin said, “Yeah, it does.”

  “Huh?”

  “Was that not the answer you wanted?”

  “I just thought that since you knew me …”

  He shrugged. “Oh, yeah, sure. I mean I’m not mad at you for it. I think it’s a little shitty of God to feed into the stereotype that white is right and so on.”

  “But I can’t help it,” she said, feeling around for where this miscommunication had taken place. He had to have misunderstood the question.

  “Neither can I,” he said. “Hey, don’t get worked up. I get it. I mean, it’s disappointing, but I’m used to that. God hasn’t exactly been the go-to guy for black Americans. Or really, black anyone.”

  “You believe in him though, right?”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “I mean I believe He exists, obviously. I’m an angel. But do I believe in Him in the way I believe that if I needed bail money I could rely on Chris to send it? Nope.”

  “Wow,” she said, feeling her hackles lower. “That makes me pretty sad.”

  He grabbed his sandwich again. “Then you’re starting to get it.”

  “Maybe next time around,” she added. “Maybe God’s next child will be black.”

  Quentin nodded. “I remember you telling me that God gave you miracles the world is ready for. Obviously He knows a thing or two about what people want, listening to prayers all the time—”

  “He doesn’t really listen,” she said, before quickly adding, “don’t tell anyone.”

  He nodded succinctly. “That makes sense. Either way, He could probably tell that there wasn’t a chance in heaven, hell, or earth that this country was ready to listen to a black messiah.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, which it probably won’t, I don’t think this country’s ready to listen to a female messiah, either.”

  “It might be if you ever said anything worth listening to.”

  She groaned and rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky I like you.”

  Judith inserted herself back into the conversation, picking up where she’d left off. “Why don’t you just hire a bunch of NAOs? You already know most of them are angels, and those women would do anything for you. Seriously, it’s sad. They would probably leave jobs that paid a living wage to move across the country and live with four other roommates in a two-bedroom apartment just to work here if you asked.”

  “Can I quote you on that for the advertisement?” Jessica said. But Judith did raise a good point. And it would be nice to have people she trusted around her all the time. Would people notice if she only hired females? Probably, but in this town, it might be a plus. The titty bars got away with it. She’d just have to find a way to make the case that only females could do the jobs she had in mind. Was there anything e
specially hazardous to penises she could include in the job description?

  Having to work with her mother might qualify.

  “Do I have anything in my teeth?” Quentin asked, baring them for her.

  “A little lettuce right there.” She pointed on herself.

  “Perfect.” He didn’t bother to dig it out. “They just hired a new manager who tries too hard to be down with all the black employees. If I have something in my teeth and grin at him all day, he might just have a nervous breakdown trying to decide if he should mention it or not.”

  “That’s petty as hell,” Judith said, then she held up her hand and Quentin high-fived her.

  “Gotta get my kicks where I can.” He winked at Judith, grabbed his bag, and left.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Jessica had cleaned her condo—thoroughly cleaned it, including dusting, wiping down the microwave, and scrubbing off the invisible scum from the shower—for the first time since moving in. It only required one night of not sleeping at all to fit it into her schedule.

  It seemed important, though. She wanted to exude as much togetherness as she could for the new hires, even though it wouldn’t be long before they stepped into the trenches and discovered the messy truth of her life. And even though they’d already seen her living space in the NAO house and knew the deal.

  Judith and Destinee were already there, downing their second round of beers at Jessica’s kitchen island when the others arrived in close succession.

  When Jessica had first conceived this welcome dinner for her new hires, it had seemed fitting that the food should be from It is Risen, almost as part of the initiation. But within minutes of welcoming Tamara, Pippa, Maddy, and Jade into her home, she decided the menu was actually sort of creepy.

  “Welcome to my home! I’d love to have me for dinner!”

  She regretted miracling the food, but then she remembered that she didn’t know how to cook regular gluten-free foods, and Tamara and Maddy were two of her legitimately gluten-free NAO sisters.

  “This place is so nice, Jessica!” Maddy said after hugging Judith hello and reminding Destinee of her name.

  “Thanks,” Jessica said, feeling genuinely happy to see her old friends.

  “It’s not hers,” Judith said. “It’s Jameson Fractal’s. He just lets her live in it.”

  “Judith!” Jessica snapped.

  “What? You seriously want them thinking you can afford a place like this off your revenue from the bakery while they’re being paid next to nothing?”

  Jessica sighed. “I guess not.” She turned to the guests who had spread out around the island and were helping themselves at her invitation. “It’s true, I couldn’t afford this place. But don’t tell anyone it’s Jameson’s. Actually, we were supposed to have him sign it over a while ago, but we still haven’t gotten around to it. It would just look bad if it got out to the press that I was living for free.”

  “I think it’s romantic,” said Jade, and Tamara nodded along. “No guy I’ve ever dated has put me up in a place like this indefinitely.”

  “We’re not really dating,” Jessica clarified. “He’s a friend, and we spend a lot of time together, and—”

  “Y’all made out,” said Tamara.

  “Yes,” Jess conceded. “We did do that, but we’re not actually romantically involved.”

  “Ohhh, right,” said Pippa. “Because you can’t have—ouch!”

  Judith had kicked her right in the shin to silence her before nodding subtly toward Destinee, who wasn’t yet privy to that unfortunate aspect of Jessica’s existence.

  Jade picked up the conversation again, “I have to say, I think the all-female bakery thing is a great idea. Strong personal branding.”

  Jessica wanted to take the compliment as it was, but accepting compliments wasn’t one of her God-given strengths. “It wasn’t intentional. I tried to hire some men, and it didn’t work out well, so I just hired people I already knew I could trust. And you all happened to be women.”

  “Big coincidence,” mumbled Judith before taking a sip.

  “Right, right,” said Maddy. “You hired three guys who stole from you. I think I read about that online.”

  “Technically only one stole from me. The accountant, the one you’re replacing.”

  Maddy smiled and nodded, appearing satisfied. “I like the bar to be low when I show up to a new job.”

  “And what about me?” said Tamara. “Who am I replacing?”

  Jessica chuckled. “You’re replacing this big, hairy Croatian guy who left the walk-in open all night.”

  “And me?” said Jade.

  “If you have a single ounce of common decency in you, you’ll outdo your predecessor who thought it would be a good idea to include an image of me deep throating a baguette on the homepage.”

  Destinee added, “Don’t forget the one where you had a black leather saddle on Jesus and were riding him.”

  “I can never forget that,” Jessica said, remembering the horribly inaccurate depiction of her half-brother’s appearance, “no matter how hard I try.”

  Jade cringed. “Please tell me it wasn’t a GIF.”

  Jessica nodded solemnly. “It was. It was a GIF of me riding vaguely BDSM Jesus.”

  “That’s going to be hard to top,” said Jade, still grimacing.

  “Was that a pun?” Judith asked.

  Pippa chimed in. “And what about me? Who am I replacing?”

  “No one,” said Jessica.

  “Me,” said Judith. “So I can take more days off to sit at home, be poor, and read obfuscated books like my English degree intended.”

  Jessica arched a brow at her. “You done?”

  Judith shrugged.

  “We just need a third person to switch off with Destinee and Judith so they don’t have to work as much.”

  Destinee added, “And you, baby. You could use a break sometimes. If you have Tamara on prep and three of us who can help run the place, you can finally stop working seven days a week.”

  “Right,” said Jessica. “That too. Theoretically.”

  “No offense,” Judith said, which Jessica knew was more sarcasm than earnestness, “but you are not exactly miss sunshine after forty days of work and forty nights with no sleep. I know you can’t afford to give us real benefits, but having you out of my hair for an entire weekend while you were partying with Jameson was a lot like a paid time off.”

  “Drinks?” asked Destinee as she stood to get herself another.

  Once another round of beers was distributed (with two ciders in the mix), they migrated over to the living room, where there were more places to sit.

  Destinee led the toast. “Cheers to my new coworkers, even the ones I’ll probably never see.” She nodded toward Jade and Maddy, who sat next to each other on the couch.

  The day before, Jessica had googled “how to lead a team” over her fifteen-minute lunch break and come up with a whole list of structured discussions to conduct to “build team cohesion” and “engender trust between colleagues.”

  But none of them seemed appropriate now as Jade launched into a story of a website she’d created for a business called Baby’s First Gun.

  The conversation veered drastically, when, seemingly out of nowhere, Pippa said, “You know, if you decide to hire someone else, to do what I’m doing, I think Courtney would be great for the job.”

  Jessica felt her eye twitch. “Courtney … Wurst?” She struggled not to laugh through the question. While she’d reached a tenuous truce with her former bully for the sake of harmony in NAO, and because the girl did seem genuinely remorseful for the way she’d treated Jessica for so many years, the thought of hiring her was one that had never crossed her mind.

  “Holy fuckeroni,” Destinee yelled, the beer in her mouth dribbling down her front. She rubbed it into the fabric of her It is Risen T-shirt absentmindedly. Her astonished eyes turned to Jessica. “Did she just say Wurst? You wouldn’t hire a Wurst, right?”

&
nbsp; “No, Mom. Don’t worry,” she replied quickly before Destinee, who was four beers in, could decide it was fightin’ time and take to the streets. She decided it necessary to address the rest of the room who wasn’t aware of her mother’s deep history with the family. “My mom and her mom go way back.”

  “Now,” Destinee said, hardly able to sit still in the armchair, “that almost sounds like we were friends. And let me tell you, that ain’t the case. I beat Ruth’s ass twice, and I’ve been dreaming about a hat trick.”

  “Courtney has changed, Mom. Even she doesn’t like her mother anymore.”

  That gave Destinee something savory to chew on, and she fell silent long enough for Jessica to ask, “What’s she doing now?”

  “She’s down in San Antonio,” said Pippa. “She works for a local news station. She hates it, though. That’s why I thought she might like to come work for you.”

  “Eh,” said Jessica reluctantly, “it’s one thing for me to forgive her, it’s another thing for me to want to spend time with her. And my mom has a point. The rest of her family is still White Light, drinking straight from Jimmy’s silver troughs. That’s a whole lot of crazy I don’t care to invite into my life.”

  “Oh right, they worship pigs, huh?” said Pippa.

  Before Jessica could explain, Judith said, “Yep, except I think the word you’re looking for is ‘fuck.’ They fuck pigs.”