Page 9 of Read the Room

I kissed him all over his face. “I missed you too, baby boy. Why are you awake? Have you been good today?” I asked after I put him on his feet and stood to my full height.

“Yep. I was,” he said proudly.

He ran back toward the playroom where his cubby was. I knew that he would come back with his bookbag and shoes.

Mama Bee smiled widely. “Hey, Reya. Girl, he had a very late nap, then I gave him ice cream, so he’s wired,” she said with a chuckle. “How was work today?”

I huffed. “You know how it goes. Mean girls, hood boys, but money was made.”

“Aye, as long as money was made. You can’t control the hood,” she said. “Your boy was good. He tried to run the center with his best friend.” She gave me a knowing look.

I laughed because no one could tell Lucas or Jedi anything.

“Well, I really appreciate you.” I reached into my purse. “Here’s my payment for the next month based on my anticipated work schedule. If it changes, I’ll let you know.”

I made sure I always paid Lucas’s day care in advance as far as possible. I never wanted anything to happen that would prevent me from having adequate childcare. I met Mama Bee in the grocery store a little over a year ago. I was financially strapped, and my food stamp card declined, so I was puttingstuff back. She was behind me in the line. Instead of being agitated, she told the cashier to add whatever I couldn’t cover onto her total.

I cried that day because life was whipping my ass as a single mother. I had just gotten the notice that I couldn’t take Lucas back to the day care that he was at because of too many late payments. God knew what he was doing that day because I poured my heart out to that lady only to find out she had an in-home day care. That was where I met GeGi, who connected me to Sully for my bartending position at Glitter Girls. GeGi was a featured dancer there.

Blessing was not enough of a word to explain Mama Bee. She kept Lucas and GeGi’s two kids when we worked at the club. It wasn’t a service that she offered to all the parents. Well, it wasn’t as if she had so many parents, but yeah.

Mama Bee took the envelope of money. “Okay, baby. Remember the babies start their swimming classes next week. It’s Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so I don’t care if you work or not, I want him here.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’ll make sure he’s here. I work all of those days.”

A local organization offered free swimming classes to the community. Mama Bee was able to enroll her center into a private class. For the Wednesday classes, Louie told me that I could take my lunch during the class time to join the class with my baby boy.

Lucas came out of the playroom just in time with his shoes already on. At two years old, he wanted to do everything by himself. I bought him sneakers that he didn’t have to tie. It made him feel like a big boy when he slipped them on by himself.

Mama Bee and I talked for a few more minutes before Lucas and I said our goodbyes. I put him in his car seat in the back of the used SUV that I was able to get with the money that Lucas’sfather gave me when he relinquished his rights. My SUV was five years old, but it was in amazing condition, and it was paid off.

The one good thing about Lucas being awake was it didn’t take as long to get into the house. He was a heavy little boy. The housing development that I lived in was built for the purpose of low-income housing. I was blessed enough to get one of the homes brand new.

It was crazy because God continued to find ways to let me know that he was still in the blessing business every time I looked around. I was blessed with a brand-new house that I was able to get on my Section 8 voucher, an amazing home day care, and two jobs that didn’t make me rich but covered what I needed to survive.

When Lucas and I got into the house, I locked up and made sure the alarm was set. I prayed that a bath with some nighttime wash would get my baby to sleep. An hour and a half after we got into the house, Lucas was bathed and in the bed. Another hour later, I was showered and in my bed.

Tomorrow night, I worked at the club, so I needed as much rest as I could get. On the nights that I worked at the club, I didn’t go into Louie’s until eleven in the morning and got off at six in the evening. That gave me enough time to come home for a quick nap to get to the club by 10:00 p.m. Lucas stayed at Mama Bee’s until the next morning. The strip club closed at four in the morning. I rarely worked the day after a nightclub shift.

I prayed I made great tips this shift because I’d been saving so that I could start taking classes again at UNCC. I was eligible for financial aid, but I didn’t want any loans. I’d been saving for the difference in the bill after all of my grants and hopefully scholarships. I wanted more for my life than where I was now. My son deserved the best, and I wanted to give him everything that he deserved, even if it killed me. I prayed daily that God give it to me, but I knew I had to put in some work for it too.

Night Shift, Glitter Girls…

It was almost two in the morning, and Glitter Girls was poppin’ like it always was. My tip jar looked great, and I felt great. The uniform for the female bartenders, bottle girls, and servers was a translucent glitter bodysuit under booty shorts with a crop top that adorned the club’s logo. We had multiple color options for our logo crop tops, but we always wore black booty shorts. Our shoes could match our tops as long as they were slip-resistant.

“Reya, are these mine right here?” one of the servers asked me from the end of the bar. After I nodded my confirmation, she gave me a thumbs up. “Girl, you are the shit! Thank you for getting that out so fast.”

I gave her my blushing smile. “You know I got you, girl.”

I took my bartending job seriously. When I first got the job, I had no idea what I was doing. YouTube University taught me a lot in the beginning. I learned drink recipes and how to do all the bottle tossing things that made it cute. After three months as a bartender, I sent an email to the owners and asked if they would invest in a bartending class for us. I figured all they could say was no, but they said yes. For a month, two hours before our shift, a mixologist came in to teach those who wanted to become certified mixologists.

I was skilled enough to work at the bar alone on a busy night with minimum hiccups. Tonight, we had three people at the bar, so I covered the private rooms.

I had just finished an order of drinks for a section when GeGi came to the bar. “Hey, girlie! This is my friend Emmitt and his friend Jaun. I’m going to give them a private show. Can you escort them to room three while I freshen up for them?”

This was a normal request from the girls. It allowed me to show the men how to use the ordering system and give the ladies time to wash their coochies.

“I sure can, Gelly.”

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