Rock Chick Reborn

by Kristen Ashley

  “I’ll be doin’ that.”

  “Good.”

  I saw my house on the block so I said, “Almost home. Got pride to give and college lectures to speechify.”

  Another chuckle before, “Call me later, tell me how it goes.”

  “Will do.”

  “As you know, girls are back with me tonight. I’ll find out their schedules and if there’s an opening when they’re doin’ something else with someone else somewhere else, we’ll fill it.”

  That made me feel warm all over. “Works for me.”

  “Later, baby. Thanks for sharing this news with me.”

  I hit the garage door opener. “Thanks for listening to it. Have fun with your girls.”

  “Will do. ’Bye, sweetheart.”

  “’Bye, Moses.”

  We disconnected. I drove into my garage and sat in my car while I hit the door opener again to close it. I didn’t get out until the door was down.

  Old habits.

  I’d barely walked into the house before I heard Sniff shout from the basement, “That you, Shirleen?”

  “You better hope so,” I shouted back, dumped my Chloe on the kitchen bar, but kept hold of the report as I walked to the steps to the basement.

  I went down to see two tall, good-looking boys sprawled on the sectional with game controllers in their hands, attention riveted to the TV and after-school junk consumption evidence all over the coffee table in front of them.

  “Pause,” I ordered.

  Not even a hesitation, they paused the game, then their eyes came to me.

  God, my boys were such good boys.

  I looked to Roam. “Just got back from rappin’ with Mr. Robinson.”

  His expression shifted from alert to wary but he said not a word.

  Sniff, however, as usual, wasn’t silent. “Oh shit.”

  “Apparently,” I walked closer to them and tossed the report among the chip bags and cookie packaging on the square coffee table that sat in the middle of the sectional, “you wrote a report he had no clue how to grade.”

  Roam’s gaze dropped to the papers then shot back to me.

  “Because it was so good,” I finished.

  “Whoa,” Sniff muttered.

  Roam remained silent and stoic.

  In the early days, he’d let things through, give things away.

  He’d been among the Hot Bunch so long, he’d learned when he wanted to hide something, how to make sure it remained hidden.

  It worked my nerves.

  But whatever.

  I looked between them both. “I’m gonna say this once and I want it heard. Are you both listening to me?”

  “Yeah, Shirleen,” Sniff answered.

  “Yeah,” Roam grunted.

  “Are you listening good?” I pushed.

  “Yeah, Shirleen.” Sniff was getting impatient, maybe to get back to his game, probably because he knew a Shirleen Lecture was coming and he wanted it over.

  Roam just nodded.

  “When I got you, and I knew I was gonna be able to keep you, I set money aside. I didn’t know what it was for. Didn’t care. Just knew it was for you.”

  They both stiffened, even Roam.

  I kept at them.

  “I know you don’t ask for anything. Don’t expect anything. Maybe don’t want anything you can’t earn yourself. But that’s not how families work. Families look out for each other. And we’re family. And I know you two can take care of yourselves, but you gotta give a woman something, and what I want is to give something to you. We had the talk, I didn’t push it. We’re gonna have it again because I’ve been informed, Roam, that you got some serious talent with writing. And it didn’t escape me with either of you that you get yourself some good grades even if you don’t try real hard. So I want you both to think about usin’ that money to go to college.”

  “I’d rather use it to get some wheels,” Sniff muttered.

  “I’m buyin’ you both a car when you graduate,” I reminded him.

  “I’d rather use it to get some shit-hot wheels,” Sniff amended.

  “Boy, you don’t quit cussin’ in front of me, I’m gonna knock you into outer space,” I snapped.

  Sniff grinned at me.

  I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, drew in a breath, let it out, and looked back at them.

  “You two can be anything you want to be,” I said quietly.

  They stiffened again.

  I powered through it.

  “And I want no limits on that. We don’t talk about it and we don’t have to, but I’m just gonna say it is not lost on me the limits you’ve had in your lives and I want you to know, right here, right now, those limits are done. You wanna go to college, it’s yours. You don’t, that’s your choice, but I want you to think real hard on that and know even if it takes a while for you to come to that decision, the resources are there for you to have it. You want something else for your lives, it’s your life, you get to make that choice. I’m just sayin’ I want you to discuss that with me. Bottom line is, you got choices. There are no limits. I don’t care if I’m covering your asses for years of medical school and residency. Your futures include options. Give me the privilege of giving that to you. Don’t limit yourselves because you got any concerns at all about taking it.”

  They said nothing.

  “Am I heard?” I asked.

  “You’re heard, Shirleen,” Roam rumbled.

  “Yeah, you’re heard,” Sniff put in.

  I looked to Roam. “That report, son, I read it. Nothin’ else to say but to share the fact I got so much pride for you, it hurts me inside havin’ to contain it and not let it explode all over the place.”

  “Shirleen,” he whispered.

  He wasn’t hiding anything right then. The goodness coming to me from him came strong and pure.

  God, I loved that boy.

  Sniff punched his own heart with his fist twice then reached out and punched Roam in the arm with it. “Way to go, my brother.”

  I loved both of them.

  “Piss off,” Roam muttered.

  And a little bit more eked out.

  He was embarrassed.

  I fought grinning as I ordered, “Don’t tell your brother to piss off.”

  “He’s annoying,” Roam returned.

  “He’s proud of you too,” I shot back.

  “I totally am,” Sniff stated.

  Suddenly Roam pushed up from his lounge and clipped, “Shut up.”

  “Don’t tell me to shut up when—” Sniffed started.

  He stopped talking when Roam pointed in his face then pointed to the ceiling and hissed, “Shut up.”

  Sniff shut up, tensed, then both boys shot off the couch like rockets.

  My heart dropped to my feet.

  “Stay down here,” Roam ordered quietly as he and Sniff swiftly made their way to the stairs.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Got your phone?” Sniff asked as answer.

  “No,” I told him.

  He dug his phone out of his pocket and tossed it to me.

  Oh no.

  “Boys,” I snapped in a whisper.

  Roam was four steps up, Sniff two down from him, when Roam halted and turned to me.

  “Stay. Down. Here. And quiet,” he commanded on his own whisper.

  If I wasn’t so freaked, I would lament all the time I allowed that boy to hang with the Hot Bunch learning to be so damned bossy.

  Instead I was freaked.

  Because something was up.

  And in the life of the RCHB, something being up could be anything.

  I mean, I’d shot a man in my own home because the RCHB (that time it was mostly HB with the RC dragged in) had some big shit going down.

  Was I going to let my teenage boys slink, unarmed, up to face uncertain anything and wait downstairs for them?

  Hell no.

  I started to follow when I heard squealed, “Well look at you, sugar bunches of love! You get mor
e handsome each time I see you!”

  Daisy.

  Daisy had broken into my house.

  As fast as my high heels would take me, I stomped up my stairs.

  Nope.

  Not Daisy.

  The Rock Chicks.

  Every one of them.

  Daisy. Indy. Jet. Roxie. Jules. Ava. Stella. Sadie. Ally. And Annette thrown in, I hoped, for comic relief.

  Because we’d need some comedy.

  Seeing as I was about to lose my mind!

  “Did you all break into my house?” I asked furiously.

  “Well no, sugar,” Daisy answered calmly. “You gave me your key to check on things when you had that staycation that time Vance and Jules took the boys campin’ for spring break.”

  Shit.

  “I—” I began.

  “Zip it,” Ally ordered.

  I stared daggers at her and would learn quickly I should not have wasted time staring daggers and instead should have maybe gone for my stun gun when I found myself bum-rushed by ten Rock Chicks through my great room, down my hall, into my bedroom.

  “All’s good, just Rock Chick business,” Jet called behind her to my boys before she slammed the door, turned to rest her back to it and glared at me. “Two dates and no spill?” she whisper-hissed. “Are you serious?”

  “Yeah, I mean, are you seriously serious?” Roxie demanded.

  I crossed my arms on my chest. “Can’t do a freeze out and spill.”

  “Oh. My. Goddess!” Annette screeched. “This room is fuckin’ phat! I mean, I can see myself . . . everywhere.”

  She did a whirl, checking herself out in a variety of directions.

  What could I say? It was my bedroom. I decorated in glamor.

  And glamor meant mirror.

  “Annette,” Ally clipped.

  Annette stopped whirling and grinned at me. “Even your furniture has mirrors. And you got yourself a purple padded headboard. Sah-weet.”

  “It’s lavender,” I corrected.

  “Whatevs,” she replied. “It’s sah-weet!”

  “Can we stop talking about Shirleen’s headboard?” Indy asked.

  “Unless that headboard’s seen some action,” Ava added.

  “What kinda girl do you think I am?” I asked. “We’ve only had two dates.”

  “A healthy, red-blooded one,” Ava answered.

  “Have you kissed him?” Roxie asked.

  “Have you slept with him?” Ally asked.

  “What’s he look like?” Stella asked.

  “Is he tall?” Sadie asked.

  “Is he hot?” Indy asked.

  “Is he sweet?” Jet asked.

  “Are those pillowcases satin?” Annette asked.

  “Oh for goodness sake, let her speak,” Jules demanded of the Rock Chicks. She looked to me. “By the way, you should know, I know him. In a professional capacity. And I approve.”

  From Jules, that said a lot. She was a social worker at King’s Shelter for kids.

  I was still ticked at her because she’d played her part in putting me out there.

  “He’s tall. He’s hot. He’s sweet. I’ve kissed him. I have not slept with him,” I answered the room at large. “And now you can all just get on out of my house.”

  Roxie plopped her ass on the low bench at the foot of my bed covered in purply-gray, patterned velvet, declaring, “Shirleen, you cannot be pissed we set you up with a tall, sweet hot guy.”

  “I can’t?” I asked.

  “No,” she answered immediately.

  “Did he really ram his grocery cart into yours at the store?” Sadie queried.

  “Yes, he did,” I bit off at Sadie.

  “Hot,” Indy murmured.

  “Totally,” Ava replied.

  “He’s a good man. He’s a loving man. He’s got two daughters he adores. A job that’s more a calling. A nice home he let his oldest decorate,” I allowed myself to share.

  “That’s fantastic,” Jules said.

  “And he could have found out who I was and what I did and excused himself to go to the bathroom and never came back,” I finished.

  “Oh please,” Indy drawled while throwing herself on my bed, totally unpoofing the perfect fold of my duvet.

  So I narrowed my eyes at her.

  “Like Lee and the boys didn’t investigate him to within an inch of his life,” she continued.

  That was when my eyes, of their own accord, bugged out at her.

  “Yeah, and followed him for days,” Stella put in.

  Say . . .

  What?

  “And then Lee had it out with him face to face to make sure it was all good and he wasn’t gonna find out about your history and pull a loser move like that,” Jet added.

  Well, I knew that last part.

  “They investigated him?” I asked.

  “Of course,” Indy answered.

  “Does he know this?” I asked.

  “Yep. Didn’t care. Just wanted to go to dinner with you,” Roxie shared.

  Good Lord.

  He didn’t care.

  Moses didn’t care the Hot Bunch had invaded his privacy, his history.

  Followed him.

  He just wanted to go out to dinner with me.

  I jumped when a pounding came at the door and through it Roam yelled, “Shirleen, you okay?”

  “Those boys are so cute,” Daisy whispered. “They so love their Shirleen.”

  “I’m fine!” I yelled back, hoping he hadn’t overheard anything. “And our talk is over. You can go back to playin’ your game.”

  No hesitation before, “You sure?”

  “We’re her girls!” Daisy shouted. “Of course she’s sure. It’s just girl talk, sugar bunch! Go on back to your game!”

  I gave it a beat until I sensed Roam leaving and turned to Jules. “I had a conversation with his history teacher today. He reported to me Roam’s an exceptionally gifted writer.”

  “Whoa. Wow. Really?” she asked but smiled and said, “Cool,” before I could answer.

  “I’ve reopened discussion about college with both of them,” I informed her.

  Her smile got bigger. “Awesome.”

  “Uh, as great as it is Roam’s exceptionally gifted at something, it’s not news, he’s a fantastic kid. But we’re off hot-guy topic,” Ally butted in.

  I looked to Ally. “I’ve said all I’m gonna say.”

  “You totally have not said all you’re gonna say,” she shot back.

  “Yo, bitch,” Annette called, and I looked to my bed to see her standing at my bedside table, the drawer open. “I approve of your choice of vibrator, but you got yourself a hot guy and you don’t have any rubbers in here.”

  Only Annette could get away with snooping through a woman’s drawers with said woman right in the room with her.

  That was to say she actually couldn’t, but she was such a good-natured hippie-chick, you couldn’t get mad at her.

  “I’ll get Lee to buy you some,” Indy offered.

  My eyes darted to her. “You will not.”

  “Shirleen,” Roxie started hesitantly, “perhaps the ship has sailed on pregnancy, but there’s more than one reason to use prophylactics.”

  “I don’t need sex education courses at age fifty-three,” I snapped at Roxie.

  “Then why don’t you have condoms?” Jet asked.

  “Because Moses hasn’t even stepped foot in my house, much less my bedroom,” I said to Jet. “And we’re not there. We’re taking it slow.”

  There was general vocal merriment to this comment before Ava murmured, “He crashed his grocery cart into hers. They so aren’t taking it slow.”

  “Oh my God, we get to do a new pool. I’m in for fifty bucks for Shirleen gettin’ the business on her next date,” Sadie decreed.

  “I see . . .” Daisy began, tapping a long, French manicured nail that had cherry blossoms painted across it on her lower lip, “date number four.”

  “Grocery cart ramming, there
’s no bet here. It’s totally going to be the next date,” Stella announced. “It’s actually a shocker it wasn’t the first date.”

  “Teenage boy blocks,” Ava accurately surmised.

  I had to stop this even if the famous Rock Chick Getting the Business Pool was started by me so I deserved this ridiculousness.

  “He knows Leon beat me, sexually abused me and piled a load of shit on me. He wants me to understand he’s not Leon. So he’s dedicated to taking it slow,” I retorted.

  “Sister girl,” Daisy whispered.

  That was when I felt the change in the room.

  And with it, I felt the gentle eyes on me.

  I swallowed.

  Then I announced, “I’m not sure I’m worthy of him. He’s dedicated to proving I am. It’s going to take some time. But he wants this, and I definitely want it so we’re gonna give it a shot.”

  “You’re scared,” Ally noted softly.

  “I’m terrified. Two dates, I never had it so good,” I replied.

  “This makes me happy,” Jules put in.

  I looked to her. “That’s part of the scary. It makes me happy. But most of the scary is it seems I’m making him happy, and he’s the kind of man I don’t ever want that to stop.”

  “That’s pure Shirleen. More worried about giving than getting,” Indy mumbled.

  I was struck.

  “Say what?” I asked her.

  She grinned gently at me. “You put the super-bad into badass, Shirleen. But you’re the most selfless person I know.” Her grin strengthened, but didn’t get less gentle. “Outside all these chickies in this room, of course.”

  “We’re so happy for you, we could spit,” Sadie declared, a little grin on her fairy princess face.

  “Look at this!” Annette cried, and I looked in the direction of her voice to see she had the massive mirror that sat on the floor opened to expose my enormous and perfectly laid out jewelry display inside. She was swinging the door open and closed. “You can, like, accessorize then check yourself out to see if it works, like, right away.”

  “Annette,” Roxie called impatiently.

  Annette turned from the mirror, closing it as she did, and locked eyes on me.

  “And woman, if I ever hear you say you’re not worthy of anything or anyone, I’m gonna shake you until your teeth rattle. You’ve got a beautiful soul. Nothing dims that. Not one thing. It might have lived in the shadows for a while, but it surprises nobody that it broke through. So don’t you dare talk yourself down, not in front of your girls. Not in front of anyone. Are you understanding me?”