Little Petty Notions

by Rae Shawn

  We kind of fell back into how we used to be. Spending time together and just enjoying each other. But all good things have an issue at one point or another, right?

  10

  Tra'Mel

  When I made it to the office half an hour later, I went to work out my leg a bit. Ever since I ran into Jada again, my mind had been scrambled.

  I was running my business and that wasn't the problem. My leg was. The pain came more often than not because I'd gotten off routine.

  As I sat here stretching out the muscles and massaging the tendons, I made a vow; while whatever developed between Jada and I, my health and business were important. No getting lost in that woman unless I paid my body its due respect.

  A knock at the door caught my attention as I got ready to head out to check if my client had arrived.

  "Hey, Mel." D'Nae stood at the door.

  "Hey, Nae. Everything well thus far? It's week three, you have a client list now."

  "Been great. The facility isn't run too much different than being out on the sidelines during games, so the adjustments were fairly quick and easy. Clients overlap with some of the guys I used to see on the field, so that's cool too."

  "Glad everything is aligning well. You need something? What's up?"

  "Umm, I wanted to apologize for hounding you about my sister. That was out of bounds."

  I raised my hand.

  "Don't worry about it. She's someone I enjoyed spending time with back then, and we were something. We are feeling out if we can be friends again and that's something else."

  "So you trying to get back with her?"

  My face turned to stone. She took half a step back.

  "D'Nae, whatever is going on between your sister and I is between us. Why are you grasping for details?"

  "It's not like you don't know I got a thing for-"

  "No, we aren't having this conversation again. We worked in the same realm. I told you then it wasn't a good idea. We are friends, but that's it. Also, I'm your boss now," I pointed to the door she still stood next to. "I have a client to meet with. You should go."

  She bristled before regaining her composure and exiting the room. I sighed. This was going to get out of hand unless I found a way to shut down her weird thought process completely.

  When I got home that night, I settled on to the couch, attaching the four TENS electrode patches to my calf. After setting the machine for a 45 minute session, I dialed up the first person I thought might be able to help me out.

  "What’s up? Problem with something else in the facility?" Demontré asked.

  "Nah, everything is good. I have the plans for the changes I want sitting on my desk, we can go over them when its business time, this is a social call."

  "Alright, hold on one minute," I heard him tell someone he would be right back. "Okay, what's going on?"

  "You busy? I can ask you some other time."

  "Nah, I'm at home. I was watching a movie with Jada and Jaiden."

  "Umm, that's actually who I'm calling about."

  I heard the distinct sound of an 'ahh.'

  "So, she only gave me bits and pieces of the situation between y'all. Wanna clue me in? You asked for her number, practically begged for it. I almost got my head knocked off for that. What's going on between y'all?"

  Maybe I shouldn't have called my boy for this, but it's not like I could really call anybody else. My sister would definitely have chewed me out again. She got mad when I initially told her about what happened with Jada and I. My brother would have punched me in my chest like he did the first time. He acted like his hits weren’t painful. He’s a damn boxer.

  "Mel. Come on, bruh. I may have started out as a fan, but we've been cool for some time now and Jada is my best friend. So, talk to me."

  "Alright," I huffed a breath. "I'm sure she told you the gist of our relationship back in college, yeah?"

  "Y'all dated for some time, you left for football, she was heartbroken."

  "Okay, well there was more to it than that. She was my rock, bruh. Like I didn't date nobody at that place before her. When I saw her, all I wanted was to be around her. She made life easier, especially because my pops got his diagnosis about two months after I met her."

  "Damn. So is this more of a nostalgic thing, because?”

  "Nah man. I love her. Always have."

  "Well shit."

  "Yeah. Break the up was cause pops condition worse."

  'Mel. Calm down, your verbiage changing up on me."

  I rubbed a hand across my face. My parents were traditionalist. Louisiana Creole was dying. Although we spoke English with grace, at home we often spoke Creole and sometimes the idioms of the two languages overlapped, throw in the French and sentences got all messed up.

  My drawl also got stronger and often people told me they had no clue what I was attempting to say. I took a steadying breath before trying to speak again.

  "When my dad's health began to decline, I had to go home. I couldn't stick around campus as mom stressed and dad started dying. I just didn't know how to tell Jada. I kept it to myself the whole time, so I didn't know how to bring it up then. I left, told her I had to enter the draft, I needed to go home. It was cruel."

  "Yeah. She really hated you for that. She never told me about you, like never. I didn't even know y'all were an item until that night after I saw you at Nae's spot."

  "Yeah and that whole day was bizarre as hell. To say I was glad I ran into her, don't cover it. I never stopped thinking about her, but I feel like I'm in the same spot again."

  The intensity of the TENS changed and caught me off guard. I still had 30 minutes to go.

  "What do you mean? What are you hiding from her now?"

  "Nothing exactly. I just think her sister wants me, like really wants me and the fact that Jada and I were a thing doesn't sit well with her. Nor does the fact that we’re hanging out again. I want to see if something will spark between Jada and I. I just know that she has her daughter and her ex to deal with. I don't want whatever the hell is in Nae's head to fuck with that too."

  "Jaiden was talking about you earlier. She likes you and if there's nothing else I know about Jada, it's that what her daughter likes matters to her a lot. She's navigating this co-parenting, custody thing with ol' boy, but just give her some time. See if there's anything you can do to ease her stress, without overstepping you feel me?"

  "I get you. I gotta figure out how to be around without causing her issues with ol' dude. I know that can be a thing. Which is part of the reason I don't approach as often as I want, but I want to know her again and that means I want to know her daughter. I'll try to have a conversation with her about it to make sure it's all good."

  "See, I knew you was smart. I ain't gon' have to aim for your leg after all?"

  "Say what?"

  I heard him laugh.

  "Nothing. Just threatened to beat yo’ ass if you broke her heart is all."

  "That'll never happen again."

  "It bet not and last thing because I hear them coming down the stairs. Whatever is going on with Nae, figure out how to nip it in the bud. She enjoys fucking up relationships. If she's not only losing to her sister on this, but also not getting what she wants, she's gonna act an ass. Let her know you and Jada are talking on a dating level.”

  He gave a muffled hi to her and I heard Jaiden rambling in the background.

  "I'ma let you go, but good looking out on the insight and advice, D."

  "Anytime."

  After I got off with him, I decided calling my sister was a good idea too because, even though she was about to chew my head off, she'd always be honest with me.

  11

  Jada

  The next day I took Jaiden with me to the studio. I needed to start working on a painting for another client so it wouldn’t be rushed later on. I also needed to do some more sculpting on the piece that would take me at least another month to finish.

  Luckily, the studio had this storage room inside I c
onverted into a playroom for Jaiden. She’d be fine in there, it was similar in size to the play area I’d made for her back at the house and studio in Houston.

  It kept her from getting in the paints and other supplies, but unlike Houston, keeping her in there would be the difficult part. I bought a KiddeGate to lock her in the room, but she would come up to it and call out to me if she got bored or couldn’t see me for more than 20 minutes. Talk about attachment parenting.

  That’s what I got for constantly having her by my side when she was a baby, and recently after moving out here. Once I got her preoccupied with her coloring books and Tadpole word learner, I started on the painting.

  I could at least manage to have the base and the beginning details banged out before we needed to head home. The client had a beautiful concept and I sketched it out, so I could do it proper justice as I painted and brought it to life.

  The client wanted a portrait of a traditional African woman, but as a queen in her own right. She would have tribal markings across her face and neck and her wild, kinky hair would be pulled behind her in a long rope of a ponytail.

  The woman would have traditional gold bindings on her upper arms and around her throat. The image was to be as if she were looking over her shoulder at the viewer, her head held high, surrounded by sunflowers and words of affirmation to create her crown.

  An exciting piece to envision indeed. I got the basics and must-have details from the client, but the rest would be my personal touch, which was why people commissioned pieces from me.

  After I got the base paints on the stretched canvas and was about to start working on her back, upper arms and neck, I heard a loud crash outside the window. Jaiden gasped and ran to the gate at her doorway.

  “It’s okay mamas. Something happened outside,” I looked to where she stood. She stared at me a beat longer before walking back into the room with a nod.

  “Okay, what the hell was that?” I whispered to myself.

  I checked on Jaiden first, she’d gone back to her Tadpole to learn her next word. I walked over to the window to see if I could find the source of the crashing noise. When I looked down, a boomerang shaped version of my SUV sat partially on the sidewalk.

  My heart dropped. I’d had it since before Jaiden was born. Needing to find out what happened and not wanting Jaiden to see battled inside me for a moment. Then I pulled my phone from my back pocket.

  “Hey, Nae. I need a favor. I don’t know if you’re busy, but someone crashed into my truck,” I said after she answered. “Would you be able to pick me and Jaiden up when you finish work today?”

  “I’m actually waiting on my last patient. As soon as I finish up I’ll come get you,” she said. “Wait, where are you?”

  “We’re at my studio on 29th. I needed to start working on a client piece, but I kind of wish I waited.”

  “Okay, well shoot me the addy and I’ll let you know when I’m on the way. I gotta go.”

  I sighed and walked over to where Jaiden blissfully focused on her own work. I hated to have to take her down there, but I had no choice. I needed to figure out what happened.

  “Hey mamas, we have to go downstairs.” She looked over her shoulder at me.

  “Okay.” She dropped her crayon and walked over, so I could lift her over the gate.

  We made our way downstairs to find a small crowd near my SUV like it was a toy to be admired. I never quite understood why people gathered at the scene of an accident or crash. Why would you want to stare at something horrid or something that could involve death or serious harm? It would never make sense to me.

  “Anybody see what happened?” I asked as I moved Jaiden and I through the crowd.

  “A car seemed to lose control and run into that truck,” A guy toward the front of the crowd said. “I had to jump out of the way or I would’ve got hit. The driver of the other car must have been scared or something because they reversed and sped off down the street like a bat out of hell. Front end of their car didn’t look good at all.”

  I sighed, nodded, then walked over to my SUV.

  “Maybe you shouldn’t mess with it, ma’am.” A brunette woman said from the other side of the crowd.

  I pressed the button on the door of the car to unlock it. Everyone gasped and pulled back slightly like they didn’t expect the owner to be present. I wanted to see if Jaiden’s car seat made it through the accident, it didn’t.

  It sat pressed into the side of the door like a new mold. Well, that’s kind of terrifying to look at. What the hell hit my SUV, a train?

  I closed my eyes for a minute before a hand touched my shoulder. I quickly turned and was met by those gorgeous brown eyes. His head tilted to the side, and he glanced over mine into the wreckage. A breath huffed out of his mouth and I knew a bad joke would soon follow.

  “Monteé, I swear if you go there, I’ll punch you in the balls.” I said.

  Demontré covered his front with his hands and I couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Damn baby girl, that’s harsh,” he said. “That's how you treating your best friend now? And stop saying my middle name in public.” He looked around to see if anyone heard me.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked as Jaiden reached for him.

  He took her from my grasp and squeezed her into a hug. She was getting spoiled by all the love she got from him, Tra’Mel, D’Nae and I.

  “Client work,” he said. “Just finished going over design and color schemes. The meeting was a few doors down. Heard the crash and came to see what happened. Who killed Ellie?”

  I swiveled my head toward my truck again and wiped my hand down the side of my face.

  “Someone ran into her, then drove off. I don’t know, but it’s totaled and I’m going to have to get another one at some point. Guess I’ma have to push these commissions off since I won’t be able to get over here to work on them.”

  “Nonsense,” he said. “Use the garage at the house, baby girl. Let’s go call the police and your insurance company to get this taken care of.”

  We carefully packed what I needed in his trunk and went on our merry way. Jaiden and I rode in the backseat as we went back to Demontré’s house. Since we didn’t have a car seat, I was nervous for her to sit in the back alone – first thing I’d replace was that and it had to be a better model.

  I texted Nae to let her know Demontré had been in the area and brought us home, so she didn’t have to.

  Once we got back to the house, I had a few different things to deal with. No one liked filing a claim with their insurance. I hated going through the process with my lessor even more.

  They were in their investigative mode and I had to wait until they determined if I had any fault. Not sure how that worked since the car was parked properly on the street, but whatever.

  In the meantime, I filed a police report, but they said without details, not much could be done. So, I kind of wanted to drink my sorrows away, then sleep through the night.

  But I had a kid, so I couldn’t do that. I just had to wait until I could get a new vehicle and focus on working on what I could from Demontré’s house. Stay productive.

  12

  Tra'Mel

  I got a text from Demontré telling me Jada's SUV got totaled outside her studio. My heart nearly stopped. It wasn't until he said she had been upstairs did I relax.

  I immediately called her to see if she needed anything. The folks in the conference room weren't too happy that I walked out in the middle of the presentation, but they exactly didn't need me while they discussed open training schedules and displays. I had managers for a reason.

  "Hey." I said when she answered.

  "Hey, Mellow."

  "You never gonna let that nickname go are you?" I grinned.

  "Never, it's not my fault you used to be soft and sweet."

  "Never stopped being either when it comes to you," I said and I could sense her shaking her head. "Wanted to make sure you were okay. D told me someone banged up your Ellie. I had
to asked who Ellie was."

  She laughed and it melted my resolve. I was going to find a way back to this woman's heart. She hinted at it even if she didn't want to admit it.

  "Yeah. Ellie went to baby SUV heaven, but I'm okay. Just stressed out about having to get another one and figuring out a way to balance everything without transportation."

  "Anything I can do to help?"

  "No. I appreciate it, though. I'm just researching more durable car seats and safety things. Might have to upgrade to a different vehicle since that one didn't seem to be all that sturdy."

  I knew she would probably kick my ass, but my sister worked in the automotive industry I made a plan to give her a call and ask about safe vehicles for people with children. I'd also try to find her the best car seat on the market.

  "I understand," I opened up my laptop to start my search. "Well, I'll let you get to work then. I'm glad you and Jaiden are safe."

  "Thank you Mellow."

  "Anytime, JJ."

  The next day, I met with the two clients I had in the morning, then I ran a meeting before I could finally get away from the office to surprise Jada.

  I had a list of vehicles from my sister and a top of the line car seat she could put in it once everything settled down for her. I texted Demontré to see if she was still at the house.

  He said as far as he knew she didn't have plans to go anywhere. I would have asked D'Nae, but she seemed to be busy and avoiding me again. Not sure if that was good or bad.

  When I pulled up to the house, I couldn't tell if she was home, but I walked up to the door and knocked anyway. I would have rung the doorbell, but last time I was here, she mentioned Jaiden had a nap time around now. About a minute passed before she pulled the door open with one hand propped on her hip.